1.  Social Interaction in Everyday Life Lecture 4

2.   Socialization is the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as a member of that society. What is Socialization?

3.   A status is a position in society that comes with a set of expectations.  Social position a person holds at one time  Dance partner  Boss  Friend  Harley club member  Sports participant  Business manager Status

4.   Ascribed: Involuntary positions  An ascribed status is one we are born with that is unlikely to change.  Achieved: Voluntary positions  An achieved status is one we have earned through individual effort or that is imposed by others.  Master status: Has special importance for social identity, shaping a person’s life  One ’ s master status is a status that seems to override all others and affects all other statuses that one possesses. Type of Status

5.   Role set: Roles attached to a single status  Example: status of mother  Disciplinarian  Sports authority  Dietitian  Dr. Mom  Pretty mom Role

6.   Role conflict  Involves two or more statuses  Example: A police officer who catches her own son using drugs at home–mother and police officer  Role strain  Involves a single status  Example: Manager who tries to balance concern for workers with task requirements–office manager Role Conflict and Role Strain

7.   Role exit: Becoming an “ex”  Disengaging from social roles can be very traumatic without proper preparation  The process of becoming an “ex”  Doubts form about ability to continue with a certain role  Examination of new roles leads to a turning point; one decides to pursue a new direction  Learning new expectations associated with new role  Past role might influence new self Role Exit

8. Status Set and Role Sets A status set includes all the statuses a person holds at a given time. The status set defines who we are in society. The many roles linked to each status define what we do.

9.   The process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction  “Street smarts”  The Thomas theorem  Situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences The Social Construction of Reality

10. Housework in Global Perspective Source: United Nations (2010).

11.   Ethnomethodology  The study of the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings  Explores the process of making sense of social encounters The Social Construction of Reality

12.   How we act or what we see in our surroundings depends on our interests  Social background also affects what we see  People build reality from the surrounding culture Reality Building: Class and Culture

13.   Presentation of self or impression management  Efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis

14.   Role performance includes  Stage setting  Use of props: costume, tone of voice, gesture  Example: Going to the doctor and playing the expected patient role Goffman’s Dramaturgical Analysis

15.   Words  Voice  Body language  Facial expressions  Behavior (demeanor)  Personal space Nonverbal Communication

16.   Gender is a central element in personal performances  Demeanor  The way we act and carry ourselves  Use of space  Power plays a key role  Staring, smiling, touching  Eye contact encourages interaction  Smiling: Trying to please or submission?  Touching: Intimacy and caring Gender and Performances

17.   We construct performances to idealize our intentions  Professionals typically idealize their motives for entering their chosen careers  We all use idealization to some degree Idealization

18.   Embarrassment: Discomfort following a spoiled performance  Goffman: Embarrassment is "losing face"  Tact is helping someone "save face” Embarrassment and Tact

19.   An audience often overlooks flaws in a performance; actor avoids embarrassment  Goffman: Behavior is often spontaneous, but it is more patterned than we think Embarrassment and Tact

20.   The biological side of emotions  Some emotion response “wired” into humans  The cultural side of emotions  Ekman: Culture defines what triggers emotion  Emotions on the job  Hochschild: Typical company tries to regulate not only employees’ behavior, but emotions Emotions: The Social Construction of Feeling

21.   Power and Value  Female pronouns and ownership  Women often adopt the husband’s surname.  Feminine terms are more likely to change to negative meanings than masculine terms Gender and Language

22.   Humor is unconventional  It’s a violation of cultural norms  Humor is tied to a common culture and doesn’t translate easily  “Not getting it”- a person doesn’t understand a joke’s conventional/unconventional realities Humor

23.   Humor acts as a safety valve by expressing opinions on a sensitive topic.  Humor and conflict  “Put down” with jokes about race, sex, gender, and the disabled Humor

24.  Sources  Conley, Dalton. 2011. May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist (Second Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.  Macionis, John J. 2012. Society: The Basics (Twelfth Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson 24