scholarly journals Symbolic Interactionism in Communication

Communication ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Fernback
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Symbolic Interactionism ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Interactive Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
Meaning Creation ◽  
And Performance

Symbolic interactionism has nearly a hundred-year history as an approach to understanding human communication. With its roots in pragmatism (Dewey), social theory (Mead, Blumer), and later social psychology (Goffman), symbolic interactionism contends that humans interpret and assign meaning to events via an elaborate set of symbols. The meanings of these symbols originate and evolve through human social interaction. These interactions form the foundation for people’s notions of self and society. Thus, the material world, as well as concepts of self, is constructed through an interactive, communicative process. Observing neither idealist nor materialist suppositions about ontological precedence, symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory addressing how the social world is created and sustained through continual and varied interactions among people. It is useful in the study of communication because it explains meaning creation among interlocutors; symbolic interactionism is a theory of language, communication, and socialization. Symbolic interactionism centers on the subjective interpretation of meaning by individual actors. Symbolic interactionists do not deny that institutional structures possess social importance; rather, they attend to the act of meaning construction—how repeated, significant interactions among people, within themselves, and with environments construct the social order. With the interpretive turn in social theory—in which subjective epistemologies gained scholarly value—during the 1980s and beyond, symbolic interactionism became more prominent and influential in other theoretical strains, including identity theory, feminist and queer theories, post-structuralism, critical race theory, and theories of performativity. Increasingly, symbolic interactionism is being applied to the study of social institutions in a meso or macro sense. Methodologically, symbolic interactionism’s emphasis on symbolic meaning, human agency, and interpretive epistemology compels it toward discourse and textual analysis, ethnography, observation, and performance studies. However, a form of symbolic interactionism promoted chiefly by Manford Kuhn introduced a quantitative vein to the scientific study of human interactive behavior. With its broad perspectives (including Karl Weick’s work in organizational culture), symbolic interactionism has gained status in the study of communication.

scholarly journals The non-linear dynamics of meaning processing in social systems

2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loet Leydesdorff
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Functional Differentiation ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Linear Dynamics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Specific Meaning ◽  
Anticipatory Systems

Social order cannot be considered as a stable phenomenon because it contains an order of reproduced expectations. When the expectations operate upon one another, they generate a non-linear dynamics that processes meaning. Specific meaning can be stabilized, for example, in social institutions, but all meaning arises from a horizon of possible meanings. Using Luhmann's social systems theory and Rosen's theory of anticipatory systems, I submit equations for modeling the processing of meaning in inter-human communication. First, a self-referential system can use a model of itself for the anticipation. Under the condition of functional differentiation, the social system can be expected to entertain a set of models; each model can also contain a model of the other models. Two anticipatory mechanisms are then possible: one transversal between the models and a longitudinal one providing the modeled systems with meaning from the perspective of hindsight. A system containing two anticipatory mechanisms can become hyper-incursive. Without decision-making, however, a hyper-incursive system would be overloaded with uncertainty. Under this pressure, informed decisions tend to replace the `natural preferences' of agents, and an order of cultural expectations can increasingly be shaped.

Imaginary and Rational: From Social Theory to Social Order

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4-1) ◽  
pp. 168-179
Author(s):  
Elena Erokhina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Social Imagination ◽  
Public Expectations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
New Research

The article is devoted to the analysis of imagination as a philosophical and sociological concept that played a significant role in the development of social theory in the middle of the 20th century. Exploring the premises of the contradictory relationship between science and society, it is easy to find a connection between the development of science and social change. Currently, it is generally accepted that scientific, including social theories, through the transfer of ideas, transform the social order and, on the contrary, social practices transform knowledge about the world. The article proves that imagination plays a key role in this process. An excursion into the theory of ideas reveals the connection between imagination and irrational and experiential knowledge. The author of the article refers to the works of P. Berger and T. Luckmann, C. Castoriadis and C. Taylor, who showed a direct connection between theoretical ideas and the world of "social imaginary", collective imaginary and social changes. For the first time in the history of mankind, thanks to imagination, society does not see the social order as something immutable. Methodological cases are presented that illustrate the specific role of the concept of imagination as a source of the formation of new research strategies that allow for a new look at the problem of nationalism (social constructivism) and the study of public expectations from the implementation of technological innovations (STS). For decades, Benedict Anderson's work “Imagined Communities” predetermined the interest of researchers of nationalism in social imagination and the collective ideas based on it about the national identity of modern societies, their history and geography. The research of Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim has formed a new track for the study of science as a collective product of public expectations of an imaginary social order, embodied in technological projects. The conclusion is made about the contradictory nature of social expectations based on collective imagination: on the one hand, they strengthen the authority of science in society, on the other hand, they provoke the growth of negative expectations from the introduction of scientific discoveries. The article substantiates the opinion that imagination is an effective tool for assessing the risks of introducing innovations.

