Define significant symbols and provide a concrete contemporary example of the concept.
What will be an ideal response?
Significant symbols are words and gestures that have the same meaning for all those involved in a social act. They call out the same response in the person who initiates the gesture as they do in those to whom the gesture is directed. Shared meanings provide the basis from which actions can be planned and carried out. Without such a consensus, whether it is preexisting or created by the participants, social interaction would proceed haltingly, as we would be unable to indicate our intentions to others in light of their presumed interpretation of our actions.
You might also like to view...
Sanderson and Alderson argue that by the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) Japan had
a. developed a genuine feudal political and economic system b. become a peripheral member of the capitalist world-economy c. become a core member of the capitalist world-economy d. become an essentially capitalist society in economic terms
A large, organized religion that is not officially linked with a state or government is represented by the term ________
a. secession b. denomination c. typology d. sect
Georg Simmel is known for his work with: a. social networks
b. social institutions. c. groupthink. d. group size effects.
In a class system, each member of a given class shares similar:
a. opportunities. b. lifestyles. c. attitudes. d. all of the above