Understanding the (Re)Creation of Routines from Within: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Abstract

Drawing on symbolic interactionism, we propose a process model for the creation and recreation of routines. Our model extends the performative perspective by exploring how routines, as collective accomplishments, are (re)created from within. In particular, we examine the mutual constitution of routines' constituent parts (performative and ostensive) through interaction, and we develop endogenous explanations of routine (re)creation grounded on the actions and understandings of mutually susceptible participants. Mead's concept of role taking, with its strong emphasis on the relational aspect of agency, enables us to account for the fitting together of individual lines of action (performative) and the sharing of participants' schemata (included in the ostensive) as mutually constituted processes that occur as participants develop distinct selves in the context of a routine. Moreover, we account for the content and structure of the ostensive aspect and propose a conceptualization that does justice to it as a singular structural construct and allows for its multiplicity.