Definition of the situation

Definition of the situation

The definition of the situation is a fundamental concept in symbolic interactionism advanced by the American sociologist W. I. Thomas. It is a kind of collective agreement between people on the characteristics of a situation, and from there, how to appropriately react and fit into it.

Establishing a definition of the situation requires that the participants agree on both the frame of the interaction (its social context and expectations), and on their identities (the person they will treat each other as being for a given situation).

References

DeLamater, John D., and Daniel J. Myers, Social Psychology, 6th ed., 2007 (Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth), pp. 227-228. ISBN 978-0495093367

Thomas, William. "The Definition of the Situation," in Self, Symbols, and Society: Classic Readings in Social Psychology, Nathan Rousseau (ed), 2002 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield), pp. 103-115. ISBN 978-0742516311

See also


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • definition of the situation — A concept first developed by William Isaac Thomas and Florian Znaniecki in The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1918 20). There are two sides to a situation: one is objective, while the other is subjective, where an individual ‘has to take… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life — Infobox Book name = The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life author = Erving Goffman country = United States subject = Social psychology publisher = Anchor Books pub date = 1959 english pub date = media type = pages = 251 isbn = ISBN 978… …   Wikipedia

  • Situation awareness — Situation awareness, or SA, is the perception of environmental elements within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future. It is also a field of study concerned with… …   Wikipedia

  • The nature of God in Western theology — The nature of God in monotheistic religions is a broad topic in Western philosophy of religion and theology, with a very old and distinguished history; it was one of the central topics in medieval philosophy.The Abrahamic faiths, Judaism,… …   Wikipedia

  • Definition of man — Definition of Man, sometimes now referred to as Definition of Human, originated from a summary essay of Kenneth Burke (1897 1993) which he included in his 1966 work, Language as Symbolic Action. Burke s work in communication has spanned many… …   Wikipedia

  • The Art of Fiction — The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers is a nonfiction book by Ayn Rand, published posthumously. Edited by Tore Boeckmann, it was published by Plume in 2000, ISBN 0452281547. The book is based on a 1958 series of 12 four hour… …   Wikipedia

  • Situation calculus — The situation calculus is a logic formalism designed for representing and reasoning about dynamical domains. It was first introduced by John McCarthy in 1963. The main version of the situational calculus that is presented in this article is based …   Wikipedia

  • The Theory of Communicative Action — is a book by Jürgen Habermas published in 1981 in two volumes, the first subtitled Reason and the Rationalization of Society ( Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung ) and the second, Lifeworld and System: A Critique of… …   Wikipedia

  • Definition d'element — Définition d élément Pour les articles homonymes, voir Élément. Dans les métadonnées, la définition d un élément est une expression ou une phrase lisible par un être humain, associée à un élément dans un dictionnaire de données qui décrit la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Définition D'élément — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Élément. Dans les métadonnées, la définition d un élément est une expression ou une phrase lisible par un être humain, associée à un élément dans un dictionnaire de données qui décrit la signification ou la… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”