October 1 st Sign in, deposit participation cards Lecture 5: Social Interaction and Social Differences Homework:  McIntosh “White Privilege”

Lecture Five Social Interaction & the Construction of Social Differences

Social Interaction Our day to day social interactions are part of the process of socialization and shape our individual identities Our social interactions shape reality, but based on our social position in society we often perceive reality differently  Social roles & social status

Actions/Behavior Social Structure Culture & Ideology People create social structure through their actions and the meaning they give to their actions

Ideology & Action Ideology is a system of beliefs, values, and ideas that support a social system  What ought to be, not necessarily what is Ideology (how we think about things) and action (our behavior, what we do) intersect to create social differences  Example: What sexual behavior do we expect from a young woman? A young man?

Social categories of difference are: 1. Learned through the process of life-long socialization  Indirectly through representations of social life Mass Media  Directly through interaction with others Family, Work, Friends

“Doing” Difference: Gender, Race, Sexuality Differences are accomplished through our actions and behavior, they are NOT the cause of those actions and behaviors DifferenceBehavior/Actions NOT ↓…But↓ Behavior Difference

Othering Othering: is a way of defining and securing one’s own positive identity through the stigmatization of an “Other” What language is used to out down men?  Pussy  Fag  “Girly-man”

“Planet of the Arabs” In American society, there has been a historic vilification and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims in the Mass Media arw

Doing Race: Defining the “Other” Stereotyping: exaggerated and inaccurate generalizations about members of a group Prejudice: negative thoughts and feelings about groups of people and to prejudge people based on group membership Discrimination: unequal treatment of others based on group membership  Individual  Institutional

Race and Ethnicity Race: categorizing people or groups based on phenotypical differences Four limits of biological definitions 1. Physical clues 2. Fuzzy boundaries 3. Cross-cultural variation 4. Cross-time variation Ethnicity: defines individuals who consider themselves distinct in cultural terms

Homework #2: Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes: Learning to Give Meaning to Differences What does the video show us about: How do we learn racism? How did “differences” emerge through social interaction? How did “othering” occur?