SOCI 3343

Students explore the features of social life that depend on the human ability to imagine ourselves as others see us. Drawing specifically from the theoretical perspectives of George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman, students investigates symbolic interactionist approaches to the (re)construction of the self and the self-society relationship as a process of symbolic communications between social actors. Central to this course is the notion that as social actors we attempt to shape the impressions that others have of us by projecting images of ourselves that best serve our own objectives. In so doing, students define the social situation and create appropriate expectations of ourselves and others.