Transcript Chapter 5 Powerpoint - Matt's Media Research

Chapter 5
Theories About Symbolic Activity
Symbolic Interactionism
• George Herbert Mead
• Mind, Self, and Society (1934)
• “Mead thought that symbols were the basis
of individual identity and social life. In his
opinion, individuals can acquire identity
only by interacting with others. As we do
so, we learn the language and the
perspectives of our social communities”
Symbolic Interactionism
• Mind
– “Mead described mind as the ability to use
symbols that have common social meanings.
As children interact with family, peers, and
others, they learn language, and concurrently
they learn the social meanings attached to
particular words” (p. 90).
Symbolic Interactionism
• Mind
– “The ability to use symbols that have common
meanings allows individuals to share ideas and
to communicate about ideas rather than simply
behaving toward one another as animals do” (p.
90).
Symbolic Interactionism
• Self
– “Mead regarded self as the ability to reflect on
ourselves from the perspective of others.
Before children develop a concept of
themselves, they first experience others acting
toward them, labeling them, defining them” (p.
91).
Symbolic Interactionism
• Self
– “The concept of the looking glass self calrifies
Mead’s view of the human self. Symbolic
interactionists explain that we learn to see
ourselves mirrored in others’ eyes. In other
words, our perceptions of how others see us are
lenses through which we perceive ourselves.
We learn to see our selves in terms of the labels
others apply to us” (p. 91).
Symbolic Interactionism
• Self
– Self-fulfilling prophecy
Symbolic Interactionism
• ‘I’ vs. ‘Me’
– “The I is impulsive, creative, spontaneous, and
generally unburdened by social rules and
restrictions. Thus, the I is the source both of
creative genius and individuality and of
criminal and immoral behavior”
Symbolic Interactionism
• ‘I’ vs. ‘Me’
– “The ME is the socially conscious part of the
self, who reflects on the I’s impulses and
actions
Symbolic Interactionism
• ‘I’ vs. ‘Me’
– “The ME is analytical, evaluative, and above all
aware of social conventions, rules, and
expectations. The I might think it would be
great fun to go skinny-dipping on a crowded
beach, but the ME would probably remind the I
that skinny-dipping is not generally socially
approved” (p. 92).
Symbolic Interactionism
• Particular Others
• Generalized Other
• Role Taking
Dramatism
• “Dramatism begins with the premise that
life is a drama and that it can be understood
in dramatic terms. Thus, communicators
involved in situations are seen as actors
performing dramatic scenes on the
metaphorical stage of life” (p. 97).
Dramatism
• Kenneth Burke
– Substance
– Consubstantiality
– “Communication is the primary way that we
increase our identification, or consubstantiality,
with others and diminish our division, or
separateness, from others” (p. 98).
Dramatism
• Guilt as the motive for action.
– Hierarchy
– Perfection
– Negative Terminology
Dramatism
• Reducing Guilt
– Mortification
– Victimage/Scapegoating
Dramatism
• The Dramatistic Pentad (Hexad)
–
–
–
–
–
–
The act
The scene
The agent
Agency
The purpose
Attitude
Narrative Paradigm
• Walter Fisher
• “We continually weave discrete events and
experiences together into coherent wholes
that have all the features of stores: a plot;
characters; action; a sequence of beginning,
middle, and end; and a climax” (p. 105).
Narrative Paradigm
• Rationalism vs. Narration (see pg. 107).
• Narrative Rationality
– Coherence: “Do all parts of the story seem to
fit together believably?”
– Fidelity: “Fidelity concerns whether a story
rings true to listeners in terms of their own
experiences, values, beliefs, and self-concepts”