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
- Whether the role performance matches
role expectations.
- 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.