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This volume addresses the perceived gap between symbolic interaction and ethnomusicological approaches to the study of music. It seeks to bring the fields closer by highlighting some of the complementary theoretical constructs of phenomenology and symbolic interaction as they relate to music studies. The papers, presented at the 2012 Couch-Stone Symposium, work toward this reconciliation by applying the lens of symbolic interaction to various musical genres, from traditional Inuit music to jazz to hip-hop, reflecting a sensitivity to their various topics as both artistic achievement and social activity. The authors'work in multiple disciplines (Sociology, Ethnomusicology, and Communication Studies), along with their own sharing of ideas in this project, nurtures the opportunity to bring these studies into a full interdisciplinary conversation. It is the hope of the authors that we can not only open a deepened conversation between scholars in different fields, but also integrate concepts from symbolic interactionism and ethnomusicology as they continue to address the complexity of meaning in varying musical contexts.

This issue focuses on'radical interactionism,'which recent emergence as an alternative perspective to conventional symbolic interactionism has sparked fierce debate in both North America and Europe. Lonnie Athens discusses the four fundamental differences between radical and conventional symbolic interactionism. The prominent scholars compare the relative insights offered not only between radical interactionism and symbolic interactionism, but between radical interactionism and feminism, dramaturgy, critical studies, and neo-pragmatism. Without exception, they found the radical interactionism revealed new and formidable insights that improved our general understanding of human group life and critical problems that arise during it. While some contributors believe that radical interactionism marks the development of a new and more vibrant form of interactionism which in due time will replace its much older and more conservative cousin, others believe that it only signals the need for traditional interactionists to finally start making some much-needed modifications in symbolic interactionism if they wish it to remain a viable sociological perspective in the 21st century.

To mark 40 volumes of Studies in Symbolic Interaction, this volume includes a special introduction from Series Editor, Norman K. Denzin. This 40th volume advances critical discourse on several fronts at the same time, including a report from the First Contemporary Ethnography Across the Disciplines hui, Waikato, New Zealand; New Empirical Studies by D. Coates, J. Johnson, D. Altheide, C. J. Schneider and D. Trotter, R. J. Berger, C. Corroto, J. Flad, and R. Quinney, and B. Jarrett (respectively): new religious movements, the California School of Symbolic Interaction, Terrorism and the National Security University, the 2011 Vancouver Riot, The Terrains of Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, and mediation processes. In a separate section to highlight the diverse and challenging aspects of symbolic interactionism; Ryan Turner asks if animals have selves? Michael Katovich and Robert Young and Carol Thompson use Turners article as a springboard for insightful commentary on the selves of other animals and the selves of humans.

'Volume 38 of Studies in Symbolic Interaction'is devoted exclusively to the'Blue Ribbon Papers Series', which is under the intellectual leadership of Lonnie Athens. In this issue, Athens presents the autobiographies of scholars who have made significant contributions to symbolic interactionist approach over the 20th and 21st centuries, including David Altheide, Paul Atkinson, Kathy Chamaraz, Adele Clarke, Gary Cook, Carolyn Ellis, Martyn Hammersley, John Johnson, Joseph Kotarba, and Laurel Richardson. The contributors were all asked to address the question of how they got into their particular fields of study and later became interactionist? They were also prodded to reveal'who is the person behind the professional mask'by describing why and how they changed over the intellectual journeys that they took in becoming some of the best known and well-respected advocates of the symbolic-interactionist's approach in America and Great Britain. These autobiographic reflections and revelations not only shatter the popular stereotype of academics, but also the stereotype of scholars who subscribe to viewpoint of symbolic interactionism.

Part I,'Theoretical Openings,'of Volume 39 of Studies in Symbolic Interaction contains outstanding contributions by leading interactionists on welfare reform, history, biography and memory. The three chapters in Part II,'Studies in Social Construction,'interrogate the complexities of social interaction, interpersonal and professional identity, and the cinematic representation of alcoholism. Part III takes up important interpretive interventions on the topics of imagination and intimate deception in everyday life.

