Symbolic Interactionism Essay

1. Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another (Henslin, 2012, pg. G-6). There are many ways in which “A Class Divided” illustrates symbolic interactionism. After the shooting of Martin Luther King, an Iowa teacher took it upon herself to create an activity in which her students could understand what it was like to be discriminated against for superficial reasons (i.e. Skin color, hair color, eye color, etc.). During her assignment, she divided the children up into “blue-eyed children” and “brown-eyed children”. On the first day, she told her class that the children with blue eyes were better, and that the children with brown eyes were mediocre. The
Decline in the number of indivdivuals who attend church (Fewer church-goers).
2. Greater religious diversity; including more non-Christian religions. With that being said, Table 13.2 in the textbook supports the idea that Americans are becoming more secular in their religious observances. From the table, we can see that there is a great diversity of religions in the United States. With 300,000 congregations and hundreds of denominations, no religious group even comes close to being a dominant religion in the United States (Henslin, 2012, pg. 432). Some of these non-Christian religions include; Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu among many others (Henslin, 2012, pg. 433). What began as a ministry to shut-ins and those who do not belong to a church blossomed into its own type of church, known as the electronic church (Henslin, 2012, pg. 432). The electronic church is another way in which it seems that American religion is becoming more secular. People can participate in the electronic church via television and YouTube. Because individuals are now able to attend church from their own homes, the proportion of those who go to church has