SOCI 1210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Symbolic Interactionism, Antipositivism, Critical Theory
20 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
(compte) Interpretive sociology
-focus is on understanding or interpreting human activity in terms of the meanings that humans
attribute to it.
-emphasis on the meaningfulness of social interaction
Key theory: symbolic interactionism
-provides a theoretical perspective that helps scholars examine the relationship of individuals within
their society
-perspective is centered on the notion that communication, or the exchange of meaning through
language and symbols, is how people make sense of their social worlds
-sees people as active in shaping their world, rather than as entities who are acted upon by society.
Symbolic interactionism
-Three basic premises
-Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings that ther ascribe to those things
-The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has
with others and the society
-These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the
person in dealing with the things they encounter
-People interact indirectly, by interpreting the meaning of each other’s actions, gestures, or words
-People act based on what they think things mean, relative to their interpretation of the information
that they have received.
MARX Critical sociology
-Emphasis on power relations and the understanding of “society” as historical
-Subject to change, struggle, contradiction, instability, social movement, and radical
transformation
-Focus on developing types of knowledge and political action that enable emancipation from power
relations
-Key theories: Historical Materialism; Feminism
Historical Materialism
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Focus is on understanding or interpreting human activity in terms of the meanings that humans attribute to it. Provides a theoretical perspective that helps scholars examine the relationship of individuals within their society. Perspective is centered on the notion that communication, or the exchange of meaning through language and symbols, is how people make sense of their social worlds. Sees people as active in shaping their world, rather than as entities who are acted upon by society. Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings that ther ascribe to those things. The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and the society. These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things they encounter. People interact indirectly, by interpreting the meaning of each other"s actions, gestures, or words.
