Just to clarify: symbolic interactionism is an example of a constructionist approach.
Someone said: "[Charmaz] states in her paper that she is looking at it from the 'symbolic interactionis perspective' in which self is social and changes throughout life influenced by social interaction & experience. She says this builds up the attributes of your 'self'. But, what about viewing self from another perspective? like a constructionist perspective where it is the individual who builds their own self? Then you could say that someone spends a lifetime constructing their own 'self', presenting this self image to others. from this perspective, illness shatters the self they have constructed as others now view them differently."
The key point is, we construct our self in anticipation of, and in response to, the reactions of other people in society, especially the people who matter to us. So for example when a mum brings a baby to the GP, she will 'construct' an identity as a good and caring parent, telling the GP al the things she has done to care for the baby when it got ill. The way she constructs her 'self' is influenced partly by the symbolic meaning of the GP - an authority figure, knowledgeable and powerful, whose approval she therefore seeks.
Is that clear?
