Social Worlds

Combining notions of culture, social structure, and collective action, social worlds are collections of actors with shared understandings and shared institutionalized arrangements that convene, communicate, and coordinate behaviors on the basis of some shared interest. The conceptualization originally stems from work by Tamotsu Shibutani, Anselm Strauss, and Howard Becker, with roots traceable to John Dewey.

Social worlds is a symbolic interactionist concept that distinguishes social actors as they negotiate interactions with one another. Actors negotiate conflict when their perspectives are different, since they represent different social worlds within the same arena. When their perspectives are shared, the actors develop and maintain a social world as they communicate with one another and coordinate their behaviors in regard to the phenomenon of interest. Whether it is a baseball ...