Meaning, symbolic interactionism's central concern, very well could become the defining social psychological problem of the mid-21st century. What will it mean to live in a permanently altered climate, if not in outer space? What will work and family mean in the future of artificial intelligence? What will communication mean when truths are unknowable? Will constitutional republicanism, vulnerable to oligarchs and technocrats, continue to lose meaning for people? This course tells the story of where symbolic interactionism came from and why it departs from key tenets in mainstream sociology.