"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Herbert Mead would have probably enjoyed talking with Shakespear. Mead was the founder of what his disciple, Herbert Blumer, coined symbolic interactionism. Inherent in this theory is the idea that communication is participated in via symbols. People forming a society create symbols that represent objects and ideas. They react according to the meaning they place on the objects and ideas. Most of this is socially constructed. Individuals look to society around them as they interpret the world. Mead focused on three aspects of society in his theory.
1. Role taking. Humans develop the capacity to put themselves in other's shoes and see situations from their perspective. This greatly contributes to our ability to empathize. 2. Reflections in a looking glass. We tend to try to understand ourselves through imagining how we appear to others. According to this idea then, the self fluctuates depending on our understanding of society's view of and response to ourselves. 3. Others' expectations. We constantly look to the group to see their opinion and expectations so we know how to act. Mead calls this the generalized other. It is interesting to me to look at this theory of symbolic interaction in light of social media. How is role playing affected? Some take extreme measures in this practice and develop completely falsified online identities by creating their favorite movie or TV star. They then interact with others who have also done this, continuing the character's saga or creating a new one. I have to wonder, is this because of a dissatisfaction about their own lives? Role playing is healthy only to the degree that it allows us to understand another's perspective and be able to empathize with them. Beyond that, we forsake our own identity. More to come on this topic later. For an interesting and short read on symbolic interaction, check out Em Griffin's A First Look at Communication Theory.
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