Interactionism or symbolic interactionism is a social action or micro theory based around the idea that individuals create meaning based on their interactions with others. In the context of education, interactionists focus on the interactions between pupils and between pupils and teachers, looking at concepts such as labelling at the processes and relationships that happen within schools. They would tend to look at such processes to explain differential achievement for different social groups, rather than looking to structural external factors like capitalism or patriarchy.