What is the process by which people creatively shape peoples experiences through social interaction?

Chapter #5

1/27/2018

Social Interactions = central to all social activity, affects people’s behaviour.

Our Interaction is part of the social structure

Which guides our actions and gives us a feeling that life is orderly and

predictable.

Every Society has a social structure that encompasses statuses and roles.

Status = is a social position that a person occupies in a society.

Every person has many statuses that form her or his status set, which include

booth ascribed and achieved statuses.

Ascribed Status = is a social positions that person is born into and can’t

control, change, or choose (age, race, and ethnicity, etc.)

Achieved Status = is a social position that person attains through personal

effor tor assumes voluntarily (college student, wife, etc.)

Master Status = is usually immediately apparent, makes the biggest

impression, affects others’ perceptions, and consequently, often shapes a

person’s entire life.

Role = a role defines how we’re expected to behave in a particular status.

But people vary considerably in fulfilling the responsibilities associated with

their roles.

Role performance = the actual behaviour of a person who has a particular

status.

Role set = array of roles attached to a particular status.

Role conflict = difficulties in playing two or more contradictory roles.

Role strain = difficulties due to conflicting demands within the same role.

Ethnomethodology = the study of how people construct and learn to charge definitions

of reality that make everyday interactions possible.

Dramaturgical Analysis = examines coral interaction as if occurring on a stage where

people play different roles and act out scenes for the audiences with whom they

interact.

Social Exchange Theory = proposes that individuals seek through their interactions to

maximize their rewards and miniseries their costs.

2/19/2018

IN CLASS NOTES

Chapter 6

Social Interaction in Everyday Life

Why don�t men ask for directions?

I.       Social interaction is the process by which people act and react in relation to others.

a.       Extremely complex.� In another society rules are unclear and can lead to confusion and miscommunication.� �Being Friendly.�

Basic concepts of social interaction:

III. Status is a social position that an individual occupies.

A.� A status set consists of all the statuses a person holds at a given time.

����������������������� What are some of the statuses that you hold?

����������������������� Before we can deal with anyone, we need to know their status, i.e. who the person is.� (Business card in Japan).

����������������������� Status set changes over life course

B.� Ascribed and achieved statuses.

1.    An ascribed status is a social position that someone receives at birth or involuntarily assumes later in life.� Little choice over this.

2.    An achieved status is a social position that someone assumes voluntarily and that reflects personal ability and effort.

3.    Difference is sometimes unclear.� Idealized notion of achievement.

C.     A master status is a status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person�s entire life.

a.       In our society, master status is usually job.� �Just a housewife.�

1.    Physical Disability as a Master Status.

2.    What else (physical, ascriptive?)

IV. A role consists of behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status.

����������� A person holds a status and performs a role.

����������� Role performance varies according to personality.

A.� Role set refers to a number of roles attached to a single status.

����������� Role set can vary widely.� What does it mean to be a parent?� Son/daughter?

B.� Role conflict and role strain.

1.�� Role conflict refers to conflict among roles corresponding to two or more different statuses.

���������� Work and career.� Family and peer group.

���������� It can be reduced by �compartmentalizing� our lives.

2.�� Role strain refers to incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status.

����� Teacher/parent: authority or friend?

D.� Role exit is the process by which people disengage from important social roles.

����������� An ex-something: requires redefining self.� AA.

V. The social construction of reality is the process by which individuals creatively shape reality ��

���� through social interaction.

����������� Meaning of what we do is defined within the interaction.� �I was joking.�� Flirting.�

A.� What people commonly call �street smarts� really amounts to constructing reality.� Learning how to play the situation.� Being a �good student.�

B.� The Thomas Theorem states that situations we define as real become real in their consequences.

������� Although reality is initially �soft,� as it is being shaped, can become �hard� in its implications.� First impressions important.� Reputation.� Hard to change patterns of interaction.� Ally.

C.� Ethnomethodology is a subfield of sociology developed by Harold Garfinkel which studies the way people make sense of their everyday lives.

