THE BEGINNING OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF G. H. MEAD

The objective of this paper is to explore the current trend of using symbolic interactionism as an underpinning theory by revealing the gaps in the elements of the theory, methodology, and suggesting the direction for future research. This communication theory is unique because of the elements; self, society, and the environment. Normally, symbolic interactionism theory (SIT) has been used in identity and healthcare studies. While studies using this theory in entrepreneurship are still lacking. It is shown that this study mostly focuses on the sociology perspective compared to the social-psychology perspective. Therefore, this paper was adopted with a thematic analysis of 116 articles using symbolic interactionism as a theoretical underpinning. The findings show previous research that utilised symbolic interactionism in entrepreneurship is still less. This study found that previous studies have focused more on "Looking-Glass-self" by Goffman compared to the overall perspective of self-society-environment and lack of studies focusing on the entrepreneurship field. This systematic review is expected to give understanding and knowledge to readers about SIT, theory gaps through the elements, and directions for future research to consider using symbolic interactionism as a theoretical underpinning in the entrepreneurial phenomenon.

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G.H. Mead`s original role-concept and its later distortions

Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy ◽

10.14267/cjssp.2010.02.06 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 109-128

Author(s):

Ibolya Vári-Szilágyi

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Theoretical Analysis ◽

Social Science ◽

Symbolic Interactionism ◽

Substantial Influence ◽

Special Regard ◽

The Social ◽

History Of ◽

Role Concept

In the social psychology of the ‘60s probably the notion of role enjoyed the greatest popularity besides attitude. Although this popularity has markedly decreased by the ‘90s, role theories still have a substantial influence on social science thinking. When pondering about the viability of the scientific notion, one does well to recount the history of its spreading and transferring, with special regard to the original role concept of G. H. Mead, the father of symbolic interactionism. As the author’s historical and theoretical analysis reveals, just in the period when the popularity of the role concept was the highest, the context in which role phenomena were examined, were significantly more superficial than Mead’s original attempts at its interpretation. This was able to highlight more deeply the relation of the role and action. Neglecting this has meant that social psychology and sociology have practically left out one possibility to understand better the changes of roles and the emergence of new roles.

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