The fourth edition of Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality takes an in-depth approach to introducing students to social psychology from a sociological perspective by focusing on the origins, guiding assumptions, methods, and empirical applications of the leading perspective in this field, symbolic interaction. Written for social psychology courses within the field of sociology, this text offers a comprehensive yet brief guide to symbolic interaction, while presenting strong, vivid examples that ground abstract concepts. The fourth edition of Symbols, Selves, and Social Reality provides a new chapter on emotions, which introduces students to interactionist approaches to emotion and provides students with explanations of currently salient emotion theories. The new edition also includes more coverage of race, class, and sexuality, making this textbook both accessible and significant to its inevitably diverse audience of undergraduates. The incorporation of real-world examples and topical issues lends to the contemporary focus of this textbook and allows students to draw connections and think critically about the world around them. The authors engage students with topics that are relevant to their everyday lives, such as self-presentation through social media. A chapter on collective action utilizes recent global events and social movements to analyze various phenomena of social interaction. The text integrates recent sociological studies throughout its discussions, offering a more research-oriented perspective than its competitors.

All of these features are supplemented with helpful end-of-chapter pedagogical tools, such as questions for discussion and suggested readings, which also set this textbook apart from its competitors. The fourth edition not only offers a thorough introduction to social psychology and symbolic interactionism, but also interests students by appealing to their personal connections with the subject matter at hand.