WK 11.1 Reading Symbolic Interactionism - Hanane Ben Abdeslam

Symbolic interactionism is a theory that emerged in sociology and has subsequently spread to other areas such as anthropology and social psychology. This theory analyzes interactions and their meaning. In this way it tries to understand the processes that lead people to be part of a society. In other words, it studies social activities and self-creation. Symbolic interactionism is based on interpretations. People have different interpretations of reality. However, these interpretations will be more similar in people from the same environments. One of the cultural differences that is most problematic when people travel is symbols. For example, if someone holds the palm of his hand to someone else, I would interpret this as a way to stop or be silent. However, a Greek would probably consider it as an insult and a Lebanese would associate it with the evil eye. Furthermore, symbolic interactionism takes a stand against absolute truths. In particular, it claims that there is no single truth, but only different subjective truths for each situation. In other words, the ‘truth’ is different in every community. To understand these different ‘truths’, symbolic interactionism studies the relationships between people and symbols. The ultimate goal is to understand the individual identity and social organization.

What is new to me is that symbolic interactionism suggests that we define ourselves by the different meanings that being an individual implies in specific contexts. Because we are social creatures, what it means to be ‘an individual’ will depend largely on our interactions with other people.

Do you believe that interacting with people from different cultures will therefore make us more open-minded and help us understand each other better? 

Hanane Ben Abdeslam

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