Theories in Social Psychology, 2nd Edition

13 Symbolic Interactionism: Early Philosophy to Models of Artificial Intelligence

Andreas Schneider

Core Assumptions of Symbolic Interactionism

Charles Cooley (1864–1929) and George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) are seen as the founding fathers of Symbolic Interactionism (SI). The term SI, however, was coined by Herbert Blumer (1937) a student of George Herbert Mead and an interpreter of his work. While over the sixty-plus years of SI, different foci and extensions were developed, there are three basic premises formulated by Blumer that all symbolic interactionists agree upon:

1. “The first premise is that human beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them.
2. The second premise is that the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction one has with one’s fellows.
3. The third premise is that these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he encounters.” (Blumer, 1969, p. 2)

Humans are active creators of reality. They have a strong motivation to make sense of their world. Humans have developed methodologies for the investigation of meanings and their organization (Heider, 1958). In their interpretation of situations, they adapt to reality. Like researchers, they strive for an accurate description of reality. Unlike researchers, they have to use shortcuts in the creation of reality in order to reach the most efficient basis for their actions. ...