The Rising Salience of the Absent: An Interactionist Analysis

• Published in: Qualitative sociology review : QSR Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 56 - 72
• Main Author: Hillyard, Sam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lodz Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego 01.04.2019; Lodz University Press; Uniwersytet Lodzki, Wydzial Ekonomiczno-Socjologiczny, Instytut Socjol
• Subjects: Absence; Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology; Culture and social structure; Debates; Definition of the Situation; Dialectics; Ethnography; Field study; Fieldwork; Interactionism; Mass media; Modern society; New Social Media; Proximity; Rural; Rural and urban sociology; Rural communities; Rural sociology; Social media; Social networks; Social psychology and group interaction; Social sciences; Symbolic interactionism; United Kingdom > UK; Rural; New Social Media; Ethnography; Absence; Interactionism; Definition of the Situation
• ISSN: 1733-8077; 1733-8077
• DOI: 10.18778/1733-8077.15.2.05

The paper uses examples from rural studies to demonstrate the relevance of symbolic interactionism for unlocking the complexity of contemporary society. It does so by making a case for a nonprescriptive theory-method dialectic. Case examples are drawn upon in support of the argumentation, including early interactionism and ethnographic work in the United Kingdom, and, in the second half of the paper, rural sociology and fieldwork. The main argument presented is that the traditional remit of interactionism should be extended to recognize how absence is increasingly influential. It concludes that interactionism is in tune with other new trajectories in the social sciences that take into consideration co-presence proximity both on and off-line.