Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism.
 For starters, let me explain the definition of our topic this week. Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that "places emphasis on micro-scale social interaction to provide subjective meaning in human behavior."
 That sounds like giberish. Basically, symbolic interaction portrays a family as a unit of interacting "personalities." It describes the ways that people interact through "symbols" (such as words, gestures, rules, and roles).
It was developed by Herbert Blumer. He set three basic ideas of the perspective: 
-"Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things."
-"The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and society."
-"These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters."
So, society supplies you with a role, and you act accordingly or "deviantly." By integrating ourselves into society and learning how to interact with others and our roles, we develop our sense of self.
   In my opinion, symbolic interactionism is a justified part of sociology. Even if the theory lends itself to psychology, it explains how people act and why. Seeing as sociology is the study of the functioning of human society, this seems like a pretty important aspect of that (understanding why people act the way they do/how they are integrated in society and their roles.)