Symbolic Interactionism - Mead/Blumer

George Herbert Mead, a professor at the University of Chicago who never published his theory while alive. Blumer is one of his students who believed in his work and compiled it, added to it, and published it after Mead's death.

The theory of symbolic interactionism is an interpersonal theory, based on three core principles: meaning, language and thought.

Meaning is the construction of social reality. We act differently to people and things based on the meanings that we assign to them. Once people define a situation as real, the consequences are real as well.

Language is the source of meaning. Meaning is negotiated through interactions which require language. People have the power to name things, but names and symbols are just signs with no inherent relation to what they point to. For instance, the letters dog, and the sound of the word dog has nothing to do with the actual creature. There is no link except for the language that we created. By communicating with other people and creating words for objects we create a universe of discourse.

Thought is when we take the role of the other. This process is called minding and is an inner conversation, where we sort things out in our head and give things meaning. Unlike other animals, humans have the ability to take the role of the other and predict the outcome of what they say and do.

Another related principle is the self. We can only find ourselves by taking the role of the other, by imagining what we look like in someone else's perspective. This is called looking-glass self. The self is always changing and before a person can conscious of the self, they need to belong to a community. The self is a combination of unorganized and unpredictable aspects of life (the "I") and the image of yourself seen through the looking-glass self and people reactions to your behavior and speech (the "me").

Rhetoric - Aristotle

Rhetoric was viewed by Aristotle as a tool for public speaking which could be used for good or evil. Rhetoric is a form of speaking and persuasion that has been turned into something very formulaic, almost like a science. There are three types of speaking occasions/situations:

1. Epideictic speaking about praise or blame - Celebrating a wedding by giving speeches of praise
2. Deliberative speaking about future policy - A speech before a referendum on a city wide curfew
3. Forensic speaking is about innocence or guilt - based on past actions, a lawyer argues a clients innocence

Aristotle defined rhetoric as communication where one person addresses many, like during a speech. Rhetoric demonstrates existing truths instead of searching for new ones. It deals with probability and addresses specific practical questions. It is not the speaking style concerned with hashing out philosophical questions. 

There are three rhetorical proofs which persuasion is based on:

1. Logos - logical proof. What is argued in a speech.
2. Ethos - Ethical proof is how the speaker's personality is demonstrated through speech.
3. Pathos - Emotional proof. What the speaker is able to do to the emotions of the audience.

Logos can be presented two ways to an audience. The enthymeme is the first way and the strongest way to persuade because the speaker will leave out a generally accepted premise of his argument so the audience can fill that in themselves. Due to their own involvement in the deductive reasoning (moving from a global truth to one more specific), they believe in the argument more thoroughly. The second logical proof is when the speaker provides and example which allows the audience to make conclusions based on the examples provided.

Ethos is basically how credible the speaker is. This can depend on their apparent character, intelligence and goodwill. Aristotle was concerned with how a speaker did this in their speech but it is difficult for an audience to accept a speaker's credibility without looking at where they came from.

Pathos is concerned with how the speaker is able to get the audience emotionally involved. Anything from shame to anger, fear or confidence.

Aristotle also has another list to his theory of communicating, the five cannons of rhetoric.

1. Delivery - how naturally and persuasive the message is given.
2. Memory 
3. Style of speaking (Word choice, grammar, etc.)
4. Invention - drawing on examples and general knowledge
5. Arrangement - structure of a speech.

photo: Tilemahos Efthimiadis