Antony Puddephatt
Biographic Data
| ID | 151880 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Antony Puddephatt |
| GIVEN NAMES | Antony |
| FAMILY NAME | Puddephatt |
| SIGNATURE | PUDDEPHATT A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lakehead University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Symbolic Interaction in Authoritarian Times
The symbolic interactionist (SI) tradition has been criticized for having an overly optimistic view of human development within democratic society. As we see an increasing trend toward authoritarian and fascist movements globally, it becomes especially important to foster a more critical theoretical framework for SI. Introducing Erich Fromm to SI allows for the exploration of new research questions that dig deeper into structural conditions and h…
Accomplishing Ethics‐Work as a Generic Social Process
Existing systems of university research ethics are often criticized by those in the qualitative research tradition. A common thread is that ethics cannot be fully anticipated before the research begins, as is expected by most institutional review boards. This is because learning about the ethical priorities of a group must happen emergently, alongside the discovery of other concepts and patterns in our analyses. As such, we introduce the concept …
Nature and the environment in interaction
Nature and the environment have always figured into symbolic interactionist research, but new developments and critiques from environmental sociology have presented challenges as to how this is best accomplished. This chapter examines these critiques and considers how symbolic interactionists have responded to these ontological, epistemological, and political challenges. After considering the key conceptual debates in the field, I review symbolic…
Reframing 'Dirty Work
Drawing on ethnographic research in a homeless shelter, this article examines how caseworkers navigate an occupation that is often physically and morally trying, and at times, objectionable. Given this context, we examine the ways in which caseworkers identify and define 'dirty work,' often seen as a source of occupational degradation, according to two main typifications: the physical and the moral. Building on Erving Goffman's frame analysis, we…
Symbolic Interactionism
The symbolic interactionist perspective is presented with a brief history and a discussion of the key theoretical and methodological assumptions to guide social research. After considering its origins and development into the contemporary period, we consider some of the criticisms leveled against it. We then turn to the issue of language and its importance for an interactionist model of the social nature of mind, self, and society. Here, critique…
Play Stage
The play stage is one of the three central components of George Herbert Mead's seminal discussion of the social foundation and development of the self. According to Mead, the self has a social genesis which becomes evident if one examines the ways that people develop a sense for their own being as something separate from, but also interdependent with, other people. In essence, the self is situated in the individual's capacity to take account of h…
Overcoming “Analytic Interruptus”
A common charge against qualitative researchers in general and interactionist researchers in particular is that they produce descriptive, a-theoretical accounts of group life. We consider the problem of “analytic interruptus” in contemporary symbolic interactionism – that is, a failure to move beyond analyses of individual cases – and offer a potential to a solution via the pursuit of a generic social process (GSP) research agenda. A GSP approach…
Generic Social Processes
Antony Puddephatt*a & Arthur McLuhanba Lakehead Universityb York UniversityAntony Puddephatt is professor of sociology at Lakehead University, Canada. He has studied the social theory of George Herbert Mead, exploring the relevance of his social pragmatism for a wide range of contemporary theoretical issues. He has also conducted empirical studies of the social world of chess, the institutional culture of Canadian sociology, and more recently the…
Images of Marie Curie
Marie Curie holds iconic status both within the scientific community and in the wider cultural imagination and collective memory. The first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and the only woman to achieve such an honor twice, Curie is widely celebrated as a female pioneer in the sciences and is held up as a model for all, but particularly women, to emulate. She is revered not only as a ground-breaking scientist, but also as a devoted wife and moth…
Canadian Symbolic Interactionism on the Global Stage
In a recent CJS special issue developed around their paper titled 'The Institutionalization of Symbolic Interactionism in Canadian Sociology, 1922-1979: Success at What Cost?' Helmes-Hayes and Milne (2017) document the emergence and establishment of symbolic interactionism (SI) in English-language Canadian sociology, and then consider its fragmentation and decline from 1979 into the present period. This is followed by commentaries from Jacqueline…
Guest Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue
The Search for Meaning
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead is an exemplary figure in sociology, and is central to sociological conceptions of the self and social action. However, other important aspects of Mead's thought have been largely neglected, including his remarkably sophisticated and sociological theory of scientific knowledge. Traditional accounts of the sociology of science identify Thomas Kuhn, and his predecessor, Ludwig Fleck, as pioneers in the social analysis of scienti…
The Search for Meaning
Generic Social Processes
Antony Puddephatt*a & Arthur McLuhanba Lakehead Universityb York UniversityAntony Puddephatt is professor of sociology at Lakehead University, Canada. He has studied the social theory of George Herbert Mead, exploring the relevance of his social pragmatism for a wide range of contemporary theoretical issues. He has also conducted empirical studies of the social world of chess, the institutional culture of Canadian sociology, and more recently the…
Symbolic Interactionism
The symbolic interactionist perspective is presented with a brief history and a discussion of the key theoretical and methodological assumptions to guide social research. After considering its origins and development into the contemporary period, we consider some of the criticisms leveled against it. We then turn to the issue of language and its importance for an interactionist model of the social nature of mind, self, and society. Here, critique…
Reframing 'Dirty Work