����������������������� Studies the implicit rules.� What does �how are you� really mean?� �Let�s get together.�

D.     People in different cultures experience reality very differently.

a.       �I understand.��� �That would be difficult.�

VI. Dramaturgical analysis, developed by Erving Goffman, consists of the definition of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.

����������� We live life as though we�re on a stage.

����������� Status is like the part in a play, and role is like our lines in the script.

A.� The presentation of self, the effort of an individual to create specific impressions in the minds of others, is a central focus of dramaturgy.

����������������������������������� B. An individual�s performances include dress, props, and manner.

C.� Nonverbal communication consists of communication using body movements, gestures, and facial expressions rather than speech. Most of it is culture-specific.

����������������������� Use of eye contact.

���� 1) Close attention to nonverbal communication is often an effective way of telling whether or not someone is telling the truth.� Body language can contradict verbal communication.

������ D.� Gender affects personal performance in areas such as:

1.�� Demeanor. The way we act and carry ourselves.� More freedom for the powerful.

2.�� Use of personal space � the surrounding area over which an individual makes some claim to privacy.� Culturally relative.

3.�� Staring, smiling, and touching.

����� Eye contact encourages interaction.

E.      Performances usually idealize our intentions.

a.       Don�t always accurately express our emotions.� Is a white lie okay?

�����������������������

F.      Embarrassment (losing face) easier when performance is idealized.� Politicians.

G.     Tact is helping someone save face, to preserve social harmony.� �Because embarrassment creates discomfort not simply for the actor but for everyone else as well.�� It reminds us of how fragile our own performances are.�

H.     �Socially constructed reality is thus like a dam holding back a sea of chaos.�� We all have a stake in letting the play go on.

�

VII. Interaction in Everyday Life: Three Applications.

����������� A.� Emotions, more commonly called feelings, are an important element of human social life.

����������� 1.�� Paul Ekman reports that people everywhere express six basic emotions:� happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise.

����������������� Biologically grounded, as is basic expression.

����������������� Serve a social purpose.

�������� �� 2.�� Culture plays an important role in guiding human emotions.

����������������� Defines what triggers an emotion.� What does death trigger?

����������������� Provides rules for the display of emotion.

����������������� Guides how we value the expression of emotion.

����������������� ���� Stiff upper lip (Island, etc.)

����������������� ���� Emotion vs. reason (�don�t get emotional�)�� Gender based.

�������� �� 3.�� In the United States, most people are freer to express their feelings at home than on the job.

����������������� Managed emotions as part of job.� �Feigning enthusiasm.�

��������������

����������� �� 4.�� Managing Feelings: Women�s Abortion Experiences: Emotional scripts or �feeling rules� guide how women feel about ending a pregnancy; these scripts arise from the political controversy surrounding abortion.

B.� Language: the social construction of gender.

1.�� The power function of language.� �He� or �man� as the universal.

2.� � Woman taking husband�s name.

C.� Reality Play: The Social Construction of Humor

1.    �The foundation of humor: contrasting incongruous realities.� We play with reality.

2.    �Unconventional and unexpected violation of cultural patterns.�� Collision of realities.

2.� The dynamics of humor: �getting it.� To �get� humor, the audience must understand the two realities involved well enough to appreciate their difference.

3.� The topics of humor. For everyone, humor deals with topics that lend themselves to double meanings or controversy.

����� Pain

3a. Humor rarely travels well between different cultures.

4.� The functions of humor. Humor provides a way to express an opinion without being serious; and humor relieves tension in uncomfortable situations.

5.� Humor and conflict. Humor is often a sign of real conflict in situations where one or both parties choose not to bring the conflict out into the open.

Gender and ethnic jokes.� �I was only joking.�

6. �Means of mental escape� from a conventional world.

What is the process by which people creatively shape people's experiences through social interaction?

What term refers to the process by which people creatively shape their world?

What is the concept that refers to the conflict among roles corresponding to two or more statuses?

Which of the following terms represents viewing social interaction in terms of theatrical performance?