Herbert Blumer - Social Structure: Opportunity vs. Constraint

This week, I have found it quite difficult to try and capture Blumer's theories into photographs as I feel that I am going to be repeating my previous posts on symbolic interactionism. However, I have decided to go in a different direction this week by talking about Blumer’s argument on the relationship between the individual and social structures. A criticism of Blumer is that he does not pay enough attention to the impact that social structures have on individual behavior, as he strongly focuses on interaction between individuals and meaning making, which is why I have decided to focus on it this week. He believes it to be a repetitive process whereby there is a temporary gap between the people who create social structures and the people that live under it.

“The things, which [have to be taken] into account—tasks, opportunities, obstacles, means, demands, discomforts, dangers” (Low 2008; 332).

He argues that the structures, which are created through social interaction, provide individuals with both opportunities and constraints. According to Blumer, social structures include culture, social systems, social roles and social stratification. The organization of a human society is the framework for which social action occurs and is not the deciding factor of that action. Although social structures set conditions for individuals, it is equally dependent on the individuals for its existence. Blumer recognizes the ways in which patterns that are established within group life are not able to exist alone, as they are dependent on continuous recurring definition from individuals.

With this idea of Blumer’s in my mind, I couldn’t help but think about money. Money is something that provides both opportunities and constraints for people within society. Although it is not strictly a social structure, I feel as though I can link it to Blumer’s idea through the cycle that money is a part of. Humans (actors) are the people who make and produce money, in the physical sense. We also impact the value of it, in the way that without humans, there would be no such thing as money. Money depends on individuals and society for its existence. We gave both the physical and mental idea of money a meaning and through this meaning, we have given it value within society. The value that money has, impacts individuals through the way that it, as I mentioned, provides opportunities and constraints.

I think that the opportunity versus constraint idea is visible within society through rich versus poor. Typically, people who have money (rich) have more opportunities presented to them compared to people who do not have (much or no) money (poor), as money provides the means to grasp those opportunities, such as access to education. The constraint that money presents is when not having it, individuals miss out on certain opportunities. It is also constraining in the way that in order to live comfortably, individuals need to earn money and to earn money individuals need to be employed, which some may feel is a constraint that stops them from being able to do what they would otherwise want to do. I am not necessarily saying that this is all 100% fact. I am, however, voicing my thoughts on the link that I could draw between Blumer’s idea and things I have experienced within society. Of course, money is not the only thing that presents opportunities and constraints. 

References:

Low, Jacqueline. 2008. "Structure, Agency, and Social Reality in Blumerian Symbolic Interactionism: The Influence of George Simmel." Symbolic Interaction 31(3): 325-43.