Drawing on ethnographic research in a homeless shelter, this article examines how caseworkers navigate an occupation that is often physically and morally trying, and at times, objectionable. Given this context, we examine the ways in which caseworkers identify and define 'dirty work,' often seen as a source of occupational degradation, according to two main typifications: the physical and the moral. Building on Erving Goffman's frame analysis, we…
Canadian Symbolic Interactionism on the Global Stage
In a recent CJS special issue developed around their paper titled 'The Institutionalization of Symbolic Interactionism in Canadian Sociology, 1922-1979: Success at What Cost?' Helmes-Hayes and Milne (2017) document the emergence and establishment of symbolic interactionism (SI) in English-language Canadian sociology, and then consider its fragmentation and decline from 1979 into the present period. This is followed by commentaries from Jacqueline…
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead is an exemplary figure in sociology, and is central to sociological conceptions of the self and social action. However, other important aspects of Mead's thought have been largely neglected, including his remarkably sophisticated and sociological theory of scientific knowledge. Traditional accounts of the sociology of science identify Thomas Kuhn, and his predecessor, Ludwig Fleck, as pioneers in the social analysis of scienti…
The Search for Meaning
Guest Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue
Canadian Symbolic Interactionism on the Global Stage
In a recent CJS special issue developed around their paper titled 'The Institutionalization of Symbolic Interactionism in Canadian Sociology, 1922-1979: Success at What Cost?' Helmes-Hayes and Milne (2017) document the emergence and establishment of symbolic interactionism (SI) in English-language Canadian sociology, and then consider its fragmentation and decline from 1979 into the present period. This is followed by commentaries from Jacqueline…
Images of Marie Curie
Marie Curie holds iconic status both within the scientific community and in the wider cultural imagination and collective memory. The first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and the only woman to achieve such an honor twice, Curie is widely celebrated as a female pioneer in the sciences and is held up as a model for all, but particularly women, to emulate. She is revered not only as a ground-breaking scientist, but also as a devoted wife and moth…
Play Stage
The play stage is one of the three central components of George Herbert Mead's seminal discussion of the social foundation and development of the self. According to Mead, the self has a social genesis which becomes evident if one examines the ways that people develop a sense for their own being as something separate from, but also interdependent with, other people. In essence, the self is situated in the individual's capacity to take account of h…
Overcoming “Analytic Interruptus”
A common charge against qualitative researchers in general and interactionist researchers in particular is that they produce descriptive, a-theoretical accounts of group life. We consider the problem of “analytic interruptus” in contemporary symbolic interactionism – that is, a failure to move beyond analyses of individual cases – and offer a potential to a solution via the pursuit of a generic social process (GSP) research agenda. A GSP approach…
Generic Social Processes
Antony Puddephatt*a & Arthur McLuhanba Lakehead Universityb York UniversityAntony Puddephatt is professor of sociology at Lakehead University, Canada. He has studied the social theory of George Herbert Mead, exploring the relevance of his social pragmatism for a wide range of contemporary theoretical issues. He has also conducted empirical studies of the social world of chess, the institutional culture of Canadian sociology, and more recently the…
Symbolic Interactionism
The symbolic interactionist perspective is presented with a brief history and a discussion of the key theoretical and methodological assumptions to guide social research. After considering its origins and development into the contemporary period, we consider some of the criticisms leveled against it. We then turn to the issue of language and its importance for an interactionist model of the social nature of mind, self, and society. Here, critique…
Nature and the environment in interaction
Nature and the environment have always figured into symbolic interactionist research, but new developments and critiques from environmental sociology have presented challenges as to how this is best accomplished. This chapter examines these critiques and considers how symbolic interactionists have responded to these ontological, epistemological, and political challenges. After considering the key conceptual debates in the field, I review symbolic…
Reframing 'Dirty Work
Drawing on ethnographic research in a homeless shelter, this article examines how caseworkers navigate an occupation that is often physically and morally trying, and at times, objectionable. Given this context, we examine the ways in which caseworkers identify and define 'dirty work,' often seen as a source of occupational degradation, according to two main typifications: the physical and the moral. Building on Erving Goffman's frame analysis, we…
Symbolic Interaction in Authoritarian Times
The symbolic interactionist (SI) tradition has been criticized for having an overly optimistic view of human development within democratic society. As we see an increasing trend toward authoritarian and fascist movements globally, it becomes especially important to foster a more critical theoretical framework for SI. Introducing Erich Fromm to SI allows for the exploration of new research questions that dig deeper into structural conditions and h…
Accomplishing Ethics‐Work as a Generic Social Process
Existing systems of university research ethics are often criticized by those in the qualitative research tradition. A common thread is that ethics cannot be fully anticipated before the research begins, as is expected by most institutional review boards. This is because learning about the ethical priorities of a group must happen emergently, alongside the discovery of other concepts and patterns in our analyses. As such, we introduce the concept …
Sociology (9 works) · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice (8 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Social science (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Symbolic interactionism (6 works) · Political science (5 works) · Social and Cultural Dynamics (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works)