Volume 36 of'Studies in Symbolic Interaction'is solely devoted to the'Blue-Ribbon Papers'. Nine papers are published in which hotly-contested issues are raised that, even if only resolved partially, could permanently change the future direction of interactional thought. Among the questions addressed are: whether there ever existed a genuine sociological school of thought based on'interactionsim'at the University Chicago, whether Herbert Blumer misinterpreted the major thrust of George Herbert Mead's thought, whether conventional or radical interactionism is the most insightful perspective from which to examine crucial life decisions that are conflict-ridden, whether George Herbert Mead's and George Santayana's perspectives converged with or diverged from one another's and with radical interactionism, whether language develops primarily from the inside out or from the outside in, whether personal economics is mainly responsible for self esteem and the over-all functioning of the self in everyday life, and whether filming constitutes a method of recording data that traditional ethnographers should include in their tool box?

Volume 37 in the bi-annual series'Studies in Symbolic Interaction'is divided into three distinct parts: Part One, Theoretical Openings, focuses on new theoretical work in the interactionist tradition by leading interdisciplinary scholars. It examines the mesodomain of welfare reform through re-negotiating the order of economic inequality, provides a grounded fractal analysis into the medicalization of homelessness and the sociology of the self, and looks at the labeling of immigrant men as criminals. In Part Two, Studies in Social Construction, focus shifts to issues of gender, ethnicity, illness and the urban situation including articles on the social constructions of the non-prejudiced white self, women's interaction with romantic comedies and the impact on their relationship, and engaging cultural narratives of the ethnic restaurant. The third and final part, Autoethnographic Interventions, turns inward to autoethnographic reflections on identity, technology, family, work and self including contributions on the digital evolution of an American identity and nursing's moral imperative as the flexible professional and the discourse of unexpected evidence.

This vibrant volume is a refreshing piece of work full of cutting-edge contributions on popular music and interaction, with seminal essays on music and identity, the spaces of musical interaction (subcultures, scenes, communities), and music in and as interaction. It explores the positive impact popular music has on the field of symbolic interaction and how it helps us to revitalize and reposition existing concepts. The editors and authors of this volume are themselves researchers and writers in the area of popular music and major players in the bright future of symbolic interaction. They present a creative mix of exciting articles including'Grandmamma, What Great Ears You Have!','Digging a River Downstream','Driving to the beat of one's own hum'and'Brutal Belonging in Melbourne's Grindcore Scene'. Genres discussed range from country, jazz and the virtuoso to latino, grindcore and extreme metal. This volume features 7 new interpretive works focused on cross-generational musical interaction, becoming'Yellow', race in the South in the 1920s, friendship, managing emotion in sport families, futureless pasts, and G. H. Mead's theory of social becoming.

Part one of volume 33 of'Studies on Symbolic Interaction'contains seven outstanding contributions by leading symbolic interactionists in the'Annual Blue Ribbon Papers Series'under the editorial leadership of Lonnie Athens. Part two, under the special issue editorship of Richard King, examines commodity racism: representation, racialization and resistance. Part three presents papers in the'Annual Peter M. Hall Lecture Series'and Part four presents new interpretive works in the interactionist tradition. International in scope, the series draws upon the work of urban ethnographers, interpretive, constructionist, ethnomethodological, critical race, postcolonial, feminist, queer, and cultural studies traditions. The emphasis is on new thought and research. Essays which interrogate the intersections between biography, media, history, politics and culture are encouraged.

Volume 31 of'Studies in Symbolic Interaction'inaugurates the'Blue Ribbon Paper Series'under the editorship of Lonnie Athens. The papers in this series celebrate cutting-edge theory and research presented at the Couch-Stone Spring Symposium, and the Annual Meetings of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. New theoretical developments in the areas of everyday life, race, Native Americans, politics, performance, Spartan Superhunks, and Persian Monsters in recent Hollywood film are also included.