SOC 2070 Chapter Notes -Talcott Parsons, Social Constructionism, Symbolic Interactionism

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2070
• Professor: Andrew Robinson

Document Summary

Social constructionists are known for probing deeply behind the conventions and common sense norms of society to attempt to discover the reasons why we believe as a product of our social interaction. Social constructionism is very important because it demonstrates how symbols can move people: turning a piece of cloth into a flag, for instance. If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences . This would relate to both imaginary deviance and labeling and is a key part of social constructionism as well as symbolic interactionism. In the same interactive tradition comes labelling theory: it is more of a perspective than a theory or paradigm. It basically says that people do different things often because they are labeled differently. Structural theories explain individual behaviour and thoughts by the actions of large groups and institutions, ultimately saying that the individual is created by society.