Week 9 Symbolic Interactionism

I personally understand Symbolic Interactionism through the word 'meaning' and 'interpretation'. It is all about how we interpret a particular meaning. Applying to everyday communication, language itself is a symbol.

According to Turner & West (2010), this theory is based on the idea on how we are motivated to act based on the "meanings that we assign to people or things or even events. " (p.79) How these meanings are in a way created through negotiation with other individuals or negotiated within our self. Language, being a symbol enables us to interact negotiates meaning with other individuals in society.


Griffin (2012) defines it as 'the ongoing use of language and gestures in anticipation of how the other will react; a conversation.' (pg.54)

I will use the road sign 'BERHENTI" as my example. For a Malay society, they will surely know what this sign means. 'BERHENTI' means 'STOP'. A road sign which means that for a vehicle user, we stop at a road junction to see to see whether there is an opening for us to move before making our exit to another road.

Using the symbolic interactionism theory where language itself is a symbol, for those who are able to speak and understand Malay Language, this road sign is not really a major problem for them as they are able to understand. That BERHENTI sign has 'meaning' for them which is to 'stop'.  However, for those who do not understand Malay language or words, this sign will not mean anything to them. Therefore they do not see any meaning. This is a simple way of an understanding of symbolic interactionism.

Applying this theory to society. In most societies there is a 'shared meaning'. People in society would definitely would have the same definition of a particular matter. For example in the Brunei society, they see homosexual couples getting married as something not accepted in terms of culture and religion. This is an example of a 'shared meaning'.

However for some societies such as the United States, they see homosexual couples getting married as something normal. That is their 'shared meaning' concerning that matter. This shows that for the people in the Brunei society, this matter is prohibited therefore they follow that 'meaning' where they do not accept homosexual marriage. For the American society, this homosexual matter may use to be something prohibited but the society may have gone through a process of changing interpretation of that particular 'meaning' making homosexual marriage as something acceptable within that society. (Cantor et al 2006)

We need to keep in mind that this theory is based on interpretation of meaning. Therefore a particular matter may not just have one meaning for a particular individual but various meanings. This make the theory quite broad and making it very hard to apply. However this theory can be used as a framework to support other communication theories. (West & Turner 2010) 

References:

Cantor, D., (2006) Same-Sex Marriage: The Legal & Psychological Evolution In America. Middlestown. Wesleyan University Press.


Griffin, E., (2012) A First Look At Communication Theory (8th Edition). New York. McGraw Hill.

West, R., Turner, L., H., (2010) Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application 4^th Edition). New York. McGraw Hill.