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Unit 9: Entrepreneurship and Interpersonal Communication

Symbolic interaction argues the world is made up of social objects that are named and have Notes
socially determined meanings. When people interact over time they come to shared meaning
for certain terms and actions and thus come to understand events in particular ways. There
are three main concepts in this theory: society, self and mind.
Society: Social acts (which create meaning) involve an initial gesture from one individual, a
response to that gesture from another and a result.
Self: Self image comes from interaction with others based on others perceptions. A person
makes sense of the world and defines their “self” through social interactions. One ’s self is a
significant object and like all social objects it is defined through social interactions with others.
Mind: Your ability to use significant symbols to respond to yourself makes thinking possible.
You define objects in terms of how you might react to them. Objects become what they are
through our symbolic minding process.
Constructs for this theory include creation of meaning, social norms, human interactions, and
signs and symbols. An underlying assumption for this theory is that meaning and social
reality are shaped from interactions with others and that some kind of shared meaning is
reached. The boundary conditions for this theory are there must be numerous people communicating
and interacting and thus assigning meaning to situations or objects.

Relational Dialectics Theory
In order to understand relational dialectics theory, we must first understand specifically what
encompasses the term discourse. Therefore, discourses are “systems of meaning that are uttered
whenever we make intelligible utterances aloud with others or in our heads when we hold
internal conversations”. Now, taking the term discourse and coupling it with Relational Dialectics
Theory, it is assumed that this theory “emerges from the interplay of competing discourses”.

This theory also poses the primary assumption that, “Dialogue is simultaneously unity and
difference”. Therefore, these assumptions insinuate the concept of creating meaning within
ourselves and others when we communicate, however, it also shows how the meanings within
our conversations may be interpreted, understood, and of course misunderstood. Hence, the
creation and interpretations we find in our communicative messages may create strains in our
communicative acts that can be termed as ‘dialectical tensions.’
So, if we assume the stance that all of our discourse, whether in external conversations or
internally within ourselves, has competing properties, then we can take relational dialectics
theory and look at what the competing discourses are in our conversations, and then analyze
how this may have an effect on various aspects of our lives. Numerous examples of this can
be seen in the daily communicative acts we participate in. However, dialectical tensions within
our discourses can most likely be seen in interpersonal communication due to the close nature
of interpersonal relationships. The well known proverb “opposites attract, but Birds of a
feather flock together” exemplifies these dialectical tensions.

The Three Relational Dialectics

In order to understand relational dialectics theory, one must also be aware of the assumption
that there are three different types of relational dialectics. These consist of connectedness and
separateness, certainty and uncertainty, and openness and closedness.

Connectedness and Separateness

Most individuals naturally desire to have a close bond in the interpersonal relationships we
are a part of. However, it is also assumed that no relationship can be enduring without the

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