Social exchange theory and symbolic interactionism are often thought of polar opposites, and in some ways they are. But on the other hand, the one large factory owner who does not give to the community was ostracized from society and politics. In network terms, these processes are more reliant on strong ties than weak ties (Granovetter 1973). Generally, the talents or genius for bridging capital of a rising executive will need to be stronger than those rising through bonding capital in family promotion. This view of othering interacts with social mobility. Symbolic interactionism concentrates on individuals who assign, share and agree on symbolic meanings and mannerisms. Gender inequality refers to the inequality between men and women, or the unequal treatment or perception of a person based on his or her gender. In every day go along with the flow and follow established norms of proper conduct, citizens pursue a form of generalized exchange whereby the good of the community is pursued. However, a weak norm of generalized reciprocity (i.e., restricted exchange) will create weaker social bonds. Oppressive othering penetrates the generalized other of Mead and indicates that people may promote or justify their positions in society by providing looking glass-self messages to others that they are inferior, inept, unworthy or otherwise inferior to themselves. There are two types of exchange that can be applied to symbolic interactionism. This means that for those who go upward on the social scale, some will go downward. The two types of behavior have two different types of exchange. Among her kin, she aims to keep the family together for over 50 years with parties with over 60 people. The grandmother mentions the specific dress that the young girl wants at the most expensive boutique in town, and the scion she works for says, I know the owner of the store; I can talk to her. The grandmother then tells her granddaughter that the dress has been marked down by 70% of the original price so that it is the same price as the department store dress. Oppressive othering has been largely ignored as a general social process though labeling theory comes close to it. A symbolic interactionist who does directly confront symbolic interactionism on questions of power is Lonnie Athens (1992, 1997). We do not have to trade caring for power, and for the most part, we can see these two forces as being consubstantial in society. Symbolic interaction has a particular weakness concerning a concept critical to political sociology and that is the concept of power. Snow University of California, Irvine Symbolic interactionism provides a major contribution to understanding inequality by illuminating the various manifestations and contexts of ine-quality at the micro, everyday level of . We will refer to those who operate with more restricted exchange as opportunists in the next chapter on citizen selves. The two types of behavior have two different types of exchange. The merit-based high-status persons and the low-skilled degraded low-status persons will most likely stay where they are in the social structureone feeling superior and the other deferential. They largely do not see their bad luck as deserved but nonetheless it is what it is. They will often engage with higher ranked persons with cooperation and attempts at patronage and opportunism. All of the families used internal generalized exchange which can be referred to as bonding capital (Putnam 2000, 2020). Social exchange theory and symbolic interactionism are often thought of polar opposites, and in some ways they are. Symbolic Interactionism is a theoretical framework in sociology that describes how societies are created and maintained through the repeated actions of individuals (Carter and Fuller, 2015). Fourth, there are two kinds of group-to-group exchange. He questions George Herbert Meads predication of symbolic interaction as being based on sociation, which is the general consensual pursuit of cooperate social relations. The middle category of high and low status persons could move up or down depending on the circumstances. As we have seen with the Trump-base, many of these people state I want my country back and Make America Great again. While one might self-righteously declare them as unjustified, they do not agree, and they are a political force to be reckoned with. More market exchange, often among strangers, is restricted exchange where one expects immediate payback. However, this negotiation is rather loose and not involved with a formal assessment of power. And lastly, Joseph P. Kennedy was the son of a successful Irish businessman. 2000; Sandstrom et al. Following Goffman and bridging Mead and Athens, there seem to be two modes of behavior: (1) a general form of sociation where people generally intend to get along with each other as friends and associates, and (2) a strategic form of interaction that looks more like bargaining behavior where one has a sense of seeking specific monetary or other gains. The theories' techniques of observing, defining and analyzing society explain their differences and similarities. Inequality and Social Mobility in Symbolic Interactionism. The other form of strategic exchange is much narrower in scope and as a result it is called restricted exchange. However, Strauss does not go far with this conception of bargaining as it might appear in political action. Thus, the social mobility process is not just a reaction to blockages, but it is a creative process of external valuation through generalized others, and internal identification through self-processes. In restricted exchange, there are six different types from individual to various types of group and societal exchanges (1, 3 to 6 in Table 5.1) (Ekeh 1974: 46-52; Janoski 1998: 77-82). "Symbolic Interactionism, or Interactionism for short, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology Interactionists focus on the subjective aspects of social life, rather than on objective, macro-structural aspects of social systems For the interactionist, society consists of organized and patterned interactions among individuals. Through your interactions with the letters 'dog', you see this as a furry, four-legged canine. This type of exchange is favored by rational choice proponents and economists who see it as the paramount exchange that exists in markets. The first type is restricted exchange that is best characterized by market exchange whereby one gives money for some goods or services. In a formula this might be: Your Power = 1 / Others dependencies on you, The others power = 1 / Your dependencies on the other, Relative power in = (Your power) (Others power). Although Boston elites tended to discriminate against the Irish, some Irish social entrepreneurs become more powerful over time. One important type of restricted exchange involves an important time dimension (see 2 in Table 5.1). Exchange theory then leads to bargaining processes, which will be discussed more fully in chapter 9 on the macro-level. In row 2 (items 4, 5 and 6) high ranking people have largely inherited their rank by ascriptive principles and they rely on their traditional positions but may need to engage in defensive othering and internalization, In row 3 (items 7, 8 and 9), some people have high rank due to bias and discrimination and they are quite insecure and very much subject to downward mobility. It is also discussed in a rather ethnomethodological form in Josh Pacewiczs Partisans and Partners (2016), though the gift relationship large resembles these other generalized exchange forms. For example, consider the