Symbolic Interaction and Narrative Productions of Meaning in Public Spaces

Abstract

My project is to develop a phenomenological, constructionist, symbolic interactionist theory of the narrative productions of meaning in the public realm. Situated within our globalized, technologically mediated world characterized by extraordinary social, political, economic, and moral fragmentation, my basic question is quite practical: How can public communication be understandable and persuasive to audiences whose experiences, world views, and moral sensibilities are so different? Here I explore how the more-or-less widely shared systems of meaning in symbolic codes and emotion codes are incorporated into narratives that circulate in the public sphere. I conclude with arguing that more attention by symbolic interactionists to these productions of meaning would be good for the study of culture and good for symbolic interactionism.

Citation

Loseke, D.R. (2016), "Symbolic Interaction and Narrative Productions of Meaning in Public Spaces", The Astructural Bias Charge: Myth or Reality? (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 46), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 123-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620160000046026