Symbolic Interactionism and Social Network Analysis: An Uncertain Encounter

The aim of this article is to respond to the question of whether social networks represent a possible terrain of application and investment for interactionist research. The answer to that question is, without a doubt, affirmative. What appears to be truly problematic, if not completely improbable, is that this investment can come about through a "coming together" of symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. The vocational focus that has evolved in the two perspectives, the conceptual frameworks and methods used for the study of social interactions and their interlinking in relational networks, presents aspects of extreme differentiation that render a possible convergence quite difficult.