ABSTRACT
The chapter sets out to combine the tradition of symbolic interaction with novel perspectives and empirical input. Starting with Simmel’s emphasis on how all small interactions in everyday life is what makes a society, we move on to the core of American social interactionism, with Mead/Blumer and the ‘social act’. The Swedish social psychologist Johan Asplund builds on Mead to establish the term social responsivity for the pre-moral immediate acting between individuals. This leads to Cooley’s ‘looking-glass self’, further to Goffman’s interaction order and to ethnomethodology (Garfinkel). The latter is illustrated with bicycling in a Critical Mass action, where community among cyclists is developed through knowing what is going on, while others (car drivers) do not. Interaction ritual chains (Collins) draw in the aspect of emotions and connects Durkheim’s and Goffman’s different concepts of ritual. To draw together various theoretical inputs, the chapter present a recent study of social rhythm produced at music festivals. The more novel phenomenon of spontaneous gatherings motivated by games such as Pokemon Go is also explored.
