Symbolic Interactionism In The Classroom Analysis

Superior Essays
Imagine the importance of meanings reflected in Thomas’s (1931) famous saying: “If situations are defined as real, they are real in their consequences.” According to the International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family (IE, 2003) Thomas’s saying raises questions. What exactly interrupts a situation? What underlines how people act in situations on the basis of how they are described? Or how do definitions have real consequences for people’s actions and events, even when at variance with “objective” reality? In both the IE (2003) and in Conley (2015) each writing examines symbolic interactions, which is what the questions are based on. Symbolic interactionism states people live in a symbolic domain. Often such symbols are culturally derived …show more content…
However defining isn’t the only part that needs to be looked at. Another issue to address goes along in both a classroom and in symbolic interactionism, the concept of social interaction. Social interaction is used in Merton’s role theory and states how as a society we see others and our own selves.(2003) Primarily, the first concept of role theory is status. Status refers to a recognizable social position that an individual occupies. (2015) According to Conley (2015), a professor or individual who runs the classroom has a status to live up to. Such as having the responsibility for grading assignments means that that individual has the status of professor. Status is like a rank in society and defines people of who they are. In addition, let’s say for instance that we swap statuses with professor to a student. A student’s status is that they are responsible as a student to study, finish homework and succeed. There forth a person’s status is very valuable, a status is important to society, similar to the rank of a family name. Next is the second key concept which is important in order to keep that individual 's status. The second key concept of role theory is none other than role itself. Roles refer to the duties and behaviors associated with a particular status, meaning something that is expected from that …show more content…
Conley (2015) states ascribed status and achieved status is basically the concepts of what you were born with (ascribed) versus what you become (achieved). Using the classroom example, students hold an ascribed status whereas the professor has an achieved status.(2015) Thereforth the student will only get achieved status if they succeed in their academic career while a professor has to voluntarily remain approachable to his/her students. However at times one status within our status set stands out from the rest. Which is called the master status. Master statuses in accordance to Conley can be achieved or ascribed.(2015) For example the way a student interacts with others like themselves differs to how a student talks to a professor, who is a professional at the field the student may be majoring in. With that in mind, Conley (2015) refers that a master statuses key characteristic is that people tend to interact with someone on the basis of that one status alone.(2015) Which brings in the concept that if a classmate sees a student as diligent and a good note-taker, means that individual sees that classmate’s master status as one thing only, and before anything else. If for instance a professor sees a student as hard-working but another professor who has the same student sees them as lazy, both are seeing one status alone, either a hardworking

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    “A league of their own” is a film which follows the story of a women’s league baseball team. The film was set in 1943, a period when baseball was predominately a male sport. The sudden arise of a women only team was met with ridicule. This essay analyzes the social structure of the women’s baseball team with a focus on the concept of status inconsistency. We examine the negative view of the females as baseball players and how the females developed to overcome that problem.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Symbolic Interactionism is the theory of understanding how people interact using symbolic meaning. The theory studies society by understanding the subjective meanings that individuals give things such as objects, people and behaviors. These subjective meanings are crucial as people behave based on how they feel about things and not always on what’s true. The theory centers around symbols and language and how they assist humans with giving meaning to their life experiences. It basically is the theory of how individuals make sense of the world around them.…

    • 202 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The functions of our roles come from our statuses. Our roles in life can reflect on how we perceive ourselves. Sometimes there are many roles associated with the given status. The status of an individual gives him or her a precise role. In some cases status is ascribed and sometimes it is achieved.…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Symbolic interactionists believe society was built off of social interactions; they also argue that the world is a socially constructed reality. We also need to understand what a value, norm, and symbol is because all three of these things are beginning factors into learning and understanding the subject of sociology. A value is defined as, “a broad idea regarding what is desirable, correct, and good that most…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his book, Blue Chicago, David Grazian defines roles based on interactions that people have in Chicago's Blues clubs. Roles such as these can be assigned to people in any social situation. This principle can be extrapolated to other social contexts such as the expression of gratitude between Oberlin College students and the staff at Stevenson Dining Hall. This is demonstrated through the observation of interactions between students and staff members in three different scenarios: swiping in at the door, dropping off dirty dishes, and getting food from the servers. In each of these scenarios, there are those who express gratitude by saying "thank you" and those who don't.…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The movie Remember the Titans is an excellent example for sociological theories. Many topics can be observed within this movie, but two of the most prominent topics that we covered this semester are social structure, more specifically race and prejudices, and group processes, focusing on status construction. This movie takes place in a small town in North Carolina that has to deal with the shifting racial makeup of their football team, therefore high school, and therefore community. There is a lot of conflict not only between the different racial groups, but also within racial groups when people have different opinions of what is acceptable. The combination of the two racial groups leads to interesting observations of racial opinions and group…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Symbolic Interactionism In The Family

