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Symbolic interactionism

Already at the end of the 19Hl century, the German sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) thought up what he referred to as forms of socialisation. This was the fruit of the reciprocal action of individuals. Hierarchy, whether it is social or organisational, is one example of a form of socialisation resulting from the action of individuals on each other. This sociological conception leads to considering things as the result of a series of interactions between people, and not as something to be taken for granted (owing to technology, economic or environmental requirements, history, etc.).

This interactionist conception of the making of social order, blended with the tradition of comprehending sociology that assumes that actors manufacture their world from the meaning they give to things, led to a new current of sociological analysis called symbolic interactionism (Herbert Blumer, 1900-1987). For this new current of thinking, it was important to take into account the way actors conceive the world around them. It is necessary to talk from the point of view of people, since it is from this point of view that the world is built, says Erwin GOFFMAN (1922-1982). "If people define a social situation as real, it is real in its consequences." (William Thomas (1863-1947)

The best example is the bankruptcy of a bank, the failure of Euro against US dollar or any panic or rush on the stock exchange: when you believe, that this bank (e.g., in Aug 2007, the UK bank Northern Rock) is insolvent, or that Euro must fall down, or that the shares of Facebook are underestimated – in these cases, you shell get back your money from that bank, exhange the Euros to the US dollars, buy the shares of FaceBook. And, thereby, the bank will lose the clients contribution (what leads to bankruptcy), the Euro will drop down, the Facebook appraisal will grow up.

Seen from this angle, analysis is about reporting on concrete situations in an organisation, there where the organisation is actually being built. The situation is defined as the set of concrete relations existing in a given place and at a given time. This situation, for example, may be a face-to-face meeting between an employee and his or her boss, or a customer being greeted on the phone, or a tax inspection, or a meeting of the board of directors to define a new organisation chart, etc. The actors play an active role in defining the situation; it is not the pure and simple effect of a system or a structure imposed on the actors. The situation is produced as the interactions making it up concretely unfold.

The famous experience of american psychologist Robert Rosenthal illustrated the notion of “self-fulfilling prophecy”, or of expectations which influence the real behaviour.

It is a classic experiment about the expectations of teachers (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968).

In the experiment, all the students in a class were given a standard IQ test. After the results were scored, the researchers informed the teachers that five students in the class had unusually high IQ scores and would probably be "spurters" who leaped ahead of their classmates during the remainder of the year. In reality, the five children were picked at random. By the end of the year, all the children had gained in IQ, but the five "spurters" had gained much more than other students. Evidently the teachers treated them differently after being told to expect sudden improvement:



1) The emotional climate was affected by expectations. (Teachers acted warmer toward students they expected to do well.)

2) The behaviors of teachers were different. (Teachers gave the "spurters" more difficult material to study.)

3) The opportunities to speak out in class were different. (Teachers gave these students more opportunities to respond in class and more time to answer questions.)

4) The level of detailed feedback about performance was different. (Teachers gave these students more informative feedback.)

 

Sociologists must therefore attempt to analyse the processes according to which the situation is built up. The social meaning of a hierarchical relationship, of a relationship based on service, of the carrying out of an inspection or of an organising action comes from the meaning that the subjects spontaneously give to such situations during their interactions. Actors negotiate meanings until they have gradually created a negotiated order (Anselm STRAUSS). This negotiated order (a hierarchical relationship or the processing of a complaint within an organisation) is temporary, fragile and constantly being rebuilt. It is therefore a question of understanding all of this. Meaning emerges in the situation; it is modified and re-interpreted during interactions. Interaction is creative, constructive and open. It is necessary to identify it in the here and now (hie et nunc). The social world of the organisation is not to be taken for granted: it is built, here and now, in the course of interaction.

 

Questions and answers – examples

 

1. Comment, please, the famous theorem of W. Thomas “If people define a social situation as real, it is real in its consequences."

When we believe in a fact, we behave in compliance with this belief.

So, when we believe, that our University is the economic high school No 1, we will do all our possible to be the best professionals. And, our University becames the best economic high school due to our efforts.

If all the employees of a software producer believe their company is the best, the most innovative and creative, the most efficient company in the cluster – the company will be the best due to the contribution of talent of the employees.

 

 


Date: 2016-03-03; view: 758


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