As a continuation to my last blog about functionalism and conflict theories, I would now like to discuss a differing theory called Interactionist theories. There are five sections in this type of theory. These sections consist of symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnography, ethnomethodolgy, and Hermeneutics. I will be discussing each of these sections separately while at the same time give examples to help clarify.
Symbolic Interactionists
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) was a symbolic interactionist. People such as Herbert believed that we live in a world of meaning and that we react to the sometimes false meaning more than we do to reality.
Examples: Meanings from each person is different and we are able to create new meanings depending on the way that we interact with people. (The meaning that you take away from a book is due to the interaction with other people.)
These types of people do not believe in ‘reality’, they think that what they believe is actuality. (People believed that banks were going to fail. In turn, everyone would take their money out, which created a bank failure.
“You have nothing to fear but fear itself”: This is a perfect quote that describes this section, as people built up a fear in things only to make them become reality.
Phenomenology
Alfred Schutz was a believer of phenomenology. It was a combination of Max Weber’s sociology with Edmund Husserl’s methodology. In this section, everything is about what you see. They believed that the less you know, the better. If you knew anything ahead of time, it would give you a bias/corrupt view. Everything that exists is actually in your head.
Example: The Social Construction of Reality (1966)
Ethnography
The goal was to make things readable and to see things from more than one point of view. This section emerged in the Chicago School. Paul Willis who wrote Learning to Labour in 1977 was a major part of ethnography.
Examples: They might ask questions such as what does it mean to be Japanese? (They would go to Japan and report back once they thought that they were able to get their own view and they felt that they had truly lived the life of a Japanese individual)
An aspect that helped shaped the sociology of education was looking at working class kids and asking why they did not succeed in schools.
Ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel (1914- ) is a person who is involved in this section. He is famous for questioning basic assumptions. Many of the things that we do daily are very implicit that there is no need to articulate on why we are doing them. He was seen as very annoying as he always questioned the underlying assumptions.
Example: He would go into a store and take items out of people’s carts and put them into his own. It is implicit that once something is in your cart, you are planning to purchase that item. He went to the next level by stating that it is not your property yet, so he is able to take it.
Hermeneutics
This can be seen in someway connected to interactionist theories, but there is not as much to be said. Basically, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) was involved in this and was known for the deconstruction of texts.
To put this theory into context with the other two types of theories: Functionalism and Conflict theories, we were shown an example of a place/space and what types of questions would be asked if each of these theorists entered it. This also helped me to put into perspective the types of beliefs that each of them had in a comparative view.
A BAR
Functionalists
- How does this pub serve the society and make it work?
- How does it reduce tension?
- How does it help the local economy?
(They are wondering how things are managed throughout the bar from a society’s point of view, as they are very interested in society.)
Conflict Theorists
- Whose interest does this serve?
- How do bars exploit female servers?
- How do bars help to blind workers to their oppression?
(The conflict theorists are asking questions that place blame on society and show that everything happens through conflict.)
Interactionists
- What does it mean?
- Why do people sit in the same spot?
- What are the social distinctions between “regulars” and “newcomers” (They are asking questions about interactions that people make with each other.)
Symbolic Interactionists
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) was a symbolic interactionist. People such as Herbert believed that we live in a world of meaning and that we react to the sometimes false meaning more than we do to reality.
Examples: Meanings from each person is different and we are able to create new meanings depending on the way that we interact with people. (The meaning that you take away from a book is due to the interaction with other people.)
These types of people do not believe in ‘reality’, they think that what they believe is actuality. (People believed that banks were going to fail. In turn, everyone would take their money out, which created a bank failure.
“You have nothing to fear but fear itself”: This is a perfect quote that describes this section, as people built up a fear in things only to make them become reality.
Phenomenology
Alfred Schutz was a believer of phenomenology. It was a combination of Max Weber’s sociology with Edmund Husserl’s methodology. In this section, everything is about what you see. They believed that the less you know, the better. If you knew anything ahead of time, it would give you a bias/corrupt view. Everything that exists is actually in your head.
Example: The Social Construction of Reality (1966)
Ethnography
The goal was to make things readable and to see things from more than one point of view. This section emerged in the Chicago School. Paul Willis who wrote Learning to Labour in 1977 was a major part of ethnography.
Examples: They might ask questions such as what does it mean to be Japanese? (They would go to Japan and report back once they thought that they were able to get their own view and they felt that they had truly lived the life of a Japanese individual)
An aspect that helped shaped the sociology of education was looking at working class kids and asking why they did not succeed in schools.
Ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel (1914- ) is a person who is involved in this section. He is famous for questioning basic assumptions. Many of the things that we do daily are very implicit that there is no need to articulate on why we are doing them. He was seen as very annoying as he always questioned the underlying assumptions.
Example: He would go into a store and take items out of people’s carts and put them into his own. It is implicit that once something is in your cart, you are planning to purchase that item. He went to the next level by stating that it is not your property yet, so he is able to take it.
Hermeneutics
This can be seen in someway connected to interactionist theories, but there is not as much to be said. Basically, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) was involved in this and was known for the deconstruction of texts.
To put this theory into context with the other two types of theories: Functionalism and Conflict theories, we were shown an example of a place/space and what types of questions would be asked if each of these theorists entered it. This also helped me to put into perspective the types of beliefs that each of them had in a comparative view.
A BAR
Functionalists
- How does this pub serve the society and make it work?
- How does it reduce tension?
- How does it help the local economy?
(They are wondering how things are managed throughout the bar from a society’s point of view, as they are very interested in society.)
Conflict Theorists
- Whose interest does this serve?
- How do bars exploit female servers?
- How do bars help to blind workers to their oppression?
(The conflict theorists are asking questions that place blame on society and show that everything happens through conflict.)
Interactionists
- What does it mean?
- Why do people sit in the same spot?
- What are the social distinctions between “regulars” and “newcomers” (They are asking questions about interactions that people make with each other.)
That pretty much wraps up all of the theories that we have learned thus far.
Always fascinating to see how students interpret one's lesson.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you might consider adding your own commentary - which of these three approaches appeals most to you?
How would interactionist, funtionalist and conflict theory view the social issue of bullying?
ReplyDelete