The Interactionist Imagination

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Introduction

   • Michael Hviid Jacobsen

   Pages 1-40

3. Georg Simmel

   • Greg Smith

   Pages 41-70

4. Robert E. Park

   • Suzie Guth

   Pages 71-94

5. George Herbert Mead

   • Antony J. Puddephatt

   Pages 95-119

6. Everett C. Hughes

   • Edward B. Davis

   Pages 121-144

7. Herbert Blumer

   • Alex Dennis

   Pages 145-167

8. Manford H. Kuhn

   • Michael A. Katovich

   Pages 169-194

9. Erving Goffman

   • Michael Hviid Jacobsen

   Pages 195-232

10. Harold Garfinkel

    • Dirk vom Lehn

    Pages 233-261

11. Anselm L. Strauss

    • Jörg Strübing

    Pages 263-289

12. Jack D. Douglas

    • Andrey Melnikov, Joseph A. Kotarba

    Pages 291-314

13. Howard S. Becker

    • Marc Perrenoud

    Pages 315-339

14. Stanford M. Lyman

    • Cecil E. Greek, Michael Hviid Jacobsen

    Pages 341-374

15. Arlie R. Hochschild

    • Michael Hviid Jacobsen, Anders Petersen

    Pages 375-407

16. Gary Alan Fine

    • Chiara Bassetti, Roberta Sassatelli

    Pages 409-434

17. Back Matter

    Pages 435-442

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This book outlines the history and developments of interactionist social thought through a consideration of its key figures. Arranged chronologically, each chapter illustrates the impact that individual sociologists working within an interactionism framework have had on interactionism as perspective and on the discipline of sociology as such. It presents analyses of interactionist theorists from Georg Simmel through to Herbert Bulmer and Erving Goffman and onto the more recent contributions of Arlie R. Hochschild and Gary Alan Fine. Through an engagement with the latest scholarship this work shows that in a discipline often focused on macrosocial developments and large-scale structures, the interactionist perspective which privileges the study of human interaction has continued relevance. The broad scope of this book will make it an invaluable resource for scholars and students of sociology, social theory, cultural studies, media studies, social psychology, criminology and anthropology.

• interactionism
• classical sociological theory
• symbolic interactionism
• the Chicago School
• individualization
• Human Ecology
• the Iowa School
• ethnomethodology
• indexicality
• poststructuralsim
• Existential Sociology
• Sociology of the Absurd
• Ethnography

“A history of any important intellectual perspective inevitably involves linked biographies. In this powerful and well-considered volume, Michael Hviid Jacobsen and his collaborators describe some of the main contributors of the interactionist perspective, perhaps the most vibrant sociological tradition of the Twentieth Century, and reveal why this approach matters. This volume will persuade the reader of the value of interaction as crucial to understanding social order.” (Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University, USA)

“This is a sterling collection of essays that explicates the work of the founding framers, late twentieth-century paladins, and some of today’s luminaries in symbolic interactionism. The “interactionist imagination” is the best sociological imagination because it weaves together structure and agency in sociological explanation. Jacobsen’s project demonstrates that the interactionist imagination deserves center stage in the interpretation of human events.” (Gil Richard Musolf, Central Michigan University, USA, and editor of “Studies in Symbolic Interaction”)

• Department of Sociology, University of Aalborg at Esbjerg, Aalborg Oest, Denmark

  Michael Hviid Jacobsen

Michael Hviid Jacobsen is Professor of Sociology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He has published extensively on sociology and social theory.

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