We took some time out today to look at the three perspectives of Sociology, functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism. Of the 3 perspectives, symbolic interactionism is always the trickiest of the bunch because the meanings we assign to symbols may not necessairly match those of others. We took a look at some Snowmageddon 2011 pictures and did some analysis of poor dudes snowblowing their roof, and so on. Pretty straight forward, right? But if you saw the picture above, could you be so sure of what was going on? Is it Mardi Gras in Japan? Are those go-go dancers on the top of the float? Is it legal to dance on a float? Is it a float? Are those guys going to do some kung-fu? What's going on? In order to fully understand symbolic interactionism, one needs to realize that there are 3 assumptions that go along with the theory: (1) you learn meaning through observing others, (2) you then base your behavior on those reactions, and (3) you use the meaning you have internalized to predict how others will respond to stimuli out there in society. So for the picture above, if you were Japanese, you would (1) know that this was taken at a matsuri (a local Japanese festival) which celebrates either a deity or a historical event for a village or town, and the float (dashi) is a part of a parade that goes through town, and you would (2) be following along with the parade, being loud and joyful and you would (3) know others would be loud and joyful because that's what you do at a matsuri. How can you interpret that which you see around YOU on a daily basis?
Friday, February 4, 2011
Putting It Into Perspective...
We took some time out today to look at the three perspectives of Sociology, functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism. Of the 3 perspectives, symbolic interactionism is always the trickiest of the bunch because the meanings we assign to symbols may not necessairly match those of others. We took a look at some Snowmageddon 2011 pictures and did some analysis of poor dudes snowblowing their roof, and so on. Pretty straight forward, right? But if you saw the picture above, could you be so sure of what was going on? Is it Mardi Gras in Japan? Are those go-go dancers on the top of the float? Is it legal to dance on a float? Is it a float? Are those guys going to do some kung-fu? What's going on? In order to fully understand symbolic interactionism, one needs to realize that there are 3 assumptions that go along with the theory: (1) you learn meaning through observing others, (2) you then base your behavior on those reactions, and (3) you use the meaning you have internalized to predict how others will respond to stimuli out there in society. So for the picture above, if you were Japanese, you would (1) know that this was taken at a matsuri (a local Japanese festival) which celebrates either a deity or a historical event for a village or town, and the float (dashi) is a part of a parade that goes through town, and you would (2) be following along with the parade, being loud and joyful and you would (3) know others would be loud and joyful because that's what you do at a matsuri. How can you interpret that which you see around YOU on a daily basis?
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