Symbolic Interactionism Essay

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Ashley Fiddler Nelda McCray Sociology 200 August 29th, 2013 Symbolic Interactionism The health effects from smoking account for more than 440,000 deaths in the United States. That is one in every five deaths. More deaths are caused by tobacco use than HIV, alcohol, motor vehicle accidents, illegal drug use, suicide, and murders combined! The previous statements are facts, yet hundreds of thousands of people choose to continue smoking. Why is that? First let me rewind a bit and give some background information to my thought. Symbolic interactionism is a major framework of sociological theories. Symbolic interactionism, by definition, is a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and to communicate with one another. In similar terms, it basically means that perspective greatly relies on symbolic meaning. As humans we often attach ourselves to symbols, which are everywhere is society today, and by doing so they help us understand how we view the world. It helps us see that physical reality does and can exist in a social standpoint. It shows us that we as humans act and react toward things depending on the meaning things have on us. The most interesting part about this theory is that it shows us that society and people truly do coexist. Society as a whole could not even exist without social interaction, and without symbols our social interaction would be the same as if we were all goldfish just swimming in one big bowl. How we analyze our social lives depend on the way we define others and define ourselves. Interaction and socializing helps you “make sense” of life and how you belong in it. By now you may be wondering where symbolic interactionism even came from. History shows that symbolic interaction was founded by two main sociologists. The

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