Introduction

2010 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela T. Ragusa
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Sandra Harding ◽  
The Social ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Over Time

Epistemology is the concept used to describe ways of knowing. In other words, how you know what you know. Sociologists have been interested in how knowledge is produced since the discipline was founded in the 19th Century. How we come to know our world and make sense of it are influenced by social institutions, individual attitudes and behaviors, and our demographic position within the social order. The social order is an historical product which continues to change over time. To facilitate our learning from our socio-historical experiences, sociologists frequently turn to ideas expressed by social theorists. Social theory, whether classical or contemporary, may thus be employed to help us make sense of changes in our social and material world. Although technology is arguably as ancient as our first ancestors, as the chapters in this book reveal, the characteristics of and communications within our postindustrial society vary greatly from those which occurred in the age of modernity. This introductory chapter identifies a few well-known social theorists who have historically attempted to explain how and why social systems, at macro and micro levels, change over time. Next, it contextualizes communication as a cultural product, arguing the best way to examine the topic is from multiple, local perspectives. In the feminist tradition of postmodernist Sandra Harding, it implores us to consider the premise and source of the knowledge sources we use and espouse while communicating and interacting in specific ways and environments. Finally, grounded in the systemic backdrop of social inequality, this chapter encourages readers to begin the task of critical thinking and reflecting about how each of us, as individuals and members of local communities, nations and the world, assuage or reproduces the structurally-derived inequalities which the globalization of communication and technical systems and interacting in a global environment manifests.

scholarly journals Recovering critique in an age of datafication

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1135-1151
Author(s):  
Nick Couldry
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Questions

This article starts out from the need for critical work on processes of datafication and their consequences for the constitution of social knowledge and the social world. Current social science work on datafication has been greatly shaped by the theoretical approach of Bruno Latour, as reflected in the work of Actor Network Theory and Science and Technology Studies (ANT/STS). The article asks whether this approach, given its philosophical underpinnings, provides sufficient resources for the critical work that is required in relation to datafication. Drawing on Latour’s own reflections about the flatness of the social, it concludes that it does not, since key questions, in particular about the nature of social order cannot be asked or answered within ANT. In the article’s final section, three approaches from earlier social theory are considered as possible supplements to ANT/STS for a social science serious about addressing the challenges that datafication poses for society.

scholarly journals Dynamics of Trust in Institutions, the Legitimacy of the Social Order, and Social Open Innovation

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay I. Didenko ◽  
Gulnara F. Romashkina ◽  
Djamilia F. Skripnuk ◽  
Sergei V. Kulik
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Arctic Region

This article analyses the dynamics of trust in institutions, which underpin the legitimacy of social order, on the basis of a study of the developed Arctic region during the period 2006–2018. The authors considered the principal theoretical concepts on which the study of trust, the well-being of citizens, the assessment of security and compliance with the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens is to be based. It is assumed that the legitimacy of the social order consists in a state where people not only trust specific institutions, but also enjoy a sense of security from threats and the ability to exercise basic rights and freedoms in the presence of a competent authority to protect them in case of violations. The dynamics of the security of the inhabitants of the region, associated with an increase in the level of their well-being, are considered. The structure for retaining the legitimacy of the social order is demonstrated on the basis of a number of indices and model calculations. Configuration analysis was carried out to support the construction of multidimensional models. It was concluded that there has been a dramatic collapse in the social activity of the inhabitants of the Arctic region bordering on social apathy. It is shown that, during the period under study, trust in local authorities significantly declined, while the importance attributed to respecting private property rights increased. Trust in social institutions is shown to be significantly lower than trust in government institutions, contradicting the situation in developed countries. It is recommended that more attention be paid to the functioning of local and municipal authorities governing the Arctic region, who are much more aware of the needs of the inhabitants since they are connected by much denser social ties. The authors substantiate the need to introduce social innovation that allows to diversify communication channels between the government and the public, meet unsatisfied social needs that are not solved by existing institutions and contribute to building trust between different participants.

scholarly journals Research Paradigm as a Value Guideline for Professional Training of Future Social Workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana POVIDAICHYK ◽  
Valentyna PEDORENKO ◽  
Anastasiia POPOVA ◽  
Anastasiia TURGENIEVA ◽  
Yuliia RYBINSKA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
The Social

