Symbolic Interactionism

The Nature of Meaning

Human beings are symbolic creatures, for whom linguistic symbols are the principle basis for [Page 807]constructing, experiencing, and acting meaningfully on their worlds. A symbol is anything—a word, an image, a gesture—that stands for something else. National flags symbolize “patriotic” attitudes and feelings; certain hand gestures or facial expressions signify the user's contempt or disdain for another; names and labels identify people by their social roles, group memberships, and personal characteristics and thus establish expectations for and limits on their conduct. Of the various kinds of symbols, those carried in language are the most important for human conduct. People live in a world of named objects, and people's capacity to act successfully rests on learning the possible and expected ways of responding to or acting toward these objects.

Symbols enable people to coordinate their conduct because they arouse shared responses. The person who uses a symbol evokes thoughts, feelings, and ideas about possible actions in the minds of others who see or hear it, as well as in his or her own mind. For example, an announcement that building is on fire arouses in all who are present—announcer as well as listeners—a set of ideas about the dangers of fire in an enclosed space as well as how to respond to it. Likewise, derogatory words lay a shared basis for thoughts and feelings, and ultimately, actions toward others. The responses aroused by symbols are not identical from one person to another, but they are sufficiently similar to allow the individual to assume (at least initially) that others are responding to the situation in more or less the same way he or she is responding.

Meaning is thus a social rather than merely an individual phenomenon. It is the individual, of course, who learns and uses the meanings provided by the language of his or her community. Yet to use a word is to bring into public view a part of the individual's state of mind at a particular time and thereby to communicate it to others. To speak of “fire,” for example, is to indicate to others (and to oneself) that one believes there is danger and is prepared to act on it, that the others should define the situation and act in a similar way, and that collectively they are seeking escape or rescue from a dangerous situation. To invoke a racial or ethnic stereotype in a conversation is to invite the other to view the member of a racial or ethnic outgroup in the same way as the speaker, and implicitly (though not necessarily immediately) to act toward the outgroup member on the basis of that attitude. Meanings thus shape both the individual's conduct and that of others.

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