The Narrative Construction of Identities: Scenes, Audiences, and Generalized Others

Acts, Agencies, and Identity By Robert Perinbanayagam (Lexington Books, 2025) Symbols lead to narratives, and narratives or stories lead to identity. Narrativity has become the bulwark of cultural sociology in many realms of sociology and a strong movement in symbolic interactionism. Should symbolic interactionism be based on Kenneth Burke's theory of a grammar of motives? I will return to this question in the next-to-last paragraph of this review and present Acts, Agencies, and Identities as it stands. Perinbanayagam has long used Kenneth Burke as a guide to interaction in many books: Signifying Acts (1985), The Presence of Self (2000 SSSI award winner), Games and Sport in Everyday Life (2000), Discursive Acts (2011), Identities Moments (2012), Dialogues, Dramas and Emotions (2023), and numerous articles. In this book he claims to also use Mikhail Bakhtin but this author appears little. And he always uses some of George Herbert Mead, but again his main theoretical bulwark is the dramatism of Kenneth Burke with occasional references to Erving Goffman. The identity theory of Peter Burke and Jan Stets is not mentioned, though one article of Peter Burke is cited. So the reviewer is left with asking “What is new?” Perinbanayagam says in the preface “I have addressed the issues here in earlier publications, but I believe I have something more to say about them” (p. viii). Robert Perinbanayagam's book is divided into three parts, though the book has no actual divisions. Part I is theoretical and covers: (1) talking as agencies of signification, and (2) the grammar of identities. His focus is on George Herbert Mead's self but especially on Kenneth Burke's grammar of motives including the hexad of agent (who), acts (what), agency (how), scenes (when and where), attitudes (a version of how), and purpose (why). Part II consists of four chapters applying theory to substance: religion, astrology, suicide, and games. Part III of one chapter covers the macrostructures of identities including the mode of production (Karl Marx) and conspicuous consumption (Thorstein Veblen). In other words, Part III is on integrating identities with social structure and especially structures of inequality. Chapter 2—“The Grammar of Identity” (to appear in Symbolic Interaction)—focuses on five topics. First, he distinguishes reflections (self-talk) and reflexion (selecting actors for attention), which relies on C. Wright Mills. He then focuses on the dialectic grammar of identity with the opposition of various identities. Third, he looks at the motivation of identity, which comes from Burke's “purpose.” Fourth, he covers several identities: fashion (country club dress vs. nuns' habits). And lastly, he looks at ratios of Burke's theory of agent/act and act/purpose ratios, which seem more like the act's “fit” to a scene or purpose. In Part II, he focuses on a series of substantive identities. Chapter 3 looks at religion turning reflexions into reflections and solidifying identities and dramatic narratives, which are then sketched for Catholic, Protestant, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist religions. Chapter 4 examines the role of astrology in developing the self over time with a three-page recitation by an astrologer on the destiny of a particular child. Chapter 5 examines egoistic, anomic, altruist, and fatalistic suicides, and then adds defensive and rational suicides (the egoistic example is weak). Chapter 6 looks at games as narratives with qualitative progression, repetitive forms, interrelations, conflict, and conventions. He then sketches the narratives of bridge, American football, soccer or the world's football, and tennis according to this qualitative progression. Each of these chapters ends with a three or four sentence conclusion. Part III takes an entirely different tack by focusing on social structure and how it puts pressure on identities and results in stress. He uses Karl Marx on the mode of production and Bertell Ollman on alienation, and quotes Everett Hughes about how work is a major determinant of identity and its stresses. This then leads to how the loss of work can severely impact people through alienation or exploitation. He examines the loss of habitat through migrations, homelessness, or disasters. Next, Thorstein Veblen is used concerning one's possessions and displays of wealth. He concludes that theories of self should pay attention to the fact that “Individuals live their lives experiencing structures of inequality” (p. 113). However, he does not really develop a bridge for micro–macro theory. Compared to Perinbanayagam's previous works over his lengthy career, this book is less dense in theoretical exploration and comparisons. It is more accessible to new audiences and since each chapter is “stand alone” (p. vii), it repeats the Burkean hexad to be applied anew to each topic which would be useful in the classroom environment. His discussions are often paired with anecdotes of interactions that enliven the text. The Bronx man who set fire to a private club killing 87 people but not his estranged woman friend who rejected him being the most terrible and memorable. In several ways, Perinbanayagam's work is the narrative and dramatistic opposite of Peter Burke and Jan Stets's more mechanical and experimental theory in their Identity Theory. But to me, one of the most interesting concepts involved reflections (self-talk or dialog about interaction) and reflexions (the process by which others direct messages to you that you may or may not select). This was parallel to Neal Leache's “introjections” of the external world into the self and “projections” of the self into the outer world (p. 101). These concepts could be used in constructing a theory of how the generalized other operates concerning identity. For instance, in discussing “symbolic interaction” Perinbanayagam quotes Kenneth Burke who says that narratives are a “reflection of reality,” but also a “selection of reality” and a “deflection of reality” (p. 17). This is a good description of what goes on with generalized others. These terms would be especially useful in developing a theory of the generalized other. However, Perinbanayagam does not pursue these leads and only mentions the “generalized other” twice (pp. 23 and 65). In the end, this book is an accessible work unveiling many prospects for future research. But reliance on Kevin Burke's rationales of hexad relationships (especially of act/agency) needs further explication. One puzzling aspect of this book is that little is said about Erving Goffman, who used Kenneth Burke to a considerable degree. One might ask what the difference is between “dramatism” and “dramaturgy”? In Perinbanayagam's other books, Goffman plays a larger role. Returning to the question posed in the introduction, Perinbanayagam bases his book on the six parts of Burke's agent, acts, agency, scenes, attitude, and purpose (where is timing and dénouement?). This encompasses the “I” and the “Me” but leaves little to consider concerning the “Generalized Other.” The scene presents a context or situation but does not adequately conceptualize the audiences or generalized others involved in social interaction. Erving Goffman uses Kenneth Burke but is more careful about bringing him into his theory without tempering or accompanying it with other factors. True, Goffman does not use the generalized other, but he does emphasize audiences. While Burke mentions “scenes,” this is different from audiences. Perhaps there are two audiences: the actors in the scene and the patrons in their seats, or the participants in the crime and the judge and jury in the courtroom. Another thing that Goffman also includes is “strategic interaction” that involves “power,” but neither term is mentioned in this book (aside from “labor power” in discussing Marx). In the section on American football, Perinbanayagam describes each play as more of a dance (a conflict between syllogistic form and qualitative progression) than a violent conflict. On p. 87, he says the quarterback will “seek to either pass the ball” or “hand it over” but “typically, he is interrupted.” The interruption is most often a violent tackle intended to inflict pain and cause the quarterback or receiver to fumble and give the ball and perhaps the victory to the other side. However, in bridge, the conflict with a deck of cards is much less painful. Nonetheless, the Burkean grammar of motives proves to be a useful approach to social interaction. While I may have these quibbles about directions that the author might have taken (admittedly, my own focus is quite different), this book is a readable and useful addition to the author's illustrious career of 60 or 70 years of working in the field of symbolic interactionism. Perinbanayagam's cultural and theoretical breadth is immense compared to most other works. In many ways, it is a coda to a distinguished career with many insightful and sophisticated books inquiring into human identity and symbolic interactionism. In Memoria: Professor Robert Siddharthan Perinbanayagam was born in Burma in 1934 and died at 91 on November 5, 2025 in New York City after this review was completed. He led a remarkable and highly productive life having lived in Jaffna, Colombo, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and New York City. Some referred to him as “Sid” based on his middle name Sidharthan, which is associated with Buddha, Siva, and Vishnu, and means “One who has achieved their goal, and is prosperous and successful.” Professor Perinbanayagam will be missed by his family, friends, colleagues, former students, and the symbolic interactionist community. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions. Thomas Janoski is an Emeritus Professor of sociology at the University of Kentucky where he taught theory for over a decade. He has also taught at the University of California, Berkeley and Duke University. He specializes in theory, work, organizations, and political sociology. In the late1970s, he took Herbert Blumer's last graduate seminar on symbolic interactionism. He has co-authored two books using interactionist theory: Diversity at Kaizen Motors (2011), and the Strategies for Success among African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans (2018). He has also written two books on theory: Citizenship and Civil Society (1998) and Rethinking Symbolic Interactionism (2025).