Analytical Sociology and Symbolic Interactionism: Bridging the Intra-disciplinary Divide

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to contribute to the development of the Desire-Belief-Opportunity-model from a symbolic interactionist perspective. The main argument is that this model needs to incorporate the classical notion of definition of the situation to be able to account for the formative impact of interaction on the formation of actor’s beliefs, as well as the complex interdependency between two of its key components, namely the beliefs and the action opportunities of the actor. It is argued that the theoretical advancement of the DBO-model in this particular direction is not only feasible but also brings it considerably closer to the analytical refinement and the empirical validation it currently lacks.