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Published byTracy Sharp Modified over 9 years ago
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Social structure is expressed through social interaction * stable pattern of relationships * in place before we come along * creates boundaries -- defines which groups are insiders / outsiders Serves some better than others… social marginality and stigma
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Socialization and Social interaction reinforce social structure * e.g., established patterns of relationships between men & women * e.g., teachers and students, parents and children
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Social Status recognized social position with privileges and obligations Includes wealth power and prestige but more to it than that.
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Master status (establishes social identity) overriding ingredient in determining a person’s general social position (e.g., millionaire, white, black, old, young)
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Achieved (earned) e.g., lawyer, mother versus Ascribed (born with) race, gender Status Sets (all positions occupied at a given time)
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Status Symbols (material indicators of status)
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Status Symbols say more about us than we realize…. Help define self Bumper stickers as status symbols?
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Badges – another symbol about our “self”
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Roles: obligations and privileges attached to our statuses We learn through socialization how we ought to play our roles
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Expectations (society’s demands) may sometimes sharply contrast with our…… Performance (how we actually play out our roles)
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Role ambiguity An unclear sense of what and how to perform Examples??
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Role conflict (incompatible role demands of two or more statuses) e.g. Professor – teaching or research
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Role Embracement (foster the impression that our core social identity is attached to this status)
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versus Role Distancing (foster impression that we are not attached to the role)
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Statuses and Roles are social structure in action We Occupy a Status and Perform a Role
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The everyday components of Social Structure – Micro- perspective Social interaction what we do in the presence of others has somewhat of an order to it. e.g., Goffman’s “civil inattention” Interaction order – ways that we maintain and reinforce social structure
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Dramaturgy: Life is like a drama Front stage "it will be convenient to label as 'front' that part of the individual's performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance" (Goffman, 1959, p.32) Back stage “Where we let down our defenses and relax our roles “
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Oops…. A little back stage behavior.
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Ethnomethodology - H. Garfinkel the study of the taken-for-granted assumptions that guide behaviors. e.g., burping at the table, letting a door fly shut behind you, wearing shoes on the wrong feet
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To understand the underlying structure……. break a rule… Stand backwards in the elevator, barter for the price of a candy bar, when someone asks, “how are you?” respond with a very long reply
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breaching experiments reveal the subconscious social world Breaching experiment Sociology Experiment And what do we learn from these?
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Our definitions of situations are very much determined by our frame of reference (e.g., race, gender, social class, ethnicity – our social location or status) But - those with power may have the ability to establish definitions of reality. Gatekeepers and moral entrepreneurs
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Impression management - our efforts to present ourselves in a favorable way
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face-saving -- fixing a poor performance or ignoring it. Team performance -- two or more people work to present a particular impression
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impression management is especially important if the person has a devalued status or fears being devalued -- e.g., being elderly, homeless, physical handicap, an x-convict, AIDs patient, registered sex offender
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We learn from the micro perspective that we are not totally free from the rules that regulate social interaction.
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Nonverbal communication facial expressions, body positions,
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Personal space How does status impact these? American Office Japanese Office Eye contact Eye contact
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Invading Your Personal Space Sociology experiment Sociology Another fun one for you to check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeNGSZK01Hs&feature=relatedwww.youtube.com/watch?v=AeNGSZK01Hs&feature=related
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Touch, Emotions, Culture, and Gender Who is more likely to touch who and why?
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