Doing Modernity: Studies in Critical Interactionism

Doing Modernity: A Critical Interactionist Approach to Social Psychology Monday, 11:23 AM. State Street, Santa Barbara. A man in a weathered black hoodie shuffles past Saks Fifth Avenue, his cart rattling under the weight of salvaged cans, plastic, and clothes. A woman in athleisure and earbuds swerves slightly to avoid him. Their eyes never meet. A tourist couple approaching from the opposite side of the sidewalk glance briefly, then cast their gaze upward—toward the palms, the shopfronts, the theater marquee. He disappears into the flow of pedestrians without incident, absorbed into the city’s daily rhythm. No words are exchanged. But something profound has just occurred. This is civil inattention. A micro-ritual of recognition through non-recognition, first described by Erving Goffman. It is the modern self’s most practiced performance. You acknowledge the presence of others by tactfully not engaging them. Eye contact is strategically avoided—not rudely, not coldly, but as a sign th...

 DOING MODERNITY:  A CRTICAL INTERACTIONIST APPROACH TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY   1. An Introduction to Doiing Modernity:A Critical Interactionist Approach to Social Psychology 2. Critical Interactionismn: The Micro-Sociology of Domination 3. The "Everyday" in Criticcal Interactionism 4. On Interactionism 5. Understanding Micro-Sociology 6. Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis 7. George Herbert Mead and ther Making of Symbolic Interactionism 8. Auto-Ethnography as a Research Methodology in CriticalInteractionism 9. Interaction Orders: Erving Goffman and the Sociology of Everyday Life 10. The Power of Acquaintances 11. Encountering Strangers in Public Places 12. Cellphones and Civility 13. Life as Websurfing 14.  Unlearning Oppression 15. Reflexive Praxis and Being An Ally 16. Observing the Labor Process 17. Doing Modernity and Industrial Ontology 18. We Swim in Oceans of Ideology that Pass as Common Sense 19. Ideologies in the News 20. Praxis

THE MANY INTERACTION ORDERS:   Goffman, Rawls, Smith and the Plural Moral Terrains of Everyday Life Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D.   Editor’s Note (Updated Version Available): This essay has been substantially revised and expanded. A new, fully developed version— “Many Interaction Orders: Recognition, Inequality, and the Re-specification of Symbolic Interactionism (v.9)” —is now available on this site. The current version remains archived as an earlier draft in the development of this argument. Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. December 2025 I. WALKING THROUGH MULTIPLE WORLDS The idea came to me not in a library or seminar room but on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon, walking through Ventura after a morning court appearance. Inside the courthouse I had been questioned sharply by a prosecutor and reprimanded by a judge—a ritual drama of authority and submission where every muscle in one's face must be managed with exquisite care. The courtroom is its own dense moral universe:...

George Herbert Mead and the Making of Symbolic Interactionism: Expanding the Analysis and Contrasting with Critical Interactionism/EMCA Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. Part I: Why Mead Still Matters George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) was a foundational figure in American sociology and philosophy whose ideas laid the groundwork for the school of thought known today as symbolic interactionism. Though Mead never published a book in his lifetime, his posthumously compiled lectures, most notably Mind, Self, and Society (1934), shaped the intellectual trajectory of social psychology, microsociology, and interactionist theory. Rooted in the pragmatist tradition and deeply influenced by developments in psychology, philosophy of mind, and evolutionary theory, Mead's work continues to animate contemporary discussions about the social construction of self, meaning, and society. Why This Text Matters for Critical Interactionism For scholars working within Critical Interactionism, Mead repres...

                                                                             FOUR BLOGS   By Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. Over the past two decades, my writing life has unfolded across four distinct yet overlapping blog platforms, each rooted in a shared intellectual and ethical commitment: to explore the textures of everyday life through the lens of critical social theory and personal experience. These blogs have served not only as public notebooks, classroom supplements, and philosophical diaries, but also as evolving archives of a life lived in pursuit of understanding, justice, and renewal. I began Doing Modernity in 2008 as a companion to my teaching in sociological social psychology. Over time, it became the staging ground for what I now call “Criti...