Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach to Social Psychology and Sociology - Softcover

Sandstrom, Kent L.; Martin, Daniel D.; Fine, Gary Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019533065X ISBN 13: 9780195330656

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2006

Synopsis

The Second Edition of Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality introduces students to the symbolic interactionist perspective in sociology. This book differs from other texts on interactionism in several important respects. First, it offers a stronger empirical focus, linking discussions of the central ideas and premises of symbolic interactionism to pertinent research, including ethnographic studies conducted by each of the authors. Second, the book emphasizes topics that are inherently interesting to students, such as the dynamics of self-development, impression management, identity transformation, gender play, rumor transmission, and collective action. Third, it includes an analysis of the changing nature and experience of selfhood in contemporary society. Fourth, the authors provide a useful set of pedagogical tools at the end of each chapter, including a summary of key points and concepts, a glossary of key terms, a list of suggested readings, and questions for reflection and discussion. Finally, Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality offers a discussion of the personal relevance of symbolic interactionism, its salience for social policy, its broadening theoretical scope, and its relationship to new and increasingly prominent perspectives emerging within sociology.

The new edition covers an even broader range of ideas and topics than the First Edition. It also features several updated sections and boxed inserts. These address such topics as:

* The impact of postmodernity on students' experiences of self.
* The dynamics of mass panics.
* Status passages experienced by students.
* Ethnomethodology and the construction of reality.
* The necessity of language.
* Internet technologies and their effects on interaction.
* New methods of ethnographic analysis.
* The dramatic elements of social movements.
* The value and future of interactionism.

About this title

About the Author

Kent L. Sandstrom is at University of Northern Iowa. Daniel D. Martin is at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Gary Alan Fine is at Northwestern University.

Review

"Erudite, accessible, and empirically grounded, Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality provides a refreshing newcomer to the crowded field of social psychology. Simultaneously, it presents abstract concepts and theories, all the while locating these in the most cogent examples of symbolic interactionist research. The authors are to be applauded for producing a text that creates chatter and excitement among students as they see sociological theory come alive in research and practice."--Peter Adler, University of Denver

"This book is a gem for both students and sociologists! The authors have succeeded in depicting the symbolic interactionist (SI) perspective in a scholarly, comprehensive, and lucid manner. The book is replete with compelling empirical examples and applications of SI concepts and principles. Students get a sense of how the SI perspective has [evolved]. Thus, they see the perspective as a dynamic, empirically grounded, and thriving approach rather than a static one."--Michael Klausner, Excerpt from Review in Teaching Sociology

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 019533065X
• ISBN 13: 9780195330656
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 246