On the Breadth and Relevance of Blumer’s Perspective : Introduction to his Analysis of Industrialization David R. Maines and Thomas J. Morrione
Herbert Blumer ( 1900-1987) was one of Sociology’s most prominent and esteemed practioners. He was elected to numerous offices in professional societies, including the presidency of the American Sociological Association, he received a wide range of honors, served on several governmental, civic and private boards and committees, and had a long and distinguished intellectual career as a member of the so-called Chicago School of Sociology. We suspect he is most widely known, however, as the one who coined the term « symbolic interaction » in 1937 to designate the particular manner of communication among members of the human species. Although that term in the half century since its inception has come to refer to a general theoretical perspective with many adherents and several varieties, it nonetheless retains a close identification with Blumer’s viewpoints and contributions to scholarly thought.