GENERATING SYMBOLIC-INTERACTION - PRODUCTION SYSTEM MODELS

Production systems are ordered sets of if-then rules linking knowledge and action. The authors show how these systems, developed and applied in artificial intelligence and cognitive science, can be used to cons truct empirically based symbolic interactionist models of situated hum an interaction. The authors argue that production system models enhanc e the conceptual clarity and formal analytic capabilities of key ideas in Herbert Blumer's methodological directives for sociology's symboli c interactionist perspective. The authors present both a general discu ssion and outline of production system model building and a case study in which they evaluate a model for the detailed analysis of customer- waitperson interactions in a restaurant setting.