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Essay on Symbolic Interactionism and Marijuana Users
Symbolic interactionism is what Nye and Berardo (1966) called a conceptual framework, rather than a specific theory. Meaning, self, identity, and their relationships to behavior have been the central concerns of the sociological framework known as symbolic interactionism. As a theoretical framework that emphasizes the micro (face-to-face) interaction among individuals, symbolic interactionism has been most influential among American sociologists specializing in social psychology, and its primary unit of analysis is the individual.
According to Stryker (1980) and Meltzer, Petras, and Reynolds (1975), in their analyses of the historical development of symbolic interactionism, philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment, viewed society as a network of interpersonal communications that connect people. By approaching human behavior from the standpoint of society rather than biology, these philosophers appreciated the mind as instrumental in human adaptation. Some of their concepts that influenced the development of symbolic interactionism include communication, sympathy, imitation, habit, and customs. Stryker (1981) stated that "Hume--as well as Smith--saw in `sympathy' the principal through which humans develop their sense of membership in and benefits to be derived from society, and through which they come to be controlled by others." In other words, to be human, as we know it, requires group membership.
Through Cooley's (1902) work, the concept of "sympathetic introspection" came to influence contemporary symbolic interactionism, particularly the Chicago School. Cooley emphasized the importance of subjective mental activity in social life. He viewed society as "a relationship among personal ideas" (1902). In analyzing social behavior, Cooley argued that humans use sympathetic introspection empathically to imagine situations as others see them. For Cooley, the individual and society are two sides of the same coin; no individual exists apart from society, and there can be no self apart from others. To emphasize this latter connection, Cooley referred to the self as a "looking glass self.......