The need for R&D of social workers was due to the development of theoretical and methodological approaches and concepts of social work, the application of which involved the use of specific research tools. It is substantiated that the research subsystem of social work can be represented in the form of a model of the research environment, which reflects the relationship of three components: the social problem, methods of its research and tools for solving. The dialectical nature of social work, as well as the dynamic conditions in which it is carried out, determine a set of socio-economic, managerial and pedagogical factors that actualize the need for research in the social field. It is substantiated that R&D today is an integral element of professional social practice and is implemented both in the process of working with different categories of clients and in administrative and managerial activities. R&D provides adequate social order development of targeted comprehensive programs, projects and technologies of social protection, design and implementation of models of social institutions and services. As a result of a comprehensive study of the problem, the essential characteristics of R&D were clarified, which means the activity of obtaining new scientifically based knowledge aimed at purposeful change of social reality, which is realized in a logical sequence through the use of appropriate forms and methods of scientific knowledge. It is proved that R&D in the system of social work is realized at three levels (reflexive-theoretical, experimental-theoretical and research), each of which involves step-by-step actions (problem definition; hypothesis formulation, choice of research methods and tools; implementation of research plan; evaluation of results) and the use of appropriate research methods.

scholarly journals Education as a destructor of social order

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-101
Author(s):  
Sergey Ivanovich Chernykh ◽  
◽  
Yaser Seifiddin Allaham ◽  
Vladimir Ivanovich Parshikov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
The Social ◽  
Educational Interactions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Education Science

Introduction. The article examines the problem of the interdependence of the state and processes of changing the social order from the state and processes of changing social institutions designed to guarantee its stability. As one of such institutions, the educational system is considered, which in its traditional state actively performed a protective function, acting as a guarantor of the stability of the social order. In the context of the fourth industrial Revolution, the content and form of educational practices and the entire educational space have changed so much that education as a social institution loses the prerogative of protecting and guaranteeing the stability of the social order. The purpose of the article is to determine the main substrates underlying the social order on the basis of the historical and philosophical classification of the social order concepts, to show which turbulent phenomena in education most deform these substrates and thereby disqualify education in its function as a guarantor of the stability of both the social order and society as a whole. Materials and Methods. The historical and philosophical approach made it possible to form and classify the main concepts in the understanding of the social order and to differentiate its substrate bases using the tabular method. The activity-based and structural-functional approaches allowed us to identify the deforming phenomena that occur today in Russian education and have the greatest impact on the destabilization of the social order. To substantiate the conceptual and methodological basis of the study, the method of critical analysis of current research literature and the interpretation of the results obtained in it is used. Results. Historical and philosophical analysis has shown that the underlying foundations of the stability of the social order are (both in historical and modern explication) coercion, interests, values and norms, as well as cultural inertia. Social institutions (education, science, religion, law, etc.) ensure the functioning of the substrate bases, their correction in the direction of compliance with state needs, and thereby stabilize the existing social order as a system of governance and power mechanisms. However, the fourth technological revolution, which began in the second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, radically changed the functionality of social institutions. This historical period, due to the significance of the changes, was called the “era of turbulence” (A. Greenspan's term). This could not but affect the stability and foundations of the social order. The most pronounced deformations in the era of turbulence are those of education and science, that is, precisely those social institutions that, along with law and culture, in traditional societies served as a guarantor of the stability of the state. The greatest destabilizing effect of education on the social order is: the ongoing change in organizational paradigms of interaction between education and other spheres of public life (from “education-science-production” to “university – government – business”); the change in the status of subjects of educational interactions: the main object of educational interactions is the individual, business systems and the family, and not the state; fictivization of education (especially higher education) in its classical form, which manifests itself in the growing importance of virtual learning, narrow specialization and massization; the growth of educational inequality with its development into a social one. These phenomena really destabilize the social order both as values/norms, as cultural traditions, and as dialectically combined interests of the authorities and individuals. Conclusions. The study of the interactions of the social order has shown that the turbulent phenomena occurring in the social institutions of society can radically affect the stability of the social order. This, in turn, increases the turbulence in society as a whole.

Racism

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selena T. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Social

Racism is pervasive, endemic, and historically rooted in systematic assumptions inherent in superiority based on race and requires the critical attention of all social workers. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has made strides in tackling racism as demonstrated by the social worker and civil rights activist Whitney Young Jr. (1921–1971), other pioneers, and more recently, the NASW zero-tolerance racism policy. Undergirded in empirical discussion, this article leads with the etymology of race(ism), followed by a discussion of Racial Formation Theory and Critical Race Theory. The article gives a historical sketch of racism, followed by examples of its contemporary indicators—throughout social institutions—in the United States. Racism is pervasive and impinges on micro-level and macro-level systems. It is, therefore, beyond the scope of this article to address how racism impacts each group in America. Social work scholars and other experts have provided extensive empirical documentation about the historical trauma and sufferings of other racial groups (e.g., Native Americans/Native peoples/American Indians, Mexican Americans) discussed elsewhere. Specifically, the racism endured by blacks in America is the emphasis of this article. Themes of “colorism” and historical trauma are provided to contextualize advances in national reform and encourage a broader conversation about the racism that blacks experience globally. In addition, this article highlights strides by the social work profession to eradicate racism. Implications for social work are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document