The approach which came to be known as ‘symbolic interactionism’ (SI) was first articulated by the philosopher George Herbert Mead at the University of Chicago from 1893 to 1931. Mead elaborated the philosophical underpinnings of a social psychology which was founded both upon earlier and upon contemporaneous behaviorist and pragmatist thought, notably that of John Dewey. This intention is, perhaps, somewhat ironic considering the criticisms by later practitioners in the social and linguistic disciplines that SI was both subjective and unscientific.