Symbolic convergence theory (SCT) is a communication theory developed by Ernest Bormann proposing that the holding of fantasies in common transforms collections of individuals into cohesive groups. SCT offers an explanation for the appearance of a group's cohesiveness, consisting of shared emotions, motives, and meanings. Through SCT, individuals can build a community or a group consciousness which grows stronger if they share a cluster of fantasy themes. Symbolic convergence theory provides a description of the dynamic tendencies within systems of social interaction that cause communicative practices and forms to evolve. This theory allows theorists and practitioners to anticipate or predict what will happen and explain what did happen. One thing SCT does not do is allow for control of human communication. It attempts to explain how communication can create and sustain group consciousness through the sharing of narratives or fantasies.
To foster this cohesiveness, dramatizing or using fantasy stories are significant types of communication involved in SCT. SCT explains that meanings, emotions, values, and the motives for action are in the communication contexts by people trying to make sense out of a common experience. It explores the human tendency of trying to understand events in terms of the people involved, who have certain personality traits and motivations, and have agency over how the events unfold. SCT was first proposed by Ernest Bormann in the Quarterly Journal of Speech in 1972.
Bormann and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota introduced SCT as a framework for discovering, describing, and explaining the dynamic process by which humans come to share symbolic reality. Bormann defines the basic communicative dynamic of symbolic convergence theory as, "the sharing of group fantasies which bring about symbolic convergence for the participants" (p. 4). It is a process through which collectives create and share a consciousness and develop a common symbolic reality.
Symbolic Convergence Theory is related to attribution theory in that it deals with the human tendency to attribute meaning to signs and objects in order to make sense of them. The process of symbolic convergence resembles empathic communication.
SCT has a three-part structure: elucidation of the recurring forms of communication involved in a shared group consciousness illustration of why group consciousness begins, rises, and is maintained explanation of the process of how an individual begins to share (or stops sharing) a common symbolic reality
Anatomy
Basic concepts
Dramatizing
Dramatizing messages involve members introducing brief examples of humor, wordplay, and figures of speech (metaphor, simile) or elaborate analogies, fables, narratives, stories, or other creative expressions. Dramatized messages explain events that happened elsewhere or in the past or might occur in the future within the group. When in a group, someone cracks a joke, describes a movie, or starts discussing plans for the weekend or vacation. Dramatized messages help the speaker and listener make sense of a confusing situation or clarify an uncertain future.
Fantasy themes
Unlike the traditional ideas of what fantasy means, Bormann uses the word to refer to "the creative and imaginative interpretation of events that fulfills a psychological or rhetorical need." Fantasy themes are used to construct a rhetorical vision or to dramatize messages embraced by the whole group. They are the means through which interpretation is accomplished through communication. SCT isn't concerned with finding the truth but with the reaction from the group when these fantasies are shared. F Most of the time, these fantasies trigger a chain reaction within the group where they will contribute more and more to the conversation or fantasy. Bormann sees these fantasy themes fulfilling a psychological or rhetorical need through creative and organized interpretations of events.
Fantasy themes are broken down into the following three forms: Setting themes depicting where either the action takes place or where the characters act out their roles Character themes describe the agents or actors in the drama, assigning qualities and motives to them, implying that they have specific characteristics Action themes or plot lines dealing with the action of the drama.
