The merit-based high-status persons and the low-skilled degraded low-status persons will most likely stay where they are in the social structureone feeling superior and the other deferential. This section interrogates the concept of power and its weak presence in symbolic interactionist theory, and then goes into the theorys conceptions of inequality. Power in Symbolic Interactionism via Social Exchange Theory. In network terms, these processes are more reliant on strong ties than weak ties (Granovetter 1973). They actively construct a generalized other that recognizes their abilities and rejects oppressive othering, and they often will create positive sub-cultures among other low status but talented people that reflect their own more positive views (through ressentiment which was discussed earlier). Helen Hilton engaged in the least bridging capital to higher social classes. Inequality and the Self: Exploring Connections from an Interactionist Perspective Leon Anderson Ohio University David A. The whole process of oppressive othering is linked to highly charged emotions on the part of both the oppressors and the subordinates. However, if a family member ignores his brothers and sisters, he will need to make up for bonding capital with an extensive focus on bridging capital to a higher social class. Lexington KY, 40506-0027859.257.8354, Power and Inequality in Symbolic Interaction, Online Graduate Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion, Social Psychology of Citizens and Subjects: Generalized Others and the Pathways to Inequality and Social Structure, Symbolic Interactionist Theory Revised for Political Sociology, Interactional Ritual Chains and Differential Association, From Generalized Others to Social Networks and Groups to Social Structure and Culture. 2014: 46-47; Reynolds 1987). Her idea for social mobility is to work herself at the telephone company and maintain kinship and neighborly social relations. Third, there are individual to societal exchanges whereby an individual agrees to various terms with a larger societal group. They must struggle to keep their high status. There are two types of exchange that can be applied to symbolic interactionism. For example, the word 'dog' is just a series of letters. Communicationthe exchange of meaning through language and symbolsis believed to be the way in which people make sense of their social worlds. Not all interaction is bargaining, and if someone in our personal lives is constantly keeping score and pursuing the maximum goods and services in our relationships, we most often regard this person as a taker who is too instrumentally interested in outcomes in a friendship relationship. The grandmother mentions the specific dress that the young girl wants at the most expensive boutique in town, and the scion she works for says, I know the owner of the store; I can talk to her. The grandmother then tells her granddaughter that the dress has been marked down by 70% of the original price so that it is the same price as the department store dress. In the end, I conclude that both Athens and Mead are right but both are also incomplete. In generalized exchange, there are five different types (Ekeh 1974: 50; Janoski 1998: 82-85). However, when groups are involved in strategic action then these calculations, in as much as they can be made, become quite important. Oppressive othering penetrates the generalized other of Mead and indicates that people may promote or justify their positions in society by providing looking glass-self messages to others that they are inferior, inept, unworthy or otherwise inferior to themselves. All of the families used internal generalized exchange which can be referred to as bonding capital (Putnam 2000, 2020). In restricted exchange, there are six different types from individual to various types of group and societal exchanges (1, 3 to 6 in Table 5.1) (Ekeh 1974: 46-52; Janoski 1998: 77-82). In row 1 (items 1, 2 and 3) high status persons who feel that their status is based on ability engage in self-justified othering where they are validated, and they develop powerful virtual selves. And the Kennedy example, which of course is well known, shows how promotion can even lead to the Presidency of the United States. Their internalizations are highly manipulative and can often be violent because they are located closest to the boundary between high and low status, and they know it. Or if the exchange is to take place over a long period of time, perhaps for loans and bond purchases, the arrangement is firmly structured with a contract that covers many different aspects of the exchange. The second one is how ethnicity and race are socially constructed. In a sense, they are saying I want my social mobility back or I dont want others to be rising above me with their own social mobility. On the other hand, those on the bottom may make the claim that upward mobility has no effect on others at the top, but relationally, this is not the case. While this more or less goes back to Thomas Hobbes and the war of all against all, we do not have to flip flop on the basic motivations of humans and see that we all are motivated by both love and hate, cooperation or conflict, or caring and violence. As we have seen with the Trump-base, many of these people state I want my country back and Make America Great again. While one might self-righteously declare them as unjustified, they do not agree, and they are a political force to be reckoned with. She informally entertains family and friends in a manner that reflects her idea of prevailing respectable social norms of her communitynothing more and nothing less. But again, the social mobility boundary is fought most between row 3 of the vulnerable high-status