The work is an examination of the role of language in the constitution of self and in the presentation of identity. Following the path laid out by George Herbert Mead, Kenneth Burke and Mikhail Bakhtin the work presents self, identity and meaning as ongoing accomplishments between human actors who participate in what may be termed the dramas of human relations. Human agents use language as symbolic actions with which they transform themselves and others, as well as places and things, clothing and money etc into meanings with which they conduct their lives.

About the Author
Robert Perinbanayagam has taught at Hunter College of the City University of New York for several years and recently retired from it. He is the author of Signifying Acts, Discursive Acts, Games and Sport in Everyday Life and The Presence of Self, which won the theory prize given by the theory section of the American Sociological Association and the Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. The latter society also conferred the G.H. Mead award for distinguished contribution to the field of interactional studies.

Reviews
Early chapters make strong claims for language as the key to human communication . . . and Perinbanayagam delineates numerous ways language figures into social life and self. This appears to me as . . . [a] strength . . . of the book. * Symbolic Interaction *
In his latest book, Identity's Moments: The Self in Action and Interaction, Robert Perinbanayagam outdoes not only himself, but other renowned interactionists, who earlier wrote on the same or similar topics, such as Nelson Foote, Anselm Strauss, and Gregory Stone, producing the best book of his long, productive career. In my opinion, this is a must buy book-one that you will want to bend over the page corners, underline words and sentences, and scribble notes to yourself in the margins. -- Lonnie H. Athens, Seton Hall University
Robert Peribanayagam's latest volume realizes his full potential as a mature scholar. The text spans the humanities in making sense of the manner that human beings come to terms with action in the world; and it is written with what Ortega y Gasset characterizes as 'courteous clarity.' This commitment to making the subtle idea as transparent as possible expands the potential readership for the book-one no longer needs to be a substantial scholar to come to terms with Peribanyagam's ideas, and the ideas of those he references. Peribanayagam shows that he is not only the best sociological reader of Kenneth Burke to date, but quite possibly (and indeed for this reason) the best reader of Kenneth Burke thus far. -- Wade Kenny, Mount Saint Vincent University



Book Information
ISBN 9780739172407
Author Robert Perinbanayagam
Format Hardback
Page Count 206
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Lexington Books
Weight(grams) 426g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 159mm * 21mm