ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews symbolic interaction and labeling theory. These are micro-level theories explaining patterns of face-to-face social interaction occurring between individuals and within small groups. These theories emphasize “agency” which refers to the capacity of the individual to select his or her behavior and orient it in the direction chosen as he or she interacts socially with other people. According to this perspective, society is created from the bottom up by people who use agency to create the structures in their lives through patterned forms of social interaction. The chapter covers symbolic interaction through the work of Mead and Blumer and extends it to discuss Strauss on the negotiated order of the hospital, awareness contexts with respect to death and dying, and other topics, followed by Goffman’s theories of impression management, the mental hospital as a total institution, and stigma. Labeling theory is discussed by way of Becker and applied to Scheff’s views on mental illness.
