Symbolic Interactionism. Symbolic Interactionism is an approach to the study of human experience that was developed from the work of Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxx by the American Sociologist Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx in the 1960’s. Xxxxxx’x Symbolic interactionism is based upon 3 premises. The first premise is that human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that those things have for them. These might be physical objects or other human beings; individually or organised into groups and institutions. The second premise is that these meanings are derived from social interaction that humans have with one another; they are co-created. The third premise is that meanings are managed and modified through an interpretive process used by the individual through their dealings with the things that they encounter (Xxxxxx, 1969). This approach was developed with the intention of building an objective science of human conduct that could conform to the criteria borrowed from the natural sciences (Xxxxxx, 1992). Symbolic Interactionism’s orientation towards co-creation and negotiated meaning lends itself well to explorations of group identities. Where that group is set in the professional context (such as nursing), the appropriateness of Symbolic Interactionism to the study of professional socialisation has a good theoretical fit and has been used in several studies of professional identity (DI Deppoliti 2008, Xxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxxx 2013, Xxxx-Xxxxx et al. 2008, Xxxx 2008). However, Symbolic interactionist studies have been criticised for failing to attend to the affective and unconscious aspects of human behaviour (Xxxxxxx et al. 1977). For symbolic interactionists, the influence of emotion on the perception of the self and of others, or of unconscious behaviours, are rarely considered to be important components of human interaction in the construction of social life (ibid). Development of professional identity might (at least in part) occur at an unconscious level, and be influenced by emotional reaction to experience, therefore should remain a part of the analysis until this is found not to be the case.
Symbolic Interactionism. Symbolic interactionism (SI) is a Social psychological theory that describes the production of knowledge and understanding of oneself and the social world in which the individual exists (Xxxxx 2006b). It assumes that the self and the social are distinct entities that are interrelated through conscious efforts (Xxxxxx 1969, Xxxxxxx et al. 1977). SI views an individual as a social actor that is engaged with the world through their interactions with others and the meanings made from those interactions. The studies retrieved from the search- that aligned themselves to this theoretical perspective- identify students as being in a constant state of interaction with other students and educators as they negotiate their transition into the professional domain. Xxxxxxx & Xxxx (2016) discussed how students actively align their own personal values and self-identity to that of the profession. The researchers used a discourse analytical approach to data taken from focus groups of student nurses. Despite this analytical approach being more theoretically consistent with research underpinned by a social constructionist methodology, the analysis found that it was in the interactions between students and professional colleagues that new understandings of professional identity could be generated. The primacy given to interaction and meanings made from observing role models in practice implied a SI stance in the explanation of identity formation. For example, Xxxxxxx and Xxxx (2016) described how student nurses identified potential role models through an understanding of what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ practice that they shared with each other. These qualitative evaluations of professional nurses’ practice were stated to be based upon knowledge of professional practice that was derived from a number of sources: personal experience, educators, peers, and the public perception of nursing being a ‘caring profession’. This conscious evaluation of observed practice, and comparisons with the views held by others, indicate that meanings about professional identity are a type of negotiated reality rather than an unconscious or passive internalisation of expected professional norms. A similar approach was utilised by Xxxxxx et al (2015) who claim that students have a stable self-concept whilst trying to ‘fit in’ to a professional world where they sometimes observe unprofessional behaviours from the nurses in clinical practice. In this study, the authors asked first year student nurse...
Symbolic Interactionism. Perspective and Method (Berkley: University of California Press, 1969), 2. negotiate in these interactions. So, whereas a gender theorist might conduct research on the Army that focuses on military masculinity, and the conceptualisation of meaning around the military as a powerfully gendered institution, a symbolic interactionist would be more interested in how soldiers interact with different social groups, and what meaning they derive from these interactions. For this reason symbolic interactionists consider that to truly understand the social world, the researcher needs to grasp the meaning that individuals attach to their experiences. And in order to achieve this, they need to explicate the process by which this meaning is negotiated. This calls for a research design that is analytically empathetic, and captures lived experiences from the individual’s point of view.55 Such research methods ought to actively engage with the subjects of study, either in in-depth interviews or through participant observation, where the researcher can best develop an understanding of the subject’s world view. And a key feature of this approach requires that the researcher remains objective, in order to produce the truest representation of the subject being studied, and to ensure that theory is inductively generated from the data gathered, and not preconceived deductions. For this reason, research that applies an analytical framework drawn from symbolic interactionism typically uses grounded theory research design.56
