Mead’s theory of symbolic interaction is based off the assumption that the social structure is developed at both the individual level and societal level. Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical orientation focusing on how society is a product of shared communication and understanding among self-conscious individuals engaged in cooperative undertakings. Symbolic interactionism looks at the meaning behind social action. Mead is described a social behaviorist. He did not believe that behavior is determined, but society does affect behavior. Stimuli and the environment are reflected upon before behavior occurs, therefore, unobserved activity is crucial to understand human behavior. Mead believed that one must understand how impulses that become desires affect social action.
Social evolution forces the environment to become dependent on the organisms around it (Mead 1977:xxii). Mead believed that humans construct their social environment and have the ability to create their own social realities. There is a dialectic process that occurs between individuals and society. Individuals are both influenced by and influence the world around them.
Mead was critical of behavioralism. Behavioralism is the study of an individual’s experience that is observable by others (Mead 1977:116). He disagreed with the positivistic approach of behavioralism. Mead believed that mental behavior cannot be reduced to non-mental behavior (Mead 1977:125). Behavior is not based upon instinct and cannot be determined strictly by external forces. Mead writes: “Delayed reaction is necessary to intelligent conduct” (1977:177). Humans must reflect upon social stimuli (Ashley and Orenstein 2005:406). It is through the Mind that impulses become guided.
Self reflection occurs within the Mind. The Mind is an abstract organizing entity that seeks a justified relationship between individuals and their environment (Mead 1977:72). Internalization through the use of the Minds is the chief mode of interaction (Mead 1977:228). Human perception is a selective response to stimuli where stimuli are interpreted in reference to the Self (Mead 1977:xxv). Consciousness is selective, which allows novelty in society (Mead 1977:65).
The gesture marks the beginning of a social act (Mead 1977:155). Gestures that bring rise to a common idea are significant symbols (Mead 1977:157). Individuals are able to predict the intent of others because of significant symbols. Thinking in and of itself requires the use of symbols (Mead 1977:211). Symbols become significant symbols when they take on identical meaning for ourselves and others (Mead 1977:xxvi). Significant symbols makes the Mind possible; without them, reflection could not occur.
Reflection occurs within the individual, but it becomes public through social acts (Mead 1977:80). The Mind is formed through social interaction. It is inseparable from the social process (Mead 1977:195). Stimuli only have meaning through the human experience (Mead 1977:3). The Mind is able to find meaning through a subject/object relationship (Mead 1977:192). Individuals are subjects in the respect that they constitute their own behavior. They are objects in the sense that they take into account the meaning behind significant symbols that are prevalent in society when acting. Meaning continuously adjusts based on the relationship between individuals and their surroundings (Mead 1977:167). Through self-reflection, individuals analyze the intent of others (Mead 1977:128).
The Self is connected to the Mind and they emerge together. Social development and individual development occur together (Ashley and Orenstein 2005:403). The personality is the reflection of the Mind but the Mind is the abstract part of the individual, where as the Self is observable. The total Self emerges out of the dialectic interactions between the I and the Me. Mead writes “The ‘I’ is the response of the organism to the attitudes of the other, the ‘me’ is the organized set of attitudes of others which on himself assumes” (Mead 1989:94). Social control occurs when the Me is expressed over the I (Mead 1977:239). The I represents the innate, impulsive part of the individual, where as the Me represents the socialized part of the individual.
Personality or the total Self emerges from socialization (Mead 1977:226). The development of the Self requires one to take the role of the other (Mead 1977:xxvii). Mead states, “The child has no definite character, no definite personality” (1977:223). The Self must emerge from a socialization process (Mead 1977:226). The emergence of the Self develops through three stages: the preparatory stage, the play stage, and the game stage. The preparatory stage is a stage in childhood development where the child imitates others meaninglessly. They take the role of the other, but the do not understand what it means. During the play stage, children act out roles but the roles are unstable and the children do not have a unitary standpoint from which to view themselves. The play stage introduces the generalized other and helps them develop a generalized attitude. Mead writes: “The organized community or social group which gives to the individual his unity of self can be called ‘the generalized other.’ The attitude of the generalized other is the attitude of the whole community” (1977:218). The generalized other is a form of social control which gives rise to common conceptions (Mead 1977:219). The final stage leading to the emergence of the Self is the game stage. Throughout this stage, roles are given meaning. Children take certain roles and they understand that there are different roles for each person. During the game stage, children are able to organize the Mind.
Mead believed that humans are able to control their environment (Mead 1977:30). Individuals can control the reactions of others by predicting their responses (Mead 1977:96). Humans are aware of what symbols they portray to others (Mead 1977:37). By taking the role of the generalized other, they are able to direct others’ reactions based upon their predicted responses. The Self becomes a subject by taking the role of the other and also becomes an object by creating social action (Mead 1977:95). It is only through mutual role- taking that coordinated behavior can occur (Ashley and Orenstein 2005:401).
The Self is a process of adaption and interaction that occurs from temporal order (Ashley and Orenstein 2005:405). Temporal order is the continuously changing considerations for action (Mead 1977:xvii). Prediction is helpful, but it is never completely accurate: “In a sense we can predict the future, but what we predict is always something less than that which happens” (Mead 1977:105). The meanings behind significant symbols changes bases upon the environment. Mead believed that society was revolutionary in the fact that the social structure was continuously changing due to the novelty of social action (Mead 1977:20). The historical emergence of reality is unpredictable (Ashley and Orenstein 2005:395). Mead viewed social organization and social structure as open and fluid (Mead 197:xviii).
Individuals reflect the social structure, but they also create society (Mead 1977:235). According to Mead, social structure is nothing more than common responses (Mead 1989:229). Human interaction is a conversation of gestures (Zeitlin 2001:427). Gestures must evoke similar meaning among individuals in order for interaction and society to exist. It is through organized responses that community becomes possible because without organized responses, the generalized other or significant symbols would not be of any value when trying to predict social action (Mead 1977:254). Societies develop by adjusting to social interactions and social institutions are just habits of individual interaction (Mead 1977:24-25).
Mead believed that society was held together through symbolic interaction. Society becomes cohesive through shared understanding. Shared understanding is available through the use of significant symbols. Through the use of the significant symbol, individuals have the ability to control the development of society and social interaction, while, at the same time, they are controlled by society and shared social meanings.
