The Continuing Significance of Vocabularies of Motive for Symbolic Interactionist Thought

Abstract

The literature on the vocabularies of motive and associated concepts of accounts, neutralizations, and aligning actions has been exceptionally productive in documenting how actors mitigate the threat of stigmatization in a variety of circumstances. This paper reviews this literature that has been published since the last major reviews of this literature. It identifies two recent developments in the study of vocabularies of motive: account giving in situations of cultural ambiguity and in times of conflict. Taken together, this work yields several insights into how actors use motives to advance their goals. Finally, the chapter argues that the insights from this burgeoning body of work should be applied to the study of the culture wars. Such scholarship would help to further establish the importance of interactionist thought by correcting some of the limitations in current approaches to the study of cultural conflict that provides reified and overdetermined explanations.

Citation

Silva, E.O. (2024), "The Continuing Significance of Vocabularies of Motive for Symbolic Interactionist Thought", Denzin, N.K. and Chen, S.-L.S. (Ed.) Essential Issues in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 59), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 69-87. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620240000059004