Symbolic Interactionism Theory

Symbolic Interactionism is the process of which an individual sees society as symbols. The symbols can include seeing the community and people around them as objects, words, or gestures (Treviño G-10). There are different aspects included in the social interactionist theory. The one that will be referred to in the duration of this paper will be the dehumanization feature. Under dehumanization, people refer to people as animals, objects, or even as enemies, but they do not see them as the human beings they are (Joseph 436). What is it that causes individuals to lose sight of “people”? Joel Wright was studying to be a Roman Catholic priest when he began to organize sex crimes on children from Mexico. Wright would go on Craigslist and search
In recent studies, it has shown that those who see through a symbolic interaction lens have committed crimes that are including, but not limited to, rape and pornography, murder, robbery, domestic violence, drug use, and gang involvement (Birkbeck and Lafree, 120). Genocide is also often categorized as crimes to which people stop seeing people as humans (Lammers and Stapel, 114). Under symbolic interactionism is the theory of the looking-glass self. The looking-glass self is defined as seeing ourselves the way others see us (Treviño, 16). Is it possible Wright was called deviant or a trouble-maker when growing up? To which those words caused him to go down the criminal path. Perhaps that is why Wright wanted to go into priesthood. Perhaps he wanted to prove people wrong, so he took on the studies of becoming a priest. Alas, he possibly still carried the burden of a deviant past and decided to act upon it. If this were true, that would also apply the self-fulfilling prophecy in Wright’s life. The self-fulfilling prophecy is defined as the false definition of a situation brings out those certain behaviors. This causes the false definition to then transform into reality (Treviño,