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Everyday Social Interaction - Introductory Sociology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Introduction to Sociology

Everyday Social Interaction, Social Structure, Primary Group, Secondary Group, Scale Bureaucracy, Hiring Committee, Family and Friends, Integration of Statuses, Social Relationships, Providing Food are the key points of this lecture.

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2011/2012

Uploaded on 12/31/2012

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Everyday Social Interaction
Chapter 6
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Download Everyday Social Interaction - Introductory Sociology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity!

Everyday Social Interaction

Chapter 6

Key Terms

  • Social Structure : the integration of statuses, roles, groups,

and institutions into a complex web of social relationships.

  • Group: a collection of people who share expectations

about each other.

  • Primary group : small, informal, intimate, emotional,

meaningful, lasting. Example: family and friends.

  • Secondary group : formal, task oriented, members may be

anonymous. Examples: a job hiring committee or a large scale bureaucracy.

  • Institution: a collection of groups, statuses, and roles

established to address an important societal need, such as reproduction of members, or providing food and housing, or defense of borders, etc.

Key Terms

  • Role : a behavioral expectation of a particular status.
  • Role set: all of the roles expected of a particular status.
  • Role expectation : the “ideal” behaviors expected of a particular status.
  • Role performance : how well an individual’s behavior conforms to role expectations. We tend to feel pride with a good role performance.
  • Role conflict : when two or more statuses are incompatible with each other. Example: when a wage-earning parent is expected to care for their sick children at the expense of coming in to work it produces a role conflict.
  • Role strain : when a single status as different role expectations, some of which are incompatible with each other. Example: when a coach must train an athlete yet they must also bench them it produces a role strain.
  • Role exit : the process of disengaging from a status and the roles it implies, such as brought by divorce or by graduation from college.

The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

  • The Interactionist perspective focuses on everyday

social interaction at the micro level.

  • Humans rely upon symbols, especially language, to

make sense of the world. Through symbols we

learn to interpret events, people, and things.

  • We respond to people according to how we have

learned to interpret them.

  • Orderly social interaction is possible only when we

learn appropriate (socially negotiated and

approved) interpretations.

  • Everyday life has a taken-for-granted quality to it. Our everyday interpretations become habitualized.

Unspoken rules

  • Much of everyday life is guided by unspoken rules
    • or norms - of social interaction.
  • For example, we learn to show civil inattention to

strangers in public.

  • We avoid eye contact and politely ignore others when they are in near proximity, such as when we walk by others on the sidewalk or stand in an elevator.
  • We learn these norms during socialization and

they form the backdrop to everyday social

interaction.

Rituals

  • Informal rituals are informal customary practices

and procedures that are part of everyday life

interaction. Everyday informal rituals reveal

everyday taken-for-granted meanings. They are part

of the unspoken rules of everyday life.

  • Example: the door opening ritual or ceremony
    • The everyday practice of holding a door open for

another person affirms politeness.

  • Yet men hold the door for women rather than the

other way around. Why?

The Door Opening Ritual

  • However, we do not all share the same exact

interpretations of human behavior.

  • The act of opening a door for another may be

interpreted differently by different people using

different perceptual filters.

  • While a “traditional-values” woman might feel

complimented by a man holding a door open

for her, a radical feminist woman might feel

insulted because she objects to patriarchy and

the everyday norms that affirm it.

Everyday informal rituals affirm patriarchy

  • There are many everyday informal rituals that

symbolically affirm patriarchy

  • Men are socialized to be the driver of the car while women are the passengers.
  • Men are expected to initiate a date more than women, who are not expected to be too “pushy.”
  • Conclusion: social interaction at the everyday

(micro) level is related to the macro structure of

society.

  • If the macro structure is patriarchal then the micro behaviors will often symbolically affirm the gender pecking order that favors males over females.

Dramaturgy – Erving Goffman

  • We sometimes play the role of actor , and sometimes we are the audience. Each of us is called upon to perform various roles, and we also form the audience for the role performances of others.
  • As actors, we seek to generate favorable impressions, so we often design our role performances using props , costumes , and other theatrical devices to enhance the believability of our performance. - A teacher’s prop might be a podium, while a student’s prop might be a notebook. - A teacher may tailor their costume – maybe by a male teacher wearing a leather patch with a tweed jacket - to enhance their role performance. He may even grow a professorial beard to enhance his authority.

Dramaturgy – Erving Goffman

  • The elements of impression management include
    • Performances (role performances)
    • Costumes (clothing)
    • Props and make-up (objects used to enhance the performance)
    • Gestures (our mannerisms)
    • The Setting (we also craft the setting for our performance – a teacher’s office is not supposed to look like a bedroom)
    • Front stage versus back stage (performing vs. rehearsing)
    • Scripts (proper dialogue attached to the performance)
    • Improvisation (unscripted performances)

Dramaturgy – Erving Goffman

  • What criteria does the audience use to evaluate the

actor’s performance?

Evaluation Criteria

    1. Whether the role performance matches

role expectations.

    1. Role sincerity. We must believe that the

actor is sincere about their performance.

  • A performance includes impressions that are intentionally “given”, but they also include impressions that are unintentionally “given off”
    • perhaps because the actor is nervous, twitching, sweating, avoiding eye contact, etc.
      • The audience scrutinizes the actors performance.

Dramaturgy – Erving Goffman

  • Actors may team up and form acting troupes.
    • When a couple get close they typically form an acting troupe when they are entertaining guests for dinner. - They rehearse and evaluate each other’s performances, help each other with their costumes and props, engage in teamwork, etc.
  • The mating ritual involves eventually taking off

one’s acting masks (and make-up) and inviting their

partner back stage, where both partners feel freer

to be whoever they really are. This is what intimacy

is about.

Conditions of Scrutinization

  • Sometimes we find ourselves in special

conditions of scrutinization.

  • A job interview.
  • A first date.
  • Meeting future in-laws.
  • Under these situations we are keenly aware of

the need for favorable impression management.