Symbolic Interaction And Symbolic Interaction

After I realized most I would not have access to most of the settings I decided to observe students at the student center. While observing I noticed certain interaction with students, I observed the high level of interaction between fellow black students and the different interaction they had between students of other races. This brought me to wonder if people change their behavior when interacting with certain people. I aim to understand if McMaster students take on a different role when they are around people of their races and other races. Is there a relationship between the society and the self? Do McMaster students take on different roles due to how they are labeled in the society? Do McMaster students feel the need to conduct themselves
Symbolic interactionism is the theory being used in this research; it explains “how meanings are derived from the social process of people or groups of people interacting” (Blumer & Lune, p. 13, 2012). This focuses on signs, symbols, languages and how people construct their own reality based on their experience of these things. I would be using Mead to understand the theory of Role-playing. Mead focuses on “taking the role of the other, a person has to see himself from the outside. One can only do this by placing himself in the position of others” ( Blumer, 1986, p. 12-13). He explains that people tend to have a social act when there is “group life”. According to Blumer & Morrione (2004), “Recognizing that group life exists in what people do, the place of the individual act must be seen in terms of how it fits into what other people are doing” (p. 95). I will be using the idea of role taking and group life to analyze if McMaster students act a certain way when they are with particular group of
I am a member of these clubs therefore I have access to the (naturalistic) settings. I would go into the field as a normal member of the clubs on two occasions before informing these students about my research. As a researcher, ethics is a crucial part of qualitative research; therefore, informing and explaining the research to them would be important. I have to present myself in the best way in other to gain the participants trust, in other to get accurate information. I aim at constructing open-ended questions in other to generate more room for understanding. Although one may expect certain result, student’s reactions may differ due to different experiences. What I know is from my own meaning, therefore this qualitative research would allow me understand ideas