Ruinous Reification

The Astructural Bias in Symbolic Interactionism

Bibliographic Data

ID20083151
AuthorsPatrick J W Mcginty (0000-0002-1207-8433, corresponding author)
Year2016
Pages19-56
Publication date2016-08-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueAstructural Bias Charge (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherEmerald Group Publishing Limited (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/s0163-239620160000046022
OpenAlexW2501068304
ISBN9781786350367
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited68

The purpose of this conceptual chapter is to analyze the current state of the astructural bias in symbolic interactionism as it relates to three inter-related processes over time: (1) the formalization of critiques of symbolic interactionism as ahistorical, astructural, and acritical perspectives; (2) an ahistorical understanding of early expressions of the disjuncture between symbolic interactionism and more widely accepted forms of sociological theorizing; and (3) persistent and widespread inattentiveness to past and present evidence-based arguments that address the argument regarding symbolic interactionism as an astructural, ahistorical, and acritical sociological perspective. The argument frames the historical development of the astructural bias concept in an historically and socially conditioned way, from its emergence through its rejection and ultimately including conclusions about contemporary state of the astructural bias as evidenced in the symbolic interactionist literatures of the last couple of decades. The analysis and argument concludes that the contemporary result of these intertwined historical and social conditioning processes is that the astructural bias myth has been made real in practice, and that the reification of the myth of an astructural bias has had the ruinous effect of virtually eradicating a vital tradition in the interactionist perspective which extends back to the earliest formulations of the perspective. As a result, a handful of suggestions that serve to aid in reclaiming the unorthodox structuralism of symbolic interactionism and the related interactionist study of social organization are provided in the conclusion

Epistemology · Interactionism · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Social science · Sociology · Symbolic interactionism · The Symbolic · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics