at not many social scientists were thrilled about the idea of replacing the state with a bureau of sociologists. People believed that economic institutions were paramount. They also held the thought that family and religion were extremly important and a mutany would only make problems worse. Symbolic interaction is a sociological theory that focuses on the processes of person to person interaction, on how people come to develop viewpoints about themselves and others, and on forms of interpersonal communication. Symbolic interaction deals with verbal and nonverbal interaction. It is often helpful when dealing with small groups. Symbolic interactionists such as George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and William James are aware of the two types of interaction; symbolic and nonsymbolic. Nonsymbolic interaction occurs when people respond to each other without interpretations. With symbolic interaction individuals are allowed to think. Humans act toward things based on the meaning that things have for us. The meaning for such things arise from interactions. In James' "Principles of Psychology", the relations between individuals and society were examined. He discovered that humans have a "habit", or a social norm that governs how we react to situations. James believed that the state was a part of the personal consciousness and that symbolic interaction has had an influence on almost every contemporary sociologist, functionalist and conflict theorists feel as though it is a strong enough sociological concept, and that their theories enhance it....
