(1864-1929) and George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) are considered the co-founders of the theoretical framework known as symbolic interactionism (p. 68). Both wondered how the human infant developed a self, and both concluded that each person's sense of self is socially created. "In effect, we come to see ourselves as others see us; thus, we learn to view ourselves 'from outside.' The essence of humanness--our ability to contemplate our own existence, our past, and our future--comes to us from society.
A brief overview of research interests for symbolic interactionism would include those which focus on the individual's social interaction skills in relation to the larger society. In essence, we tend to conform (to society) even in our noncomformity. One has only to look at the "iconoclastic" hippies of the 1960s and the grunge rockers of the 1990s to see that conformity within one's group of like-minded peers generates tremendous pressure to conform.
A good research project to investigate the symbolic interactionist perspective would be to list the hippie norms of the
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