This book, originally published in 1980 and reprinted here with a new foreword from the author, succinctly and clearly developed a well-argued case for symbolic interaction as a method and as a theory of human social behavior. It treats historical as well as contemporary figures and presents the author's original and stimulating assessment of the merits, shortcomings and future of symbolic interactionism. "Sheldon Stryker's Symbolic Interactionism not only reviews the key figures who founded this tradition, but more fundamentally, it also presents a formal theory. This theory still represents one of the most important statements within the symbolic interactionist tradition. In this theory, Stryker attempts to explain the dynamics of identity formation, particularly the salience of an identity, the consequences of identity for role performances, and the shifting commitments to a particular identity. Like all important theories, this one is timeless and continues to inform theory and research in the social sciences." Jonathan H. Turner, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Riverside. "This is the book that brought structural symbolic interaction theory to the attention of sociologists and social psychologists around the country and the world. While recognizing the key importance of meanings and definitions of the situation, Stryker's discussion of his eight postulates forms the basis for understanding how and why the self is always embedded in society. This book is a remarkable achievement." Peter J. Burke, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, California. "Stryker's classic monograph has never been surpassed as a clear, focused exposition of his identity theory and of the agenda for structural symbolic interactionists more generally as they aim for a general theory of self, meaning and action. He brings interactionism to bear on central sociological questions about how social positions become incorporated into the self and shape our social interactions. This is a core statement of the historic roots of symbolic interaction, from one of its major figures. Stryker evaluates the field as it stood in 1980, and clearly states the structure of his own version of interactionism. He shows how symbolic interactionist thought can be used to develop a productive, empirical scientific study of social behavior. As a powerful, forward-looking critique, appreciation and theoretical agenda, this monograph is as useful today as it was when it was originally published." Lynn Smith-Lovin, Duke University Dr. Sheldon Stryker is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Indiana University, semi-retired in 2002 after 51 years on the faculty there. A career-long student of social psychology in general and symbolic interactionism in particular, he has received the Cooley-Mead Award for Lifetime Contributions to Social Psychology from the American Sociological Association Section on Social Psychology and the George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. He remains an active contributor to the theoretical and research literature in social psychology. He has been editor of the ASA's American Sociological Review, Sociometry (now Social Psychology Quarterly) and the Arnold and Carolyn Rose Monograph Series; and he has been a Social Science Research Council Fellow, a Fulbright Research Scholar, and a Fellow, Center for Advances Studies in the Behavioral Sciences.

Self-esteem is an academic and popular phenomenon, vigorously researched and debated, sometimes imbued with magical qualities, other times vilified as the bane of the West's preoccupation with self. Though thousands of articles have been devoted to the topic, and bookshops work to feed the public's appetite for advice on revealing, enhancing and maintaining self-esteem, conflicting claims and findings have placed the field in disarray. In a very real sense, self-esteem is a victim of its own popularity. This book seeks to add clarity to a concept earlier examined by such notable self theorists as Morris Rosenberg but eminently worthy of re-examination and extension. We do this by asking some leading thinkers on self-esteem theory, measurement and application to assess what we know about self-esteem, and link it to important aspects of society and the human experience.

This book is an in-depth examination of self-esteem--people's positive and negative evaluation of themselves as a person. Beginning with self-esteem's conceptualization and measurement, the book carefully examines the role of self-esteem in society and within and across various domains and contexts of the human experience. Inspired by the seminal work on self-esteem carried out by American social psychologist Morris Rosenberg, the book serves as a comprehensive statement on self-esteem theory and research in the late 20th century, with an eye toward the direction it will take in the 21st century.