Hardback
Rethinking Symbolic Interactionism
This discerning book critically analyzes the key principles of symbolic interactionism, outlining their strengths and examining current weaknesses. Thomas Janoski provides novel insights into the theory, rethinking some of its foundations while adhering to its basic symbolic principles of the self.
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Critical Acclaim
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This discerning book critically analyzes the key principles of symbolic interactionism, outlining their strengths and examining current weaknesses. Thomas Janoski provides novel insights into the theory, rethinking some of its foundations while adhering to its basic symbolic principles of the self.
Chapters cover new perspectives on humans’ relationship with their society, emphasizing the generalized other as the central factor in symbolic interactionism. Janoski delves into underexplored applications of the framework within social mobility, organizations, elites, charisma, and the unconscious. He stresses the importance of conflict and power in strategic interaction in addition to empathetic sociation. He integrates the micro and macro aspects of sociology with interactionist and structuration theory, highlighting the need for symbolic interactionists to use multiple methodologies in their work including interviews, participant observation, surveys, and experimental research.
Providing a thought-provoking approach to reconsidering current paradigms, Rethinking Symbolic Interactionism is a vital read for scholars and students of sociology, social psychology, and political theory. It is also of great benefit to researchers seeking to understand new developments in symbolic interaction theory.
Chapters cover new perspectives on humans’ relationship with their society, emphasizing the generalized other as the central factor in symbolic interactionism. Janoski delves into underexplored applications of the framework within social mobility, organizations, elites, charisma, and the unconscious. He stresses the importance of conflict and power in strategic interaction in addition to empathetic sociation. He integrates the micro and macro aspects of sociology with interactionist and structuration theory, highlighting the need for symbolic interactionists to use multiple methodologies in their work including interviews, participant observation, surveys, and experimental research.
Providing a thought-provoking approach to reconsidering current paradigms, Rethinking Symbolic Interactionism is a vital read for scholars and students of sociology, social psychology, and political theory. It is also of great benefit to researchers seeking to understand new developments in symbolic interaction theory.
Critical Acclaim
‘Thomas Janoski has long been staking our new territory for sociological theorizing, displaying a remarkable creativity, analytic acumen, and a substantive breadth that others can only envy. Drawing on his expertise in political economy and political sociology, here, Janoski returns to core issues of interaction from a fresh perspective. In this long awaited synthesis, he shows that going beyond the traditional scope of symbolic interactionist concerns does not dilute its insights, but rather brings them to fruition.’
– John Levi Martin, University of Chicago, USA
''Rethinking Symbolic Interactionism by Thomas Janoski is true to its title and provides fresh and insightful insights on how to increase the explanatory power of this long-standing school of thought. This stimulating book emphasizes theoretical and methodological approaches that can add new insights for symbolic interactionists. The result is a new way to think about symbolic interaction as a more robust approach that can increase understanding of humans’ sense of self and patterns of interpersonal behavior, while offering new ways to bring theorizing and research on social structures and their cultures into symbolic interactionist theorizing and research.
By recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of symbolic interactionism, Janoski offers a path to increasing the scope and scale of symbolic interactionist explanations on interpersonal behaviors as these create and sustain social structures and their cultures, and vice versa. In so doing, symbolic interaction can explain not only the dynamics of self and identities, but also, the effects of meso- and macro-level social structures and their cultures identities and patterns of interpersonal behavior. This well-written book dramatically expands the reach of symbolic interaction as a school of theorizing and research, and as such, it should be read by all those engaged in various forms of symbolic interactionist scholarship. Janoski’s reconceptualization of symbolic interaction offers a path to (a) developing theories about all levels of the sociocultural universe and (b) testing these theories with diverse methodologies.’
– Jonathan Turner, University of California, Riverside, USA
– John Levi Martin, University of Chicago, USA
''Rethinking Symbolic Interactionism by Thomas Janoski is true to its title and provides fresh and insightful insights on how to increase the explanatory power of this long-standing school of thought. This stimulating book emphasizes theoretical and methodological approaches that can add new insights for symbolic interactionists. The result is a new way to think about symbolic interaction as a more robust approach that can increase understanding of humans’ sense of self and patterns of interpersonal behavior, while offering new ways to bring theorizing and research on social structures and their cultures into symbolic interactionist theorizing and research.
By recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of symbolic interactionism, Janoski offers a path to increasing the scope and scale of symbolic interactionist explanations on interpersonal behaviors as these create and sustain social structures and their cultures, and vice versa. In so doing, symbolic interaction can explain not only the dynamics of self and identities, but also, the effects of meso- and macro-level social structures and their cultures identities and patterns of interpersonal behavior. This well-written book dramatically expands the reach of symbolic interaction as a school of theorizing and research, and as such, it should be read by all those engaged in various forms of symbolic interactionist scholarship. Janoski’s reconceptualization of symbolic interaction offers a path to (a) developing theories about all levels of the sociocultural universe and (b) testing these theories with diverse methodologies.’
– Jonathan Turner, University of California, Riverside, USA
