Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Integrating The Generalized Other Into Theories Of Difference: Balancing And Bridging In Symbolic Interactionism, Thomas E. Janoski, Chrystal Grey, Darina Lepadatu

Sociology White Papers

Symbolic interactionist theories need to use the generalized in order to explain difference, but this essential term has been neglected. A "sense of group position" has been used to focus on difference, but this term is too structural. To bridge this gap in symbolic interactionism, we show that a generalized other is socially constructed through framing; this process of social construction involves internalization or externalization; multiple generalized others routinely exist and they create multiple selves; generalized others may be positive or negative; generalized others are ranked in terms of importance to the self; and difference springs from these different rankings.