1. Social Interaction, Networks & Groups
Sociology 1301: Introduction to Sociology
Week Seven

2. Symbolic Interactionism
3 Basic Tenets:
Human beings act toward ideas, concepts, and values on the basis of the meaning that those things have for them
These meanings are the products of social interaction in human society
These meanings are modified and filtered through an interpretive process that each individual uses in dealing with outward signs

3. The Language of Social Interaction
Status: a recognizable social position that an individual occupies
Status Set: All the statuses one holds simultaneously

4. Who Are You?
When someone asks you “who are you,” what are all the possible ways you could respond?
Which of these are ascribed statuses?
Which of these are achieved status?
Which is your master status?
What roles come into play under your master status?
Do you have role strain?
Do you have role conflict?

5. Multiple Statuses Ascribed Status: a status into which one is born
Achieved Status: a status into which one enters
Master Status: the one status that stands out most to you or that will always trump other statuses

6. Who Are You? Which of these are ascribed statuses?
When someone asks you “who are you,” what are all the possible ways you could respond?
Which of these are ascribed statuses?
Which of these are achieved status?
Which is your master status?
What roles come into play under your master status?
Do you have role strain?
Do you have role conflict?

7. Multiple Roles
Roles: the duties and behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status
Role Strain: the incompatibility among roles within a single status
Role Conflict: the tension between competing demands as the result of multiple statuses

8. Who Are You? What roles come into play under your master status?
When someone asks you “who are you,” what are all the possible ways you could respond?
Which of these are ascribed statuses?
Which of these are achieved status?
Which is your master status?
What roles come into play under your master status?
Do you have role strain?
Do you have role conflict?

9. Conley’s Interview with C.J. Pascoe

10. Exploring Gender Roles
Gender Roles: sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one's status as male or female
Gender is a compelled performance
How do we police boundaries of gender roles?
With boys?
With girls?
Process of “othering”

11. Dramaturgical Theory - Goffman
Impression Management
Frontstage vs. Backstage
Face: the positive social value a person effectively claims for him/herself
Have/Be In/Maintain Face
Be In Wrong/Out of Face
Lines: a pattern of verbal and nonverbal acts by which the individual expresses their view of a situation
Poise: the capacity to suppress and conceal any tendency to become shamefaced during encounters with others

12. Face-Work
Breaches: mistakes in roles, scripts, lines, costumes, and sets
Avoidance Process
Corrective Process

13. Ferry Tales, a file by Katja Esson

14. Discussion Questions
How does the clip illustrate the concepts of front stage and backstage?
In what ways are the women practicing the art of impression management?
How does the setting affect the women's presentations of self?

15. George Simmel
Basic Claim: The number of people in a group helps determine the form of the social relations that will take place in that group.
Dyad: a group of 2
Triad: a group of 3 or more
Mediator:
Tertius Gaudens:
Divide et Impera:

16. Triads

17. Larger Groups Small Groups Party Large Groups Face-to-face interaction
Unifocal
Lack of formal arrangements or roles
Equality
Party
Face-to-face interactions
Multifocal
Large Groups
Formal Structure
Mediated Interaction & Status Differentiation

18. Size Matters

19. Other Group Characteristics
Primary Groups vs. Secondary Groups
In-Groups vs. Out-Groups
Reference Groups

20. Social Networks
Social Network: a set of relations held together by ties between individuals.
Social Capital: the knowledge of people or things and connections that helps individuals enter preexisting networks or gain power in them.

21. Organizations
Organization: any social network that is defined by a common purpose and that has a boundary between its membership and the rest of the social world.
Formal Organizations
Organizational Culture
Organizational Structure

22. Works Cited
Conley, D. (2008). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist (2nd ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Massey, G. (Ed.) (2006). Readings for sociology (5th Ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.