Chapter Outline

I. The Major Historical Roots

A. Pragmatism

B. Behaviorism

C. Between Reductionism and Sociologism

II. The Ideas of George Herbert Mead

A. Biographical Sketch

B. Priority of the Social

1. The Act

2. Impulse

3. Perception

4. Manipulation

5. Consummation

C. Gestures

D. Significant Symbols

E. Mind

F. Self

1. Child Development

a. play stage

b. game stage

2. Generalized Other

3. "I" and "Me"

G. Society

III. Symbolic Interactionism: The Basic Principles

A. Capacity for Thought

B. Thinking and Interaction

C. Learning Meanings and Symbols

D. Action and Interaction

E. Making Choices

F. The Self and the Work of Erving Goffman

1. Biographical Sketch

2. Dramaturgy

a. front

b. setting

c. personal front

d. appearance

e. manner

f. mystification

g. teams

h. back stage

i. outside

3. Impression Management

4. Role Distance

5. Stigma

6. Frame Analysis

G. Groups and Societies

IV. Criticisms

V. Toward a More Synthetic and Integrative Symbolic Interactionism

A. Redefining the Mind

B. Micro-Macro Integration

1. Figure: An Overview of the Components of Mead's Theoretical System

C. Symbolic Interactionism and Cultural Studies

VI. The Future of Symbolic Interactionism

VII. Summary