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    Conflict can take the form of competing goals as well as different role expectations. A working mother, for instance, wishes to split the housework in half, but her husband maintains that household chores are her responsibility and not a man’s. A family’s difference in age, sex and personalities will also contribute to the natural occurrence of…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Peyton Manning is one of the most dominant quarterbacks in NFL history. His social statuses can be divided into two categories: achieved status and ascribed status. An achieved status is one which has been acquired by someone through skills, abilities and hard work, and can be changed by a person. An ascribed status, however, is not able to be changed since it is a status that a person is born with or had no control over. Peyton Manning is a Caucasian man born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1976, as a son to Archie and Olivia Manning.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hondros As An Institution Core Beliefs Hondros, like any other institution created and sustains itself around a set of core beliefs. Those beliefs can be best examined by reading through their mission statement. According to the Hondros Student Catalog, the mission of Hondros College is to provide education to a diverse population through both traditional and non-traditional means by providing the best quality education they can to help students meet their career goals. They also strive to help their students serve the communities they live in by offering academic programs such as nursing through the baccalaureate level.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Sorry for putting 01F and 02F, I have not found documentation for which class I am in. As a non-traditional student (I am 62), attending GSU part time, I have settled into a schedule that has been working out great. I am not at GSU to use it as a stepping stone for a new career, I am here only for the education. This is my tenth semester, of which the last six semesters I have done at least one online class.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Example Of Master Status

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are several statuses that make someone who they are but, there is only one that can be the main ingredient in determining a person’s general social position. According to Everett Hughes (1945) Master status – is the most important status that a person occupies, most likely shaping a person’s life. Master status has the biggest impact on a person 's self-identity and appearance to others. People usually organize their life and identify around it depending on the master status in hand it can be a positive or negative status they hold.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The structural-functionalist perspective, marriage and family are a basic building block of society. Marriage and family, are necessities for a stable society. Marriage and family perform a number of necessary functions, which provide a structure that children can be produced and raised. They also provide a way in which sexual relations can be in some way regulated so that people can fulfill their sexual desires without causing conflict.…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The interactionist perspective theory is an explanation used by sociologist to explain how everyday interactions contribute to someone’s identity. It’s not only limited to personal interactions but also includes how symbols play into it. The interactionist perspective focuses more on a micro or small-scale aspects of…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Randall Collins’ piece, “Interaction Ritual Theory,” draws on the works of Erving Goffman and Émile Durkheim. He presents a theory of social interaction on the basis of the emotions and rituals that they bring. Interaction ritual theory explains that interactions either produce or exhaust “emotional energy” which is “what individuals seek” (Collins, 2004, p. 604, 606). Collins states that, “everyday life is the experience of moving through a chain of interaction rituals, changing up some symbols with emotional significance and leaving others to fade” (Collins, 2004, p. 607). Collins essentially wants us to view everything in life as a ritual.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1.5 stratification (15 points) (1) Weber’s conception of stratification is derived from his analysis of economic activities in relationships. He said that economic relationships are decided by individuals’ chance of using their material property for exchange on the market. Thus, people sharing similar material conditions are classified into groups. In Weber’s view, the inequality between different groups is associated with not only the economic dimension but also social, political, and ideological dimensions. And such inequality linked with the social structure forms social order and ties people.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics