Symbolic interactionism argues that persons are active agents in constructing their own behaviors and do so in ways that do not sustain existing forms of social organization. I will explore the decline of symbolic interactionism 15-20 years ago, including appraising the critiques and evaluations that led it its being written off. I will then develop the theme of vitalization suggesting what it is that justifies the claim itself and I will close by estimating what all of this means for the future of symbolic interactionism. My claim is that a properly supplanted symbolic interactionism, which accords an important place to social structure, has reentered the arena of general sociological frameworks and has the right to be taken seriously as such.
