4: Symbolic Interactionism, reseach methods

Symbolic Interactionism 
 (Max Weber)
  This approach differs from the other two in that it kind of "zooms in" on society with a microscope, rather than zooming out and looking at the big picture.  This micro level approach focuses our attention on individual interactions, and leads us to view society as by-product.

The question we start with here is:  How does this abstract thing we call "society" result from the ongoing interactive experiences of millions or billions of people?

• Institutions, organizations, and social structures are simply abstractions in our minds, combined with network patterns of interaction; all that is real are our individual interactions.

• So the mind, and the concept of group belongingness, are crucial to being human as we know it. This is where Max Weber brings in his philosophy of ideal determinism - unlike Karl Marx who believed our material circumstances determine everything about our lives and how we think about ourselves, Weber believed that our ideas have "primacy" and they actually determine our material circumstances, rather than the other way around.
• For example, in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber argues that a new idea about religion and the meaning of life in this world caused a radical change in our physical and socio-economic environments.  OUR IDEAS CAN CHANGE OUR BEHAVIORS, WHICH CHANGE OUR WORLD.

A key observation that symbolic interactionists make is simply that people act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them, and these meanings come from the individual's interpretation of social interactions (always in a cultural context) involving language.

• Discuss Britney Spears' shaved head or more recently in Japan, another pop icon...

from Reddit - "My name is Claire. I am 18 years old. And I decided to shave my head."

I had a number of reasons for doing so, the main three being: Long, dark hair is just too hot for Arizona summers, I have better things to do than tame my thick, frizzy hair every morning, and I was just plain curious. Considering this was a personal decision, I was surprised at just how much everyone, mainly completely strangers, had suddenly taken an intense interest in this choice. It’s been about a month since the initial shaving, and I’d like to share some of the most frequent comments, questions and situations I’ve encountered:

*“What happened?!” 

*“Why would you shave off your beautiful hair?” 

*“Don’t worry; it’ll grow back in no time.” 

*“Can I touch it?” (This from people I have never met.) • 

* <Middle school girls pointing> *“Oh but you were so pretty!” 

*“Oh my god. What does your boyfriend/mom/dad/family think?" 

*“Wow you’re so brave.” 

*“Is this some form of rebellion?”

I’ve also encountered the situation where people think I’m very sick. I made a Target run one day; I had a very bad cold, I wasn’t wearing any makeup and the sweats I was wearing were filthy. I was asked multiple times if I needed help carrying things, three people let me go ahead in line, and I heard a woman tell her children, “Don’t stare at the poor girl.” These people were all incredibly empathetic and good people for trying to help… but I don’t have cancer.

Most of the comments regarding my head were not meant to be malicious. But I think it’s pretty easy to see the problem with them. Most people cannot fathom why a teenage girl would willingly go bald. Heterosexual girls are expected to make personal decisions based on the preferences of heterosexual boys. I didn’t lose my hair from a disease, I didn’t shave it for a part in a play or movie, I didn’t shave it because my mother has a disease and I’m supporting her and I didn’t shave it to make a point. I shaved my head because my hair is hot and cumbersome. That’s it.

Now, I was semi-prepared for society to view me differently, but I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. I consider myself a strong, independent person who doesn’t let the opinions of others affect how I dress or perceive myself… but I have noticed a shift in my self-perception. I’ve always been a feminine person. I love dresses and bows, but since I’ve shaved my head I’ve been wearing dresses and skirts almost exclusively and I’ve been wearing more makeup than I ever have. About two weeks in I realized it was taking more time for me to get ready now than when I had hair. I started paying attention to my internal dialogue during my morning routine. I realized I had become self-conscious about my femininity and was using skirts and makeup to “prove” to the world that yes, I was still a girl. And all this had happened without my noticing.

I had bought into the idea that hair somehow defines a girl… and a girl without hair must be a ‘butch lesbian’. Which just isn’t me. I don’t regret shaving my head, I thought it was a liberating experience and it truly forced me to confront some preconceived notions about my actions, decisions, and societal expectations. Despite all of the above, my bald head has given me confidence and security in who I am. NoRegrets right?

• Brainstorm the "meaning" of sexual intercourse?

