The Social Self and Everyday Life

Kathy Charmaz, is Emerita Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, USA, and a consultant providing professional development workshops on qualitative methods, symbolic interactionism, and academic writing globally. She has written, co-authored, or co-edited 14 books including two award-winning books, Good Days, Bad Days: The Self in Illness and Time (1991), and Constructing Grounded Theory (2006, 2014). Scott R. Harris, is Professor of Sociology at Saint Louis University, USA. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Symbolic Interaction and author of Invitation to the Sociology of Emotions (2015) and How to Critique Journal Articles in the Social Sciences (2014). His book What Is Constructionism? (2010) received the Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Leslie Irvine, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. Her main research focuses on the roles of animals in society. She has written several books including My Dog Always Eats First: Homeless People and their Animals (2015) and Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters (2009).

Preface ix Acknowledgments xi 1 An Invitation to Learn about Self, Situation, and Society 1 # ThisIsWhatAnxietyFeelsLike 2 Sociology, Psychology, and Social Psychology 3 Symbolic Interactionism and Other Perspectives 4 Overview of the Book 8 Chapter Previews 9 Note 13 References 13 2 Looking at Life from the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 16 Symbolic Interactionism as a Theoretical Perspective 19 Assumptions about Human Nature and Social Life 21 Premises of the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 24 The Development of Self 28 Society, Self, and Mind: The Social Psychology of George Herbert Mead 28 Charles Horton Cooleys Looking Glass Self 32 Self, SelfConcept, and Identity 34 Defining the Situation, Naming, and Knowing 35 W.I. Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomass Theorem 35 Anselm Strauss and Naming and Knowing 36 Erving Goffmans Metaphor of the Theater: Dramaturgical Analysis 38 Conclusion 42 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 43 Notes 44 References 45 3 Socialization: Becoming Ourselves 48 What Is Socialization? 50 Sociological Perspectives on Socialization 50 Conceptualizing Socialization 52 Theoretical Perspectives of Socialization 52 Types of Socializing Experiences 56 Socialization in Childhood 57 Infants and Agency 57 Parents and Children 59 Peers and Socialization 62 Adult Socialization 66 Involvements and Evolvements 66 Total Institutions and Remaking the Self 68 Conclusion 70 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 71 Notes 72 References 73 4 The Social Body: Appearances and Experiences 76 Bodily Appearances 77 Coping with Bodily Stigma 81 Defining Stigma 81 Responding to Being Stigmatized 85 Interpreting Bodily Experiences 87 Conclusion 92 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 92 Notes 94 References 94 5 Health, Illness, and Disability 96 Meanings of Health, Illness, and Disability 97 Maintaining Health 99 Individual vs. Social Responsibility for Health 101 Individual Responsibility for Health 102 Gender and Individual Responsibility for Health 102 Extending Individual Responsibility through Online Participation 103 Social Responsibility for Health 105 Individual Responsibility and Neoliberalism 105 How Individual Responsibility for Health Complements Neoliberalism 105 Moral Failure and VictimBlaming 107 Experiencing Serious Illness 108 The Diagnostic Quest 109 Biographical Disruption and Loss of Self 111 Living with Illness and Disability 114 Medicalization, Biomedicalization, and Risk 118 Conclusion 119 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 120 Notes 121 References 121 6 Emotion Norms, Emotion Management, and Emotional Labor 125 Emotion Norms 126 Emotion Management 131 Interpersonal Emotion Management 135 Emotional Labor 137 Controlling Employees Emotions 138 The Unequal Distribution of Emotional Labor 141 Conclusion 144 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 145 Notes 146 References 146 7 All Our Families: Diverse Forms, Diverse Meanings 150 The Cultural Relativity of Family 152 Three Ways of Answering the Question What Is Family? 154 Family Discourse as MeaningMaking 156 The Social Shaping of Family Descriptions 160 Who Knows Best about Families? 162 Conclusion 164 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 165 Notes 167 References 167 8 Always On/Always On Us: Technology, Interaction, and the Self 170 The Cyberbased Generalized Other and the Mediated Looking Glass 173 Music as a Technology of the Self 176 The Quantified Self 179 Conclusion 183 Learning by Using the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective 183 Notes 184 References 185 9 Amplifying Social Problems: Claimsmakers and Their Contexts 190 Objectivist and Interactionist Approaches to Social Problem