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Macrolevel vs. Microlevel
• The conflict and functional perspectives have been criticized for
focusing primarily on macrolevel analysis.
Macrolevel analysis – examines whole societies, large-scale social
structures, and systems (instead of looking at dynamics of individuals’
lives)
• Symbolic Interactionism examines people’s day-to-day
interactions and their behaviour in groups; this is called
microlevel analysis.
Microlevel analysis – focuses on small groups rather than large-scale
social structures
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• This perspective is based upon the assumption that society
is the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
– Symbolic interaction occurs when people communicate
through the use of symbols.
Symbol – anything that meaningfully represents
something else
For example: signs, gestures, written language and
shared values
(eg. saluting a nation’s flag may be a sign of
patriotism or loyalty, whereas burning that
same flag may show contempt)
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• Some interactionists focus on people’s behaviour, while
others focus on the ways in which people impose their
behaviour on others.
• From this perspective, each person’s interpretation or
definition of a given situation becomes a subjective reality.
– Subjective reality – an individual’s take on reality, which is
influenced by personal opinion
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• People generally assume that their subjective reality is the
same as that of others; however, this may be incorrect.
• To interact with others, we define the situation according to
our own subjective reality.
• Because this perspective focuses on the microlevel of
society, it helps us to see how individuals interact in their
daily lives and interpret their experiences.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective - Why does
prostitution continue to exist in Canadian society?
• The symbolic interactionist perspective examines people’s lived
experiences to determine such things as why people become
prostitutes, whether prostitutes like their work, and why men seek out
prostitutes—in short, how people define social realities.
• People’s actions and behaviour can be understood only by looking at
them as individuals.
• What is important in human relationships is not what an outsider
might think is happening, but what the participants believe is going on.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective - Why does
prostitution continue to exist in Canadian society?
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Violating rules of society
A means of earning money
Clients might be living out a fantasy
Being a risk-taker (prostitute and client)
To sum up: it is an individual’s right to choose how to earn
money as long as it hurts nobody, and it does not involve
children. Arguably, society is being dictated to by outdated
perceptions of moral right and wrong because it would
seem an individual’s morality is different from the social.