Unlike Durkheim who sought to understand society by studying social systems and abstract entities like social facts, micro sociology originated from the works of Max Weber and his beliefs that behavior is based on an individual’s interpretation and understanding of the world. Micro sociology attempts to understand society through every day social interactions, and by studying the meaning of these actions as opposed to just their functions. Although I do find Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to understanding human behavior interesting, I am more disposed to Blumer’s approach of symbolic interactionism. According to Blumer, symbolic interactionism must be understood using the following four insights. First, people act in relation to things and each other on the basis of the meanings attached to them. Secondly, human interaction is necessary for the making of meaning. Next Social interaction is embedded, or as Professor Zopf illustrated that these interactions are context specific. Lastly, Blumer claims that because social interaction is embedded, social networks and institutions are inherently fluid. By using Herbert Bloomer’s approach to micro sociology, I will demonstrate how “obscene gestures” such as giving someone the figure can be explained by Bloomer’s theory on symbolic interaction.
I remember that when I was little I always use to wonder why the middle finger meant what it did. What made the middle finger so important that when it was raised above the rest it had the potential to create such an outrages uproar from my parents and peers? Who decided that the middle finger was a rude gesture, and why couldn’t raising the pinky mean something even more uncouth because I liked my raised pinky the best. To this day I do not know who started the middle finger or why it means what it does. I do know that if I gesture the middle figure to some person who just cut me off on the highway, I may or may not be meet with great hostility. Despite me not knowing the origins of the raised middle finger, I do know that it must have begun during some kind of human interaction. That is, someone must have raised the middle finger and meant it as a rude gesture while the other person must have interpreted the raised finger as being a rude gesture. Thus it was this interaction which constructed the rude meaning of the middle finger just as Blumer had described.
In addition, the raised middle finger does not function as anything other than to symbolize a rude meaning. It is not the raised finger itself which presents a problem but the meaning behind it. It is because people believe that the middle finger symbolizes a rude gesture that they continue to use it in upsetting situations. It is also why people become defensive or hostel if they are the ones who are given the finger. Therefore, we again see that the this particular social interaction agrees with Blumer’s statement that symbolic interactions are based on the fact that people act in relation to things and each other on the basis of the meanings attached to them.
Next we can understand the rude gesture in terms of Blumer’s third claim that symbolic interactions are embedded, or context specific. While the gesture is context specific not only to the situations it would be used in, but also it context specific to its location. For example, say you went to your niece’s or nephew’s birthday party and wanted to express your congratulations to your niece or nephew, would you give them the finger. I hope not, as the middle finger is reserved for conflict social interactions. At the same time if you went to a foreign country and were actually in the middle of a conflict, the middle finger may not carry the same meaning in that country. In fact flicking someone off during a disagreement in a foreign country may even appear downright strange. Ironically some hand gestures we use to express positive emotions in America may be an obscene gesture in another country. For example, while giving someone the OK hand gesture in America is a sign of approval, in France it is the equivalent of giving the finger. While gesturing the horns in America is usually associated with rock culture and a sign that the person approves of the music they are being exposed to, in Italy it is equivalent of the middle finger. Lastly, while a thumbs up may mean approval in America in Thailand… it is the equivalent of the middle finger.
Lastly, because hand gestures are embedded into society and context specific, social networks and institutions are fluid. That is mostly everyone in America understands what the middle figure means and we continue to socialize newer generations to understand the meaning of these gestures. It has become part of our society and continues to persist. Hand gestures are one of the many ways in which we can look at behavior using the approach of symbolic interaction.
I remember that when I was little I always use to wonder why the middle finger meant what it did. What made the middle finger so important that when it was raised above the rest it had the potential to create such an outrages uproar from my parents and peers? Who decided that the middle finger was a rude gesture, and why couldn’t raising the pinky mean something even more uncouth because I liked my raised pinky the best. To this day I do not know who started the middle finger or why it means what it does. I do know that if I gesture the middle figure to some person who just cut me off on the highway, I may or may not be meet with great hostility. Despite me not knowing the origins of the raised middle finger, I do know that it must have begun during some kind of human interaction. That is, someone must have raised the middle finger and meant it as a rude gesture while the other person must have interpreted the raised finger as being a rude gesture. Thus it was this interaction which constructed the rude meaning of the middle finger just as Blumer had described.
In addition, the raised middle finger does not function as anything other than to symbolize a rude meaning. It is not the raised finger itself which presents a problem but the meaning behind it. It is because people believe that the middle finger symbolizes a rude gesture that they continue to use it in upsetting situations. It is also why people become defensive or hostel if they are the ones who are given the finger. Therefore, we again see that the this particular social interaction agrees with Blumer’s statement that symbolic interactions are based on the fact that people act in relation to things and each other on the basis of the meanings attached to them.
Next we can understand the rude gesture in terms of Blumer’s third claim that symbolic interactions are embedded, or context specific. While the gesture is context specific not only to the situations it would be used in, but also it context specific to its location. For example, say you went to your niece’s or nephew’s birthday party and wanted to express your congratulations to your niece or nephew, would you give them the finger. I hope not, as the middle finger is reserved for conflict social interactions. At the same time if you went to a foreign country and were actually in the middle of a conflict, the middle finger may not carry the same meaning in that country. In fact flicking someone off during a disagreement in a foreign country may even appear downright strange. Ironically some hand gestures we use to express positive emotions in America may be an obscene gesture in another country. For example, while giving someone the OK hand gesture in America is a sign of approval, in France it is the equivalent of giving the finger. While gesturing the horns in America is usually associated with rock culture and a sign that the person approves of the music they are being exposed to, in Italy it is equivalent of the middle finger. Lastly, while a thumbs up may mean approval in America in Thailand… it is the equivalent of the middle finger.
Lastly, because hand gestures are embedded into society and context specific, social networks and institutions are fluid. That is mostly everyone in America understands what the middle figure means and we continue to socialize newer generations to understand the meaning of these gestures. It has become part of our society and continues to persist. Hand gestures are one of the many ways in which we can look at behavior using the approach of symbolic interaction.