Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnomethodology

This chapter examines symbolic interactions and ethnomethodology. Symbolic interactionism takes as a fundamental concern the relationship between individual conduct and forms of social organization, most centrally social groups. The problem of developing a consistent theoretical perpsective that would permit the joint analysis of social-psychological and sociological problems has long concerned the sociologist. The distinctive nature of many social relationships is represented in their relational rules that make problematic events that other collectivities assume, and that take for granted rules that others argue over. The organization is then conceived in terms of competing perspectives and social orders, each of which rests on its own language and set of meanings. A typical interactionist study of social organization begins with the formal structure and then details how moral and ideological variations transform that structure into a going concern of social relationships. Social games, routine work, and even participation in a religious ceremony appear to represent such occasions.