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Through the Looking Glass: Reexamining Symbolic Interactionism’s Past and Forecasting its Future

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Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies

Abstract

Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical framework with origins in sociology that addresses the manner in which individuals create relationships and a shared social world via language and symbolic gestures. Involving both theoretical propositions and methodological practices, social scientists use the “interactionist” framework to understand joint action and how individuals interpret and define their experiences. Focusing on social processes that occur in small groups and dyadic settings, scholars who work in the interactionist tradition have produced an extensive literature that helps us understand a variety of microlevel social phenomena and the nature of group life. Because of its efficacy in explaining the relationship between individuals and groups, symbolic interactionism is particularly useful for understanding family dynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Kari Adamsons

  2. Department of Sociology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA, USA

    Michael Carter

Authors
  1. Kari Adamsons
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  2. Michael Carter
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Correspondence to Kari Adamsons .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Kari Adamsons

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    April L. Few-Demo

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Education and Human Development University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Christine Proulx

  4. Department of Family Science, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Kevin Roy

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Adamsons, K., Carter, M. (2022). Through the Looking Glass: Reexamining Symbolic Interactionism’s Past and Forecasting its Future. In: Adamsons, K., Few-Demo, A.L., Proulx, C., Roy, K. (eds) Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92002-9_8

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