Body and Social Interaction—The Case of Dance. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek University of Lodz, Poland DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.16.4.10 Keywords: Abstract: The article aims at presenting the symbolic interactionism as a useful and flexible theoret- Symbolic ical perspective in research on the human body. It shows the assumptions of symbolic interactionism Interactionism; Body; in their relation to the human body, as well as explains how basic notions of this theoretical perspec- Interaction; Sociology tive are embodied—the self, social role, identity, acting, interacting. I depict the unobvious presence of in Poland; Grounded the body in the classical works of George H. Mead, Anselm Strauss, Howard Becker, Erving Goffman, Theory Methodology; and in more recent ones, such as Bryan Turner, Ken Plummer, and Loïc Wacquant. I also describe Dance; Identity the Polish contribution to the field, including research on disability, hand transplant, the identity of a disabled person, together with the influence of sport, prostitution as work, yoga, climbing, relation- ships between animals and humans based on gestures and bodily conduct, the socialization of young actors and actresses, non-heteronormative motherhood, and the socialization of children in sport and dance. In a case study based on the research on ballroom dancers, I show how to relate the theoretical requirements of symbolic interactionism with real human “flesh and bones.” I depict three ways of perceiving own bodies by dancers: a material, a tool, a partner; and, two processes their bodies are subjected to: sharpening and polishing a tool. I draw the link between the processual character of the body, of the symbolic interactionist theoretical perspective, and process-focused grounded theory methodology. Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek, sociologist, is dures. She is a book review editor in the Qualitative So- an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology of ciology Review and Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej. Her main Culture, Faculty of Economics and Sociology at the Uni- scientific interests are: symbolic interactionism, grounded versity of Lodz, Poland. Her book, Body in Dance. Socio- theory methodology, qualitative methods, autoethnogra- logical Analysis, presents the outcomes of a study on ball- phy, sociology of the body, sociology of medicine, ethno- room dancing as a social activity. She has participated in graphic research. research projects concerning communication on hospital wards, lobbying, revitalization of cities, and HR proce- email address: [email protected] 164 ©2020 QSR Volume XVI Issue 4 Body and Social Interaction—The Case of Dance. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective ...objects have the meanings and are acted toward. Among phenomena are thought-provoking, as they influ- these objects are the body, certain of its parts, and possibly ence big groups of people, and sometimes shape some of its physiological systems. corporate marketing strategies, health policies, or [Strauss 1993:111] cause global problems, such as the obesity pan- demic. The quantitative studies on the issues at Anselm Strauss claims, “Con- hand are necessary and may help to understand cerning bodies, and their bi- and influence the macro-social processes. How- ological connotations, there ever, it may be beneficial to have a closer look on are ghosts that haunt the so- a micro-level and recognize the processes that af- Ascial sciences” (1993:107). Until the social and cul- fect individual actions to understand the specifici- tural changes of the last thirty years, the interest ty of the human body. The macro-social phenome- in the human body was manifested primarily by na always constitute a mix of people’s experiences, biological and medical sciences. The transforma- decisions, acts, and identities. tions caused by the feminist movement, develop- ment of medicine, globalization, and increasing This article aims at proposing symbolic interac- migration have altered the way social scientists tionism (SI) as a useful and flexible theoretical per- approach human corporeality. The meaning of the spective, which may help recognize various social human body, its appearance, functions, and the in- aspects of the human body as experienced, man- fluence it has on others have recently gained in im- aged, and utilized by an individual. The character- portance. Due to cultural changes in the modern istics are perceived as influenced by social and cul- world, the body is no longer a mere physical entity, tural processes through interacting, role-making, an instrument of the soul, as Descartes claimed. negotiating, constructing identity. In the subse- It is a life project, an individual construct, one of quent paragraphs, I depict how the assumptions of the elements of a modern individual’s life. As var- SI refer to interest in the human body. Additionally, ious social institutions, such as family, marriage, I present some classical works in the field and shed local and religious communities, or work, had un- light