symbolic boundary

(noun)

Conceptual distinctions made by social actors that separate people into groups and generate feelings of similarity and group membership.

Related Terms

  • individual mobility

Examples of symbolic boundary in the following topics:

  • Defining Boundaries

    • One important factor in how symbolic boundaries function is how widely they are accepted as valid.
    • Symbolic boundaries are a "necessary but insufficient" condition for social change.
    • He saw the symbolic boundary between the sacred and the profane as the most profound of all social facts, and the one from which lesser symbolic boundaries were derived.
    • Rituals, whether secular or religious, were for Durkheim the means by which groups maintained their symbolic and moral boundaries.
    • Mary Douglas has subsequently emphasized the role of symbolic boundaries in organizing experience, private and public, even in a secular society.
  • The Interactionist Perspective

    • From a symbolic interactionist perspective, gender is produced and reinforced through daily interactions and the use of symbols.
    • Symbolic interactionism aims to understand human behavior by analyzing the critical role of symbols in human interaction.
    • The meanings attached to symbols are socially created and fluid, instead of natural and static.
    • Because of this, we act and react to symbols based on their current assigned meanings.
    • The woman in this picture blurs the boundaries between the symbols that are traditionally considered masculine or feminine.
  • Religious Symbols

    • The Star of David is a Jewish religious symbol that represents Judaism.
    • Religious symbolism is the use by a religion of symbols including archetypes, acts, artwork, events, or natural phenomena.
    • The symbolism of the early Church was characterized as being understood by initiates only.
    • The study of religious symbolism is either universalist, a component of comparative religion and mythology, or seen in a localized scope within the confines of a religion's limits and boundaries.
    • Religious symbolism is effective when it appeals to both the intellect and the emotions.
  • Populations, samples, and boundaries

    • At one extreme, they might consist of symbols in texts or sounds in verbalizations; at the other extreme, nations in the world system of states might constitute the population of nodes.
    • In each case, however, the elements of the population to be studied are defined by falling within some boundary.
    • The boundaries of the populations studied by network analysts are of two main types.
    • Probably most commonly, the boundaries are those imposed or created by the actors themselves.
    • Network analysts can expand the boundaries of their studies by replicating populations.
  • The Symbolic Nature of Culture

    • Although language is perhaps the most obvious system of symbols we use to communicate, many things we do carry symbolic meaning.
    • Other gang members use these symbolic sartorial signals to recognize enemies and allies.
    • According to Max Weber, symbols are important aspects of culture: people use symbols to express their spirituality and the spiritual side of real events, and ideal interests are derived from symbols.
    • Cultures are shared systems of symbols and meanings.
    • Alphabets are one example of a symbolic element of culture.
  • Mead

    • The two most important roots of Mead's work, and of symbolic interactionism in general, are the philosophy of pragmatism and social behaviorism.
    • He is a classic example of a social theorist whose work does not fit easily within conventional disciplinary boundaries.
  • Theoretical Understandings of Socialization

    • Symbolic Interactionism - the self develops as a result of interrelated social interactions and interpretive processes; as a result, socialization is highly dependent on the situations in which the actor finds him/herself and the ways these situations are "made sense of" by the being or others; this approach also argues that socialization is a continuous, lifelong process
    • Internalization Theory - socialization is a series of stages in which the individual learns to participate in various levels of organization of society; this theory contends that the child internalizes a cognitive frame of reference for interpersonal relations and a common system of expressive symbolism in addition to a moral conscience; this approach was advocated by Talcott Parsons
  • The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

    • Symbolic interactionists view the family as a site of social reproduction where meanings are negotiated and maintained by family members.
    • Symbolic interactionism is a social theory that focuses on the analysis of patterns of communication, interpretation, and adjustment between individuals in relation to the meanings of symbols.
    • This emphasis on symbols, negotiated meaning, and the construction of society as an aspect of symbolic interactionism focuses attention on the roles that people play in society.
    • Symbolic interactionists also explore the changing meanings attached to family.
    • Symbolic interactionists explore the changing meanings attached to family.
  • Symbols and Nature

    • Language is a symbolic system of communication based on a complex system of rules relating spoken, signed, or written symbols.
    • A sign is a symbol that stands for something else.
    • Signs can consist of sounds, gestures, letters, or symbols, depending on whether the language is spoken, signed, or written.
    • Language is based on complex rules relating spoken, signed, or written symbols to their meanings.
    • Parrots mimic the sounds of human language, but have they really learned the symbolic system?
  • The Functionalist Perspective

    • Such societies were held together by shared values and common symbols.
    • Crime, however, may have the latent function of providing examples that demonstrate the boundaries of acceptable behavior and the function of these boundaries to maintain social norms.
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