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

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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.

• 2. 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.