following: In Chapel Hill in the early 2000s, an African-American nurse promises to buy her daughter a dress for the prom, but her choice at a reasonable price at the department store is deemed mundane by her daughter. They engage in counter-othering which is the angry rejection of the imposed reflected appraisals of high-status people that intend to demean and reject them. In one way or another, George convinces his three brothers and one sister to also become personal injury lawyers. For an auto example, Ford Motor Company has had many Ford family members running the company; however, General Motors has had only one Sloan in the form of Alfred P. Sloan who had no children and his foundation operates on the East Coast. One might say that this looks a bit like Robert Mertons theory of deviance (1938); however, the big difference is that Merton focused on blockages that exist but said little about the motivation and process by which they are accepted or overcome, and nothing about the emotions that they generate. It is a further question of whether these negotiations or social bargains are involved with restricted or generalized exchange. Ones and the others alternatives are measured by the number of alternatives times their value, which is the value of the alternative times its probability. 2014: 46-47; Reynolds 1987). Joseph married Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of the then Irish Mayor of Boston. Generalized exchange was promoted by Malinowskis Kula Exchange in The Argonauts of the Western Pacific, and by studies of gift exchange with specified shells as the gift. As we have seen with the Trump-base, many of these people state I want my country back and Make America Great again. While one might self-righteously declare them as unjustified, they do not agree, and they are a political force to be reckoned with. This involves two aspects of networking. DuBois was one of the first sociologists to examine race and double consciousness (the feeling that one's identity is divided because of race) and how that influences the sense of self. In the bottom half of the table that describes low status, there are also three reactions. In row 4 (items 10, 11 and 12), people with low rank view their social position due to their lack of ability, and they engage in accepting the other imposed upon them by higher ranking people. The daughter complains to her grandmother, who has been an underpaid domestic for many decades to a prominent old and respected family. Sometimes these exchanges are made more long-term, but they are carefully guarded by contracts assuring each partys interests are protected. Afterwards, he says that no payment is necessary, but: Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. However, there are some people who are always in the restricted exchange mode (e.g., what have you done for me lately?). Also, Richard Titmus in the The Gift Relationship (1997) describes the difference between exchanging blood based on it being a gift or being paid for the donation. And the Kennedy example, which of course is well known, shows how promotion can even lead to the Presidency of the United States. These are examples of generalized exchange through acquaintances rather than family. Ones and the others alternatives are measured by the number of alternatives times their value, which is the value of the alternative times its probability. This section interrogates the concept of power and its weak presence in symbolic interactionist theory, and then goes into the theorys conceptions of inequality. Thus, social stratification is a result of these individual interactions. Those families who engage in bridging capital to go outside their kinship groups are even more successful in bringing their families more advancement in social mobility. This section interrogates the concept of power and its weak presence in symbolic interactionist theory, and then goes into the theory's conceptions of inequality. What Is Symbolic Interactionism? In it, gifts can be used to benefit the whole community through philanthropy, but they also may serve to create patrimonial relationships. The firm of Wilson and Wilson become quite successful, and eventually the younger brothers and two children who become lawyers then expand the business to six other states. However, Strauss does not go far with this conception of bargaining as it might appear in political action. Symbolic interactionism provides a major contribution to understanding inequality by illuminating the various manifestations and contexts of inequality at the micro, everyday level of social life. Expand 54 Emotion and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis S. Shott Sociology American Journal of Sociology 1979 Unlike the functionalist and conflict views, it does not try to explain why we have stratification in the first place. The low-status people will have negative generalized others vis--vis the high-status othering persons. Generalized exchange is more community and group interested rather than self-interested. This does not mean that all social mobility in families is tied to generalized exchange. This type of exchange is favored by rational choice proponents and economists who see it as the paramount exchange that exists in markets. However, in tracking the patterns of social interaction to their troubling consequences, we heed the advice of an early interactionist, Blumer (1969), who urged symbolic interactionist researchers . However, if a family member ignores his brothers and sisters, he will need to make up for bonding capital with an extensive focus on bridging capital to a higher social class. In row 5 (items 13, 14, and 15) people may be of low rank because of accidents or bad luck. While this more or less goes back to Thomas Hobbes and the war of all against all, we do not have to flip flop on the basic motivations of humans and see that we all are motivated by both love and hate, cooperation or conflict, or caring and violence. These can be seen in birthday parties in a family (group to individual that is closed by family members) or birthday parties at work where the exact people in the group may be constantly changing as employees come and go. In every day go along with the flow and follow established norms of proper conduct, citizens pursue a form of generalized exchange whereby the good of the community is pursued. It is a further question of whether these negotiations or social bargains are involved with restricted or generalized exchange. Michael Schwalbe and five others present a theory of critical interactionism on how inequalities are created in society, and these can also be related to social mobility. More recently, Monica Whitman (2021) has shown that a strong norm of reciprocity will have powerful effects leading to social trust and generalized exchange for the betterment of the group. Generalized exchange was promoted by Malinowskis Kula Exchange in The Argonauts of the Western Pacific, and by studies of gift exchange with specified shells as the gift. In restricted exchange, there are six different types from individual to various types of group and societal exchanges (1, 3 to 6 in Table 5.1) (Ekeh 1974: 46-52; Janoski 1998: 77-82). They are not as subordinated as those with degraded status, and they may achieve some limited mobility. The daughter complains to her grandmother, who has been an underpaid domestic for many decades to a prominent old and respected family. Joseph married Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of the then Irish Mayor of Boston. 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