The Pragmatic Origins of Symbolic Interactionism and the Crisis of Classical Science
Editors
Denzin, Norman K.
Document Type
Chapter
Publication Date
1991
Publication Title
Studies in Symbolic Interaction
Publisher
JAI press
Volume
12
First page number:
223
Last page number:
251
Abstract
This paper examines the continuities between pragmatist philosophy and interactionist sociology. Its central thesis is that twentieth-century pragmatism and symbolic interactionism represented a revolt against classical rationalism and marked an early attempt at assimilating the nonclassical ideas of modern science. The relativist premises of pragmatist and interactionist thinkers are evident in their assumptions that the active self is central to the understanding of the world's meaningful structure, that any statement of fact must indicate the practical context within which the fact is established, that indeterminacy is endemic to objective reality, and that pattern and structure are best understood as events or emergent processes. An argument is made that concerted efforts are needed to establish symbolic interactionism as the sociological counterpart of nonclassical, relativist science.
Keywords
Inquiry (Theory of knowledge); Interaction (Philosophy); Pragmatism; Symbolic interactionism
Disciplines
Social Psychology and Interaction | Sociology | Theory, Knowledge and Science
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited.
Repository Citation
Shalin, D. N.
(1991).
The Pragmatic Origins of Symbolic Interactionism and the Crisis of Classical Science. In Denzin, Norman K.,
Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 12
223-251.
JAI press.