Interactionists

Theory
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Hear it
Name it

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Objectives:
 Identify and know the meaning of
Interactionists Theory
 To Enumerate the philosophers of in
Interactionists Theory
 Identify and use Interactionists Theory
in education
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Interaction
◈ Is a face to face process consisting of
actions, reasons, and mutual adaptation
between two or more individual. It also
includes animal interaction such as
mating. The interaction includes all
language (including body language and
mannerism)
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◈ Interaction is the process which the ability
to think is both developed and expressed.
In most interaction, actors must take
others into consideration and decide if
and how to fit their activities to others.

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◈ Interactionism or symbolic interactionism
is a social action or micro theory based
around the idea that individuals create
meaning based on their interactions with
others. In the context of education,
interactionists focus on the interactions
between pupils and between pupils and
teachers
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looking at concepts such as labelling at the
processes and relationships that happen within
schools. They would tend to look at such
processes to explain differential achievement
for different social groups, rather than looking
to structural external factors like capitalism or
patriarchy.

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Interactionism
- Is a theioretical perspective that
derivws socil processes (such as
conflict, cooperation, identity
formation) from human
interaction.
- It is the study of how individuals
act within society.

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“INTERACTIONIST THEORY
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George Herbert Mead Charles Horton Cooley

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George
Herbert
Mead
George Herbert Mead was an
American philosopher, sociologist,
and psychologist, primarily
affiliated with the University of
Chicago, where he was one of
several distinguished pragmatists

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Charles
Horton Charles Horton Cooley was an American
Cooley sociologist and the son of Michigan
Supreme Court Judge Thomas M. Cooley.
He studied and went on to teach
economics and sociology at the
University of Michigan, was a founding
member of the American Sociological
Association in 1905 and became its
eighth president in 1918

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◈ Interactionist theory has its origin in the
social psychology of early twentieth century
sociologies George Herbert Mead and
Charles Horton Cooley.
◈ Mead and Cooley examined the ways in
which the individual in related to society
through ongoing social interaction

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“
PURPOSE OF INTERACTIONIST
THEORY

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Interactionist theories attempt to make the “
common place strange” by turning on their
heads everyday taken-for-granted behaviors and
interactions between students and students and
between students and teachers. It is exactly
what most people do not question that is most
problematic to the interaction

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◈ The processes by which students are
labelled “Gifted” or “learning
disabled” are, from an interactionist
point of view, important to analyze
because such processes carry with
them many implicit assumptions about
learning and children.
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“
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

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◈ Individual is related to society through on
going social interaction.
◈ View the self as socially constructed in
relation to social forces and structures and
the product of on going negotiations of
meanings. Thus the social self is an activity
product of human agency rather than a
deterministic product of social structure.
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Symbolic Interactionism
Which required mental
processes

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 Principles of Symbolic Interactionism
1. Human being unlike lower animals are endowed
with a capacity for thought.
2. The capacity for thought is shaped by social
interaction.
3. In social interaction, people learn the meaning
and the symbols that allow them to exercise
distinctively human capacity for thought
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4. Meaning and symbols allow people to carry
on distinctively human action and interaction.
5. People are able to modify or alter meaning
and symbols that they use in action and
interaction on the basis of their interpretation of
the situation.

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 Non-Symbolic interactionism
◈ The differentiation made by Blumer (following
Mead) Between two basic form of Social
interaction is relevant here. The first, non
symbolic interaction-Mead’s Conversation of
gesture – does not involve thinking. The second
symbolic interaction does not require mental
processes (Ritzer, 2000)
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Mead’s Approach to symbolic
Interaction Rested on 3 basic
premises

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1.
◈ The fist is that people act towards the
things that they encounter on the basis
of what those things mean to them

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2.
◈ Second, we learn what things are by
observing how other people respond to
them, that is through social interaction.

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 3.
◈ Third, as a result of ongoing interaction, the
sound (or words), gestures, facial expression,
and body posture we use in dealing with
other acquire symbolic meanings that are by
shared by people who belong to the same
culture. The meaning of symbolic gesture
extends beyond the act itself…
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3.
◈ A handshake for instance, is a symbolic
gesture of greeting among Filipinos. As
such, it convey more that just a mutual
grasping of fingers and palms. It expresses
both parties shared understanding that a
social interaction is beginning.

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 ◈ Herbert George Blumer
Herbert Blumer was an American
sociologist whose main
scholarly interests were
symbolic interactionism
and methods of social
research.

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Blumer distinguishes three classes of objects:
1) Physical objects;
2) Social objects; and
3) Abstract objects.

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◈ The environment in which a person
conducts her life can consist only of the
objects that have acquired meaning for
her. The nature of this environment, on
the other hand, is comprised of the
content of those meanings. So, two
persons living in largely similar physical
environs may have subjectively different
‘actual’ environments.
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Activity:
◈ Illustrate/concertize your own perspective of
Interactionist theory

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THANKS!