1. Social Interaction in Everyday Life

3. Social Structure
Status
Role

4. Status Ascribed status Received at birth or involuntarily assumed
Achieved status
Voluntary
Master status
Special importance for your identity
Status set

5. Role Behavior expected on someone who holds a particular status
Role set
Role conflict
Employee and husband
Role strain
Supervisor and friend
Role exit

6. The social construction of reality
People creatively shape reality through interaction
Thomas theorem
“Situations that are defined as real become real in their consequences”
“Definition of the Situation”

7. Dramaturgical Analysis
Erving Goffman
Sees society as a theatrical performance
Presentation of self
Efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others
Performance
Costumes, props, tone of voice, etc.

8. Dramaturgical Analysis
Tact is used in embarrassing situations
When the constructed reality breaks down

9. Getting the humor in a joke
Audience must inferentially complete the joke in their minds
Audience must understand the two realities involved, and appreciate their difference
What is funny in one culture may not be funny in another society.
E.g. “Blond jokes” in Africa