Which of the following captures a core assumption of symbolic interactionism?

• A. Individuals construct social reality through everyday interactions and the shared meanings they negotiate, so identities and norms are produced and modified in social contexts.
• B. Macro-level institutions determine individual identities in a one-way process and social meaning is fixed by structural roles that actors cannot reinterpret through interaction.
• C. Symbolic interactionism states that social meaning is generated exclusively by legal statutes and formal organizational policies rather than by interpersonal exchange or symbolic cues.
• D. Society functions much like a machine and social meanings are biological instincts that do not change with context or interpersonal dialogue.

Answer: (A)