SOC 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: George Herbert Mead, Symbolic Interactionism, Georg Simmel

• School: Irvine Valley College
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1
• Professor: brown

Document Summary

Generally associated with conflict theory, but for us his contribution to symbolic interactionism is also of note. For example, his emphasis on verstehen, a german term meaning a deep understanding and interpretation of subjective social meanings in order to appreciate both the intention and the context of human action, is entirely consistent with symbolic interactionism. Verstehen, then, refers to understanding the meaning of an action from the actor"s point of view. Human actors are not seen as the product of external forces that direct their lives, but instead as active agents who engage with others to organize their world and give it meaning. This approach is also entirely consistent with the sociological imagination to put yourself in another person"s shoes and see the world from his or her position. Weber"s emphasis on an individual"s subjective analysis and interpretation of an action or situation challenged positivist social science and inspired the emergence of symbolic interactionism.