ABSTRACT
Symbolic interactionist theory, which guides many of the expositions and studies presented in this volume, had its American origin around the turn of the century in the writings of C. H. Cooley, John Dewey, J. M. Baldwin, W. I. Thomas and others. Much of the theory had an independent origin in Germany in the writings of Georg Simmel and Max Weber. Its most comprehensive formulation to date is the posthumously published volume by George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self, and Society (1934). Perhaps because of the complex and unintegrated character of these writings, and their failure to use truly operational language, the theory has not had the understanding and testing which it merits. This first chapter attempts to restate the theory in simple, systematic, and researchable form.
Because of its diversified origins, interactionist theory cannot claim complete agreement in concepts, premises, and propositions among all those who consider themselves its adherents. Thus, the author has to take responsibility for the specific formulation offered, and agree that at a few points he has made statements 4 for which equivalents are not to be found in the writings of the leading exponents of symbolic interaction theory.
