Communication and Symbolism

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at how, within a culture, the symbolic system is able to bring together and give meaning to the personal and social relationships that make up a society

From the Paper:

"One such form of nonverbal communication is symbolism which is only second to body language in terms of its primacy, ancient beginnings, and lasting endurance. Anthropologist Edward Sapir provided one of the earliest general formulations of a behavioral approach to symbolic communication, writing that "every cultural pattern and every single act of social behavior involves (symbolic) communication in either an explicit or an implicit sense,, (1931, p. 78). He also maintained that because communication is fundamentally symbolic in nature, it is dependent on the nature of the relationships and understandings that exist between individuals. This belief of Sapir implies that the cultural context in which symbols are created plays a fundamental role in, not only, the meaning attributed to a symbol, but also the physical and psychological shape a symbol will take. "

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