people, and row 6 of the discriminated against but talented low-status persons. Generalized exchange is more community and group interested rather than self-interested. They have deference and may have shame, but they seek to avoid these emotions by building negative subcultures where they are accepted with their deficiencies. One might say that this looks a bit like Robert Mertons theory of deviance (1938); however, the big difference is that Merton focused on blockages that exist but said little about the motivation and process by which they are accepted or overcome, and nothing about the emotions that they generate. And downward mobility is much more painful than lack of mobility. In the end, I conclude that both Athens and Mead are right but both are also incomplete. Medical doctors rising above homeopaths with the Flexner Report are a good example, but the process also applies to nurses seeking bachelors degrees to promote the status of RNs (Larson 1977; Abbott 1988). All too often, the processes of the generalized other are portrayed as supportive othering such as mothers and fathers interacting with their children in the socialization process. The merit-based elites may protect the less able elites, and the discriminated subordinates with abilities may encourage the deferential people with hope. Their internalizations are highly manipulative and can often be violent because they are located closest to the boundary between high and low status, and they know it. In it, gifts can be used to benefit the whole community through philanthropy, but they also may serve to create patrimonial relationships. Generalized exchange looks to the betterment of the group as a whole, while restricted exchange is about the individual gaining for themselves. In every day go along with the flow and follow established norms of proper conduct, citizens pursue a form of generalized exchange whereby the good of the community is pursued. These may be negotiated by a leader but the followers know the terms of the agreement and are quick to point out any violations. [2] Second, there are individual to group exchanges whereby a group might give a loan to an individual, and then the group expects payment by a particular date. These can be seen in birthday parties in a family (group to individual that is closed by family members) or birthday parties at work where the exact people in the group may be constantly changing as employees come and go. Social networks of kin and association in social mobility settings can occur in different formats according to bonding and bridging capital. Fourth, there are two kinds of group-to-group exchange. Thus, social mobility is not just achieving skills by merit, but it is also about self-work or personhood about countering and converting elite processes of oppressive othering with generalized others. But again, the social mobility boundary is fought most between row 3 of the vulnerable high-status people, and row 6 of the discriminated against but talented low-status persons. The interactionist perspective on inequality looks at how certain social roles have more power or authority than others. However, I want to move Schwalbe et al.s view of inequality further in the direction of social mobility. It is also discussed in a rather ethnomethodological form in Josh Pacewiczs Partisans and Partners (2016), though the gift relationship large resembles these other generalized exchange forms. More recently, Monica Whitman (2021) has shown that a strong norm of reciprocity will have powerful effects leading to social trust and generalized exchange for the betterment of the group. Subjective meanings are given primacy because it is believed that people behave based on what they believe and not just on what is objectively true. Those families who engage in bridging capital to go outside their kinship groups are even more successful in bringing their families more advancement in social mobility. The merit-based high-status persons and the low-skilled degraded low-status persons will most likely stay where they are in the social structureone feeling superior and the other deferential. Exchange theory then leads to bargaining processes, which will be discussed more fully in chapter 9 on the macro-level. . In the bottom half of the table that describes low status, there are also three reactions. It is a further question of whether these negotiations or social bargains are involved with restricted or generalized exchange. This type of exchange is favored by rational choice proponents and economists who see it as the paramount exchange that exists in markets. Economists would like to apply restricted exchange to all types of social exchange (e.g., Gary Beckers rational account of marriages and partnerships, and also sociobiological theories that see couples maximizing their gene pools for reproduction). When people engage in sociation often with generalized exchange they are interacting according to the process of sociation. But when people engage in strategic interaction they are following interaction through power, which may be conscious by tough negotiators or may have been socialized into them through violentization. And further, there are processes in between. Following Goffman and bridging Mead and Athens, there seem to be two modes of behavior: (1) a general form of sociation where people generally intend to get along with each other as friends and associates, and (2) a strategic form of interaction that looks more like bargaining behavior where one has a sense of seeking specific monetary or other gains. Afterwards, he says that no payment is necessary, but: Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. Generalized exchange was promoted by Malinowskis Kula Exchange in The Argonauts of the Western Pacific, and by studies of gift exchange with specified shells as the gift. This is when direct reciprocity is not expected except in a rather indirect way. Also, Richard Titmus in the The Gift Relationship (1997) describes the difference between exchanging blood based on it being a gift or being paid for the donation. This means that for those who go upward on the social scale, some will go downward. The firm of Wilson and Wilson become quite successful, and eventually the younger brothers and two children who become lawyers then expand the business to six other states. While they may have their differences, they show a lot of similarities when comparing certain traits within a certain theory including the economic inequality, deviance and gender as discussed above. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughters wedding day.. Symbolic interactionism is a micro-level theory that focuses on meanings attached to human interaction, both verbal and non-verbal, and to symbols. 202 Patterson Office Tower Much of this type of exchange is linked to rational action as per Max Webers concepts of rationality. In a sense, they are saying I want my social mobility back or I dont want others to be rising above me with their own social mobility. On the other hand, those on the bottom may make the claim that upward mobility has no effect on others at the top, but relationally, this is not the case. They actively construct a generalized other that recognizes their abilities and rejects oppressive othering, and they often will create positive sub-cultures among other low status but talented people that reflect their own more positive views (through ressentiment which was discussed earlier). They will develop positive generalized others with the subcultures that they may produce. There are two types of exchange that can be applied to symbolic interactionism. [2] Second, there are individual to group exchanges whereby a group might give a loan to an individual, and then the group expects payment by a particular date. Eventually, they become upper-middle class by maintaining both their kinship and business ties by emphasizing positive family and business generalized others. Their chances of positive mobility are greater. Consistent with its micro orientation, symbolic interactionism tries to understand stratification and thus poverty by looking at people's interaction and understandings in their daily lives. We will refer to those who operate with more restricted exchange as opportunists in the next chapter on citizen selves. The exchange is usually short (money paid for material objects, knowledge or personal services) and both parties are self-interested. Closer relationships like kin and close friends are more often in a generalized exchange relationship with a high degree of bonding in long-term relationships. It is a further question of whether these negotiations or social bargains are involved with restricted or generalized exchange. Ones and the others alternatives are measured by the number of alternatives times their value, which is the value of the alternative times its probability. Relative power is the difference between your dependencies as compared to the other, and the others dependencies on you. The end result is a more nuanced and extended theory of power in society with elements of motivation at the individual and group level. Economists would like to apply restricted exchange to all types of social exchange (e.g., Gary Beckers rational account of marriages and partnerships, and also sociobiological theories that see couples maximizing their gene pools for reproduction). They will develop positive generalized others with the subcultures that they may produce. 2000; Sandstrom et al. Similarly, Josh Pacewicz (2016) shows how the old rich partisans made philanthropic gifts to keep town members in their debt, but these donations are small fractions of their total wealth. The same would apply to group exchange. They have deference and may have shame, but they seek to avoid these emotions by building negative subcultures where they are accepted with their deficiencies. Following Goffman and bridging Mead and Athens, there seem to be two modes of behavior: (1) a general form of sociation where people generally intend to get along with each other as friends and associates, and (2) a strategic form of interaction that looks more like bargaining behavior where one has a sense of seeking specific monetary or other gains. However, when groups are involved in strategic action then these calculations, in as much as they can be made, become quite important. Afterwards, he says that no payment is necessary, but: Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. This view of othering interacts with social mobility. Their internalizations are highly manipulative and can often be violent because they are located closest to the boundary between high and low status, and they know it. Constructivism and Symbolic Interactionism. George Herbert Mead does not say much about power in his social psychological theory, and when encountering the topic, the authoritative symbolic interactionist text by Sandstrom, Lively, Martin and Fine (2014: 177-184) after a very brief review of the concept largely embraces the social exchange theory of Richard Emerson (1962) that sees power as dependency. It integrates a bargaining theory of power into symbolic interactionism, and alters the symbolic interactionist discussion of power by putting it into a context of social exchange . Although Boston elites tended to discriminate against the Irish, some Irish social entrepreneurs become more powerful over time. 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