on the Polish contribution to the SI research dergone multiple changes and no longer stand for on the human body. In the next part of the text, foreseeable determinants of one’s social status, the I present original findings based on my SI study of body seems to be one of the most predictable ele- the human body in dance. The presentation of the ments of life. research serves as an example of how the SI per- spective helps to explain how social interactions The research on social and cultural influence on the have an impact on the human body. I describe the human body is developing in sociology, anthropol- process of the social construction of embodiment: ogy, philosophy, pedagogics, and psychology. The its influence on identities, role-making, the way so- literature on the subject offers numerous examples cial actors use their bodies as tools of social inter- of studies in the field. However, most of them focus action. In this part of the text, I will shortly discuss on narratives and the influence that macro-social the assumptions of SI. I do not describe them in phenomena, such as marketing, fashion, food, the extension, as I aim to show their relation to the hu- medical industry, have on the human body. Such man body and its social aspects. Qualitative Sociology Review • www.qualitativesociologyreview.org 165 Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek SI is a theoretical perspective, according to which are conscious individuals whose actions depend society, reality, and the self are created through in- on their inner conversations (e.g., with imagined teractions and based on communication. The lead- significant others). The questions and answers de- ing assertion of this orientation is the processual pend on a reference group that sets the fundamen- character of social reality, as a result of its perma- tal cognitive perspective from which an individual nent creation by social actors in the process of in- assesses themselves and others. Namely, the way terpreting the actions of others. Society is a con- we perceive, treat, use our bodies relies on the way tinuously produced and reproduced effect of joint significant others and our reference group treat human actions (Blumer 2007). them. We learn it during primary and secondary socialization and see our bodies through the eyes The first assumption of SI is that people do not of others. react automatically to stimuli, but act conscious- ly towards objects based on the meanings these Thirdly, people employ meanings and modify objects (situations, other people, own and other’s them through interpretation. Therefore, the mean- bodies) have for them (Charmaz 2006:7; 2014). ings of objects are never explicitly determined, but Everything can become an object of interpreta- always recognized and subjected to modifications tion, also intangible and imagined phenomena. during the interpretation process. That is why the Therefore, the significance of objects to which in- most fundamental and only “real” phenomenon dividuals operate should occupy a central place observable for the researcher is the activity of an in the analysis and understanding of social phe- individual. Social norms work through actions, nomena (Blumer 2007). The body, like any other which is possible only through the body. Humans object, is not “given”; the individual provides its change the way they see their bodies depending meanings, just like in the case of other objects. on how they look, how they act, and whether their The difference is that it is an object of particular capabilities are growing or diminishing. importance because we are unable to get rid of it, or distance ourselves from it, as it is always pres- *** ent. Through our bodies, we interact with others, and we also perceive them from the perspective The body has been implicitly present in sociology. of their corporeality. It is significant for research Some researchers claim that it has always been one concerning the human body, as the issues of per- of its main categories. As Dennis Vaskul and Phil- ceiving one’s body have a fundamental meaning lip Vannini state (2006:13), after Chris Shilling, the for understanding their activities (see also: Den- body had a specific status of “absent presence” in zin 1972:77). the history of sociology. It was there in reflections on race, gender, illness, death and dying, disability, Secondly, the meanings of objects derive from so- sport, aging, or ethnicity (Strauss 1993:108). At the cial interactions. The way others act towards a par- same time, human actions were rarely perceived as ticular subject, for example, their own body or embodied, and until lately, the experience of one’s other bodies, is crucial because it results in how body was seldom studied within symbolic inter- one defines a given object (Blumer 2007). People actionist tradition. The body appears in various 166 ©2020 QSR Volume XVI Issue 4 Body and Social Interaction—The Case of Dance. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective contexts in the classical works by Anselm Strauss, aging (Rambo Ronai 1992; Turner and Wainwright Howard Becker, or Erving Goffman.