Prelims

Half Title Page

Essential Issues in Symbolic Interaction

Series Title Page

Studies in Symbolic Interaction

Series Editors: Norman K. Denzin and Shing-Ling S. Chen

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Title Page

Studies in Symbolic Interaction Volume 59

Essential Issues in Symbolic Interaction

Edited by

Norman K. Denzin (Deceased)

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA

And

Shing-Ling S. Chen

University of Northern Iowa, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL

First edition 2024

Editorial matter and selection © 2024 Shing-Ling S. Chen.

Individual chapters © 2024 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83608-377-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83608-376-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83608-378-8 (Epub)

ISSN: 0163-2396 (Series)

About the Contributors

Mehmet Bicakci is an academic and educator, renowned for his works in gifted education, giftedness, and underachievement within the sphere of educational psychology. His research is primarily dedicated to comprehending and augmenting the educational experiences of gifted students. It spans an array of subjects, including the impacts of labeling, individual personality traits, cultural orientations, and intervention strategies tailored to address underachievement among gifted individuals. He is currently working as a PhD researcher at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany.

Gary Alan Fine is the James E. Johnson Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. He has been a member of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction since 1975 and has served as the President and as an editor of the journal Symbolic Interaction. He is a recipient of the organization's Cooley, Mead, and Lopata awards. He writes frequently about symbolic interaction theory in light of local sociology, as in his recent book The Hinge: Civil Society, Group Cultures, and the Power of Local Commitments.

Zeynep Melis Kirgil is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Organization Studies at Tilburg University. Her research focuses on societal transitions and behavior change at different levels of analysis. She investigates how collective intentionality affects cooperation and solidarity on the micro, meso, and macro level. In another line of research, Kirgil studies leadership and governance in times of crisis via computational and qualitative text analysis. Moreover, she is currently interested in gender norms over time and across different social spheres.

Krzysztof T. Konecki is a Professor of Sociology and works at the Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Qualitative Sociology Review, a member of the Board of the Polish Sociological Association, and the Committee of Sociology of the Polish Academy of Science. He recently published The Meaning of Contemplation for Social Qualitative Research. Applications and Examples. London, NY: Routledge, 2022.

Robert Perinbanayagam has taught at Hunter College of the City University of New York for several years and recently retired from it. He is the author of Signifying Acts, Discursive Acts, Games and Sport in Everyday Life, and The Presence of Self, which won the theory prize given by the theory section of the American Sociological Association and the Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. The latter society also conferred the G.H. Mead award for distinguished contribution to the field of interactional studies.

Joel O. Powell recently completed two terms on the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training. He is currently the Professional Peace Officer Education Coordinator at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Cirus Rinaldi is an Associate Professor of Sociology of Law, Deviance, and Social Change in the Department of Cultures and Societies of the University of Palermo, Italy, where he also coordinates the “Bodies, Rights and Conflicts” Research Group. His research explores deviance theory, sociological theories of sexuality, male sex work, and LGBTQI+ issues. He is the author of the books Sesso, Sè e Società. Per una sociologia delle sessualità (2016), Uomini che si fanno pagare: Genere, identità e sessualità nel sex work maschile tra devianza e nuove forme di normalizzazione (2020), and “Sex and Sexuality,” in The Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism (2024) in addition to many journal articles and contributions to edited collections.

Douglas P. Schrock is a Professor of Sociology at Florida State University. He has published research on many topics, including the transgender community and movement, violent men and intervention programs, and Donald Trump and his supporters. Much of his works addresses gender, sexuality, race, and class and focuses on culture and identity, emotion and embodiment, and personal and social change. What ties his works together is an enduring interest in how interactionism can help us better understand how inequality is reproduced and challenged.

David Schweingruber is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Iowa State University. He earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published research on internal conversations, the organization of door-to-door salespersons, engagement proposals, protest policing, family violence, introduction to sociology textbooks, and Internet addiction as a social problem. He teaches large sections of Introduction to Sociology. He is the 2022 winner of the Helena Lopata Mentoring Excellence Award given by the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

Eric O. Silva (PhD, University of California, Davis) is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Georgia Southern University. He studies how actors construct reality in contentious situations. His substantive cases include Donald Trump, immigration, creationism, sports teams' use of Native American imagery, vaccines, and genetically modified organisms.

Andrea Voyer is a Docent and Associate Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Stockholm University. Andrea's research focuses on inequality associated with ethnicity, class, gender, and migration. She draws on two main theoretical foundations: Civil Sphere Theory, which emphasizes the symbolic social construction of the collective solidarity on the idea of shared values and morality; and Goffman's microsociological and symbolic interactionist theorizing on the significance of practical everyday behaviors. Her research has been funded by the Russell Sage Foundation, the US National Science Foundation, and the Swedish Research Council.

David W. Wahl, PhD, ABS, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at McMurry University and a board-certified sexologist. As a professor and a researcher, Dr Wahl's work focuses on issues of sex, gender, sexuality, sexual violence, human trafficking, and sex work.