1. original nature - Development - channeling impulses and giving them goals. Active nature of the child,
2. symbolic - a common set of symbols and understanding possessed by people in a group.
3. interaction between a person’s inner thoughts and emotions and social behavior.
4. individuals are active constructors of their own conduct who interpret, evaluate, define and map out their own action. Decision-making, opinion forming.
5. context or environment - action emerges from the particular situation.
6. Weber - action theory - emphasis on individual’s interpretation of a situation and the importance of subjective meaning.
7. goal - Analysing social systems or individual behavior.
8. Simmel - dyadic and triadic relationships.
9. W.I. Thomas - "definition of the situation" behavioral consequences.
10. Charles Horton Cooley - "looking glass self" imagination
<>A. Herbert Blumer 1. Interpretation (opposed
to behaviorism - or mechanical stimulus response approach)
subjective
experience (covert behavior) as well as observable behavior in
understanding
human interaction.
a. viewpoint of the
actor
b. self-indication
- individuals point out certain stimuli to themselves and then
interpret
it
c. gestures -
stimulus - interpretation - response based on the meaning of actions.
d. Three basic
premises:
1) Human beings
act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for
them.
2)The meaning
of things arises out of the social interaction one has with one’s
fellows.
3) the
meanings of things are handled in and modified through an interpretive
process used by the person in dealing with things he encounters.
2. Structure and
Process
- structures are important but they do not determine behavior.
a. social
role/interactive role - determined by the culture/mediated by
individuals
b. structure is an
important qualifier of behavior, a constraint.
c. process
- joint actions - uncertainty,
3. Methodology
a. inductive
approach - theories emerge from constant observation of the
empirical
world not through deductive reasoning.
b. modes
of inquiry - exploration, inspection, qualitative analysis