Chapter 5 Symbolic Interactionism

In chapter 5, questions are arisen around the theme of symbolic interactionism.

Although this word seemed a bit scary to me the first time, I understood the meaning of the concept through the example of Jodie Foster's movie. And this movie, actually reminded me another one called Sam with Sean Penn playing a mental deficient father with a young daughter aged 6.

Anyway, what appealed to me in this chapter is the notion of the self, and moreover how other people do perceive your inner self. In numerous countries, communities, and environments, the perception of the self means a lot to people. Where I live in France, appearances do matters. Somehow people want you to belong to a cast or another. But the funny thing is that, here in America, I live in an International House, and thus all the concepts and codes that you used to have in your home country are questioned. Your interpretation of an act or a word is going to be different depending on the country you're from. Furthermore your perception of yourself is being pured. In other words, codes and habits that you used to associated to yourself back home are vanishing here.

Being in an international environment gives you a whole new definitions of codes and traditions.

The self that used to be yours is completely transformed.