Herbert Blumer - Interaction

As mentioned in my previous post, Blumer was interested in the meanings that we assign to certain objects and words. To go into more depth about his interest in this, it is necessary to discuss the process that he argues is responsible for this assignment of meanings: an interactive interpretative process, whereby an actor notes the things that have meanings towards which they are acting, then, by using an internal social process of interpretation, they assign a meaning by a process of preparation, re-evaluation and review. Drawing from his influence from John Dewey’s understanding of the interaction between humans and the natural work, he believed that interaction was the basis of the creation and assignment of meaning. Blumer went on to create a structure of ideas that he referred to as “root images”, which are images that point to and portray self-interaction, human groups and societies. With the action of individuals being heavily emphasized, he stressed that social interactionism allowed the best, most direct observation of human behavior and interaction. Blumer believed that meaning has a forceful nature given to it through a self-interacting process (Alexander 1987).

With Blumer’s theory in mind, I find it quite interesting to think about the different interactions that people have, which result in them assigning different meanings to certain things. An example of this, in my every day life, would be the interaction that I have with inanimate objects. A quick insight into me: I easily become attached to inanimate objects because of different experiences and memories that I have with them. I tend to assign meanings to things, based on interactions that I have had with them, which ends in me using this meaning to justify hoarding or holding onto certain objects. It may seem a bit far-fetched from Blumer's theory but an object that I feel to have assigned an important meaning to, based on my interaction with it, is my bedroom. Like most people, I enjoy spending time in my bedroom. There is obviously more than one object in my bedroom, as you can see in the photo below. However, overall, through the interactions that I have had with each individual object, and them as a collective, the meaning that my bedroom has to me is comfort and stability.

I am always able to come back to my room at the end of the day and recuperate, which is where the meaning of it lies. Past interactions that I have had in and with my room, over the past 12 years, have allowed me to establish a meaning of comfort and stability. All of the objects that are in my room are in there because of the meaning that I associate them with. For example, the bear that is sitting on my bed; although it is just a plush object that provides no conversation or external social interactions for me, I have had it my entire life and have interacted with it at times where I have needed comfort, which in turn has led me to associate a meaning of comfort with it. Personally, I see the assignment of meanings as a cycle. I received this bear the day that I was born, I have used it to seek comfort from over the past 20 years, due to the comfort that was provided, I have assigned a meaning of comfort to that object and now go back to it when I am seeking just that. Another example is the teddy bear lamp that I have on my bedside table: a present from a family member when I was very young. Due to the fact that it was a gift from someone that I am extremely close to, I refuse to remove it from my room, as it has a lot of meaning tied to it. It also provides me with comfort, as well as memories of receiving it and the person who gave it to me.

I see this as being relative to Blumer through the way that I have assigned a meaning to the bear/other objects in my room, due to past interactions that I have had with them. Individually, all of the objects in my room have small, similar meanings to me, due to the past interactions that I have had with, or involving, each object. Therefore, they collectively come together to share a meaning of comfort and stability as they are all inclusive in the overall meaning that I associate with my bedroom.

Alexander, Jeffrey C. Twenty Lectures: Sociological Theory Since World War II.New York: Columbia University Press.