ABSTRACT
It is difficult to define what constitutes symbolic interactionism as a theoretical perspective in sociology. In the interactionist image, human beings are defined as self-reflective beings. The interactionist view of human nature is built upon Cooley’s dictum that human nature is a group nature, as well as the idea that the self is a process that emerges out of the people. In the interactionist perspective, the individual is seen as existing in dual systems—what Mead referred to as sociality. Pragmatism provided the basis for an image of humans that was congruent with the developing interactionist perspective. Charles Horton Cooley believed that any valid explanation of human society had to account for two of its unique properties. In the pragmatic tradition, Cooley’s works were guided by a consideration of life’s practical problems encountered in a developing industrial society.
