Herbert Blumer

Herbert Blumer Died 1987

Coined the term Symbolic Interaction. Was a Student of George Herbert Mead. John Watson also was a student of George Herbert Mead. Each took Mead’s work and came up with something radically different. Amongst other ideas, Blumer borrowed and revised Mead’s concept of the I, Me, Self, and Society, as well as his thoughts about how humans become objects to themselves through relating to others.

Symbolic Interaction focuses on how language is used to construct reality and everyday life. It makes use of the metaphor that the social world or society is an ongoing conversation. The structure of the self is also an ongoing conversation, like society.

Blumer’s 3 Basic Principles: 1. Humans act towards things on the basis of the meanings that things have for them. 2. Meaning is a product of human interaction. 3. Meaning is handled and modified through an interpretive process used by each individual in dealing with the signs each encounters.

MEAD argued that Language seperates humans from animals. Animals-conversation of gestures Humans- take on the role of the other.

Through taking on the role of the other, one can see oneself as an object.

Self is the result of an internal conversation emergent from the interaction of two parts, the I and the Me.

I - happening right now as you read this. Self as acting subject. Present now.

Me – self as object/ the ability to reflect on oneself as an object.

Each me or self object can usually be thought of in terms of a role you have. Each of these roles “talk” to each other. The result of this talk is the emergent conversation ot the SELF. “I” makes choices about what the person in question will actually do.

Draw here: Society is the ongoing conversation of the multitude of selves interacting with one another.

Mead also used the term: Generalized Other- the widespread cultural norms and values that are used as a reference in evaluating ourselves. Our sense of They or Them.

Another person Blumer borrowed from was Charles Horton Cooley who talked about- The Looking Glass Self- the conception we have of ourselves derived from the responses of others to us. The image we have of ourselves in our minds.