The Efficacy of Symbolic Interaction Theory and Its Interpretative Limits in the Context of Studying Urban Youth Culture and Everyday Discourse among Street Art Practitioners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14031500Keywords:
Symbolic Interaction, Theory Reflexivity, Urban Youth Culture Street Arts, Sociological Knowledge, Cultural PatchworkAbstract
This research aims to examine the efficacy of symbolic interaction theory and highlight its interpretative limits through a field study of urban youth culture engaged in street arts in Morocco. We adopt a reflexive approach to investigate the constraints that hinder a deeper understanding of youth culture. Reflexivity refers to the role of sociologists as participants in the communities and cultures they study, considering the biases that may influence their research. It is crucial for researchers to maintain an awareness of their impact on study subjects, thus upholding an ethical stance that assumes a neutral role despite the challenges encountered.
The reflexive critique focuses on the researcher’s self, prompting a re-evaluation of their ethnographic position as an observer to identify pitfalls and mechanisms contributing to sociological knowledge production. Symbolic interaction theory emphasizes the study of symbols and meanings exchanged during social interactions, positing that individuals construct meanings and realities through these interactions. This framework helps us understand how individual and collective identities are formed.
Symbolic interactionism enables an analysis of youth language and cultural expressions by examining how they utilize language, fashion, behaviors, and social attitudes for communication and interaction. It also sheds light on how youth create their own culture, significantly influenced by "cultural patchwork." This leads to an understanding of the limits of symbolic interaction theory, as it often confines researchers to micro-interactions, important for comprehending face-to-face dynamics.
Furthermore, the theory can help us to consider street arts as vehicles of social and cultural communication in urban spaces. We will examine, through deconstruction of symbols in artistic expressions such as graffiti and slogans, their participation in communicating particular social meanings and the interaction they evoke, while measuring the impact of these arts on social dynamics and the making of new social interaction spaces.
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