• THAT we are sexual is is determined by a biological imperative toward reproduction. But HOW we are sexual (where, when, how often, with whom, and why) depends on what we have learned from our culture, with meanings transmitted to us by others in our networks... 

• How can gun violence be a Rorschach test? (link1) (and see recent December, 2012 shooting)

All this stuff means that all of our social structures (including norms, beliefs, and values, as well as organizations/institutions) are "socially constructed" on this scaffold of culture, that we learn through an interactive process with specific other individuals.

CAVEAT: saying that things are "socially constructed" often provokes a response that, therefore, the things in question are not really "real."  This reaction somewhat misses the point.  Think about the example of a house.  Is a house really "real"?  After all, a "house" is physically constructed by a social group... does that mean it's not really a house because, in actual physical reality, it is literally just a bunch of rocks, boards, glass, and steel?  No, of course it IS a house because we get to assign that meaning to that particular collection of materials in that particular configuration.  Culture and language give us this ability.  

The interesting part of all this for a symbolic interactionist is that we have influence over culture and language precisely because they are generated in these micro-interactions in which we have agency. 

Discuss dramaturgy
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
-Shakespeare

Discuss social exchange, economic rationality, and game theory.

• The Prisoner's Dilemma – two suspects are arrested by the cops but there is not enough evidence to convict. The cops separate them and offer each the same deal: confess and testify against your partner, and we'll cut you a break.  
• If your partner stonewalls us, but you testify against him, we'll let you go free and convict him on a serious charge, and he'll get a major sentence (20 years hard time).
• If neither of you one testifies against the other, we'll be able to convict both of you on a lesser charge and you'll each get a minor sentence (1 year hard time). 
• If you both testify against each other, we'll get you both convicted of the serious offence, but in light if your cooperation you will each receive a reduced sentence (5 years hard time).

Each prisoner is assured that the other will not know about his decision before the end of the investigation.  Keep in mind that they do not know each others' personalities well enough to predict what the other will choose to do.

How should the prisoners act?  How would you act?

Even though this is a hypothetical situation designed as a thought experiment, the logic can be applied to more practical situations in society.  For example, here is conversation I heard on the radio recently about the recession we've gone through: 

One guy said, "No matter how bad things get, I will keep spending on my hobby of classic car reconstruction, because when you tighten your purse strings, you choke the economy." 

Then another guy called in to say, "Well, I'm not going to spend-spend-spend just because the economy needs me to, because that leaves me penniless with no savings for emergencies or for retirement... and what if the economy continues to get worse? Then those who've spent spent spent are REALLY hurting!"

So sure, if everyone were to spend everything they have, that would definitely get the economy juiced up and lots of new jobs would get created.  But it is rational for an individual to save for emergencies, in a sense betraying the collective out of personal self-interest.  If everyone acts only out of self-interest, we all suffer from a bad economy!

The problem is that what is "rational" varies, depending on what level of analysis you are thinking on: that of the individual, or that of the collective.

Recapping theoretical approaches: 

Structural-functionalism

• Emile Durkheim
• Macro scale
• Positivist methods
• likes quantitative, empirical data
• strives for scientific objectivity (unbiased)
• 2-step process
• 1. look for social structures (patterns of interaction, such as norms, traditions, organizations, etc...)
• 2. identify functions of those structures (usually stability, solidarity, or survival)

The Social Conflict Approach

• Karl Marx
• Macro scale
• Critical methods
• explicitly political, no bones about it
• focuses on need for change – should society exist as it does?  how can it be improved?
• rejects the ideal of scientific neutrality as implicitly conservative (supports the status quo)
• Realize that even our moral preferences are shaped by culture
• 2-step process
• 1. look for moving targets (any social change: wars, revolutions, protests, conflicts, etc...)
• 2. identify a disparity or inequality that may explain why pressure built up to cause change (usually money/wealth, political power, or social prestige)

Symbolic Interactionism

• Max Weber
• Micro scale (zooms in on small-scale interactions)
• Interpretive methods
• likes qualitative data, such as from ethnography (participant observation)
• focuses on how individuals learn and create subjective meaning, and how and why they act on that meaning in the context of their lives "Verstehen"