Micro interactionism The legacy of Pragmatism Cardinal numbers of Guaran language of indigenous Paraguayans 1 pete 2 mok i 3 mbohapy 4 irundy 5 po 6 pote 7 8 pohapy 9 porundy 10 pa 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Can you fill in the blanks pate pak i pahapy papo papok i papohapy paporundy mok ipa From structure to agency structuralists Ferdinand de Saussure 1857 1913 Linguistic Unlocked the code of ancient languages Claude L vi Strauss born 1908 Anthropology Found hidden patterns of diverse myths Emergence of structuralism in sociology Karl Marx People make their own history but they do not make it just as they please they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves but under circumstances directly found given and transmitted from the past The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 1852 Adolescent Karl But mom I want to be an individual Just like everybody else Structure vs Agency What do YOU think Are our actions constrained by limits set in place by others so much so that our path in life is narrow and predictable Or Do we have the ability to navigate the barriers in our way so that we can forge our own path What might microinteractionists think Thought exercise Consider a maze What are your options What are your limitations How does structure confine limit and determine our fate Concrete barriers vs Path of least resistance Question Who creates the structure What might microinteractionists think The legacy of Pragmatism truth is determined by the practical consequences of our actions Challenges the idea that objects and ideas have fixed meanings Explains how humans use symbols to communicate and interact Identifies the existence of multiple social selves Charles Sanders Pierce Born 1839 died 1914 Mathematician scientist philosopher Things are true because we believe them to be true The meaning of objects and actions are not fixed a priori in Latin from the former Thought exercise A chair What is this thing How do you know Does it mean the same thing to everyone How about a carpenter a weary traveler a cowboy in a bar fight What a pragmatist might say The objective reality the fixed meaning of a chair depends on the practical consequences of chairs in everyday life Chairs are for sitting until the day when people know longer sit in them at that point their meaning changes If meanings were fixed and unchanging this wouldn t happen Use of symbols We can only communicate via symbols Communication therefore is the use of signs and symbols between people semiotics study of signs and symbols Who determines meaning Us Humans Pragmatists and symbols Symbols only make sense in relation to other symbols just like words only make sense in relation to other words A chair means what it does because we agree that it does In a sociological sense it not only takes two to tango it takes two to make meaning The symbol of a chair only makes sense in relation to other symbols that represent things and actions such as to sit and furniture Pragmatists and meaning If symbols only make sense in relation to other symbols then our social actions only make sense in relation to the actions of others We determine what actions to take by predicting and anticipating how others will respond The meaning of our own actions is therefore partly determined by how others react to us Charles Horton Cooley Born 1864 died 1929 Most famous idea looking glass self How do you see yourself through eyes of others Thought exercise picking out your clothes in the morning William James Born 1842 died 1910 Offered a theoretical bridge between Idealism and Pragmatism Argued for the existence of multiple social selves All guided by a unitary self soul Thought exercise your social self in your parents home vs a campus party George Herbert Mead Born 1863 died 1931 Published little but his ideas were very influential basis of Blumer s symbolic interactionism Contribution the social mind Role of games The generalized other The me and I of the self Generalized other We account for the generalized other in our own thoughts and actions Allows us to interact socially even when we are thinking by ourselves Awareness of others helps us make sense of our own identity because our own self only makes sense in relation to that of others How can pragmatism help us understand the tension between structure and agency In order to understand why people do what they do we need to have an idea of how they make decisions and what guides their actions i e why do they navigate the structure the way they do Phenomenology The study of phenomena More specifically the study of how people subjectively interpret experience and assign meaning to phenomena Phenomenology cont Lightning bolt exercise How can it be interpreted objectively and subjectively meteorologist vs cave dweller Alfred Schutz Born 1899 died 1959 Part time banker Influenced by Weber s concept of verstehen Our understanding of the social world is subjective Signs symbols and gestures do not have a universal meaning Weber s woodcutter You see a person chopping wood in the distance What are they thinking What are they trying to accomplish What is their motive Subjective understanding What are the clues you use to better understand the woodcutter Put yourself in their position take their role Interpret contextual clues signs symbols and gestures Superimpose your own experiences and motivations Limits of subjective understanding The subjective meaning that the interpreter does grasp is at best an approximation to the sign user s intended meaning but never that meaning itself for one s knowledge of another person s perspective is always necessarily limited For exactly the same reason the person who expresses himself in signs is never quite sure of how they are being understood p 37 How can phenomenology help us understand the tension between structure and agency If the meaning of signs symbols and gestures can vary within a given structure depending on the context then the way we act towards them may also change Question under what conditions might we expect individuals to exercise their agency differently within the same structure Ex university registrar Peter L Berger and Thomas Luckman Published in 1966 Made famous the now ubiquitous term social construction Their theory answers the question where did our social reality come from Who made the structure we now navigate their answer us Social Construction of Institutions Begin as merely habitualized actions among people Patterned