ABSTRACT
Interviews may be classified in many different ways in terms of their purpose, but all of them are social acts. Some are consciously intended to convey messages and change behavior, but others are intended to be neutral Considering the many value- and emotion-laden variables which must enter into every interview situation, it is doubtful whether any interview is truly neutral in the sense that it is merely a record of what is in the respondent’s mind. Professor Kuhn’s analysis suggests the potentialities of symbolic interaction theory for the practicing professions in which practitioner-client interaction is the major therapeutic instrument. He focuses on the problem of the middle-class social worker’s ability (or inability) to take the role of lower-class clients and suggests that without such role-taking, effective casework is unlikely. Kuhn indicates that parallel situations have been observed in other practitioner-client relationships such as that between the middle-class schoolteacher and the lower-class 194pupil. Finally, Professor Kuhn’s essay reflects the manner in which symbolic interaction theory identifies needed areas of research.
