Intersubjectivity and Collective Intentionality in Symbolic Interactionism: Recovering Gerda Walther's Collective Turn

Abstract

In this essay on new directions in symbolic interaction, the authors have two related goals. First, the authors argue for the relevance of collective intentionality for overcoming the critical divide in symbolic interaction theory between self and society. In focusing on the way in which collective intentionality allows for understanding how intersubjectivity is made part of the interaction order by group members and local communities, the mesolevel of analysis should be integrated into the interactionist perspective. In making this argument, the second goal is to uncover the important social phenomenology of the early 20th German philosopher, Gerda Walther, which raised similar issues. Perhaps because of her gender, the lack of a secure university position, the financial reserves of her family, or a personal turn to mysticism, her early work has largely been erased. Today her significance and her important 1922 work, A Contribution to the Ontology of Social Communities, is being recovered, published last year (Walther, 2023). Here we highlight her relevance for the interactionist tradition and its approach to intersubjectivity.

Citation

Kirgil, Z.M., Voyer, A. and Fine, G.A. (2024), "Intersubjectivity and Collective Intentionality in Symbolic Interactionism: Recovering Gerda Walther's Collective Turn", 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. 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620240000059009