1. Sociology 1301: Introduction to Sociology
Social Interaction
Sociology 1301: Introduction to Sociology
Week Seven

2. Review of Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionism: a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions.
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. Social Interaction Social Interaction:
The process by which people act and react in relation to others
A complex negotiation that builds reality
The Social Construction of Reality: The process by which people creatively shape reality through social interactions.
Thomas Theorem: Situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences.
Ethnomethodology: The study of the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings.

4. Statuses
Status: a recognizable social position that an individual occupies
Status Set: All the statuses one holds simultaneously.
Ascribed Status: Born in to/Involuntary
Achieved Status: Enters in to/Voluntary
Master Status: Most important/Overrides others
Status Symbols: Items used to identify a status.

5. 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?

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. Status: Mother/Father
Roles
Roles: The duties and behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status.
Role Set: A number of roles attached to a single status.
Status: Mother/Father
Role: Provider
Role: Nurturer
Role: Chef
Role: Disciplinarian
Role:
Driver

8. Status: Mother/Father
Role Strain
Role Strain: The incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status.
Status: Mother/Father
Role: Provider
Role: Nurturer
Role: Chef
Role: Disciplinarian
Role:
Driver

9. Status: Mother/Father
Role Conflict
Role Conflict: The tension caused by competing demands between two or more roles pertaining to different statuses.
Status:
College Student
Role: Class Attender
Status: Mother/Father
Role: Provider
Role: Nurturer
Role: Chef
Role: Disciplinarian
Role:
Driver
Role:
Reader

10. Exiting Roles
Role Exit: The process by which people disengage from important social roles.
Beginning: People doubt ability to continue in a certain role
Imagine alternative roles, ultimately reach a tipping point in deciding to make a change
Even as one moves, a past role can continue to be influential
People carry with them a self-image shaped by an earlier role, which can interfere with building a new sense of self
People must also rebuild relationships with people who knew them in their earlier life

11. 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?

12. Dramaturgical Theory Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
Dramaturgical Analysis: The study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
Status – A part in a play
Role - The script (supplies dialogue & action)
Why?
Impression Management: A person’s efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others. This process begins with the idea of personal performance.
Emotion Management: How we socially construct our emotions as part of our everyday reality.

13. Organizing Space Front Stage: Where performances are given.
Back Stage: Where people rest from their performances, discuss their presentations, and plan future performances.
Personal Space: The surrounding area over which a person makes some claim to privacy.

14. Basics of Performance
Role Performance: The ways in which someone performs a role, showing a particular 'style' or 'personality.
Sign-Vehicles: The term used by Goffman to refer to how people use social settings, appearance, and manner to communicate information about the self.
Line: Verbal and nonverbal acts by which he expresses his view of the situation and through this his evaluation of participants, especially himself.
Demeanor: The way we carry ourselves which is a clue to social power.

15. Face-Work
Face: The positive social value a person effectively claims for himself
Have/Be In/Maintain Face vs. Be In Wrong/Out Of Face
Poise: the capacity to suppress and conceal any tendency to become shamefaced during encounters with others
Tact: Helping someone ‘save face’
Breaches: Mistakes in roles, scripts, costumes, and sets
Sometimes breaches are on purpose - to help someone else save face
Sometimes breaches are not on purpose - to which we work hard to repair it and move forward
Types of Face-Work:
Avoidance Process
Corrective Process

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

17. Exploring Gender Roles
Gender Roles: sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one's status as male or female
Gender is a compelled performance – one with set rules and sanctions
How do we police boundaries of gender roles?
With boys?
With girls?

18. Ferry Tales, a file by Katja Esson

19. 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?

20. Works Cited
Conley, D. (2008). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Henslin, J. M. (2008). Sociology: A down-to-earth approach (9th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Macionis, J. J. (2010). SOC100: Sociology: custom edition (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Massey, G. (Ed.) (2006). Readings for sociology (5th Ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.