ABSTRACT
Symbolic interaction theory makes several assumptions about the relationships between the organization of society and the structure of self. This chapter examines several conditions that tend to invalidate symbolic interaction theory. It looks at a wide range of social processes in capitalist society to judge the degree to which each of the assumptions above can be said to be valid. In “modern” organizational principles, the status-role is the “property” of the corporation and the person is only temporarily “assigned” to that status role. The concept of science is interpreted as physical, objectified, closed forms of systems organization and operation. The central assumptions involved in the transformation of an individual into a social actor define a process that inserts a self system composed of social identities into the individual psyche. Capitalist societies tend to eliminate the role of the sacred in role allocation and role disinvestiture.
