Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method

218 Pages·1969·4.204 MB·English

by  Herbert Blumer

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic Interactionism
Perspective and Method
HERBERT BLUMER
University of California Press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 1969 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
First Paperback Printing 1986
ISBN 0-520-05676-0 (alk. paper)
Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 76-80731
Printed in the United States of America
4 5 6 7 8 9
The paper used in this publication meets the
minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984. ©
To My Daughter, Katherine Hade

Preface
Ihe present volume is being published in response to many
requests from former students and from professional colleagues
whom I have not been privileged to have as students. They have
asked that I make available to them in a single book several of my
articles now scattered in different publications, indicating that such
an arrangement would be beneficial to them and to their students.
In responding to their requests I have selected from my articles those
which deal with aspects of symbolic interactionism or with methodo­
logical problems. These two areas of scholarly interest have been
of major concern to me since my graduate days, when I wrote a
doctoral dissertation on “Method in Social Psychology.” The linking
of these two concerns is not a marriage of convenience however but
a genuine union. It is my conviction that an empirical science neces­
sarily has to respect the nature of the empirical world that is its
object of study. In my judgment symbolic interactionism shows that
respect for the nature of human group life and conduct. But that
respect necessitates, in turn, the development of a methodological
perspective congruent with the nature of the empirical world under
study.
Various of my articles, chiefly those brought together in this
volume, touch in one way or another on the point of view of sym­
bolic interactionism or on methodological matters related to that
vii
point of view. I wrote each of these articles, however, for a specific
purpose. Thus, even when grouped together they do not give the
unified picture I have sought to present to graduate students over
four decades of instruction. In a partial effort to fill this need I have
prepared a lengthy introductory essay for the present volume. This
essay is the only previously unpublished body of writing in the
volume. I recommend that the essay be read first in order to grasp
the import of any of the subsequent articles.
I wish to thank those of my former students who spurred and
prodded me to publish this volume. They are many, and it would be
pretentious to list their names. I feel called on, however, to single
out the two who have been most persistent over the years in making
this request: Tamotsu Shibutani and Howard Becker. To their
names I add that of my friend James Clark, formerly of Prentice-
Hall, who above all has pressed me gently but unrelentingly to
bring out this set of my writings. In the light of these solicitations I
can honestly disclaim responsibility if the publication of the present
volume becomes an unsuccessful venture.
Herbert Blumer
Berkeley, California
Contents
1 THE METHODOLOGICAL POSITION OF
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONS 1
2 SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE
THOUGHT OF GEORGE HERBERT MEAD 61
3 SOCIETY AS SYMBOLIC INTERACTION 78
4 ATTITUDES AND THE SOCIAL ACT 90
5 PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPORT OF THE
HUMAN GROUP 101
6 AN APPRAISAL OF THOMAS AND
ZNANIECKI’S THE POLISH PEASANT IN
EUROPE AND AMERICA 117
ix
7
SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND
THE "VARIABLE” 127
8
WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOCIAL THEORY? 140
9
SCIENCE WITHOUT CONCEPTS 153
10
THE PROBLEM OF THE CONCEPT
IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 171
11
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY
OF MASS-MEDIA EFFECTS 183
12
PUBLIC OPINION AND PUBLIC
OPINION POLLING 195
X