Chapter 5 - Social Interaction Flashcards
Person (2)
- an individual whose uniqueness is captured in his or her personality, which comprises the constellation of traits that reliably define an individual’s singularity
- in sociology, referred to as a character
Social Environments (2)
- composed of real or imagined others to whom the person is connected.
- typically organized - the persons in the environment act in an orderly, patterned way
Organizations
collectives characterized by structure that encourages patterns in individual action
Statuses
culturally defined positions in organizations
Norms (2)
- generally accepted ways of doing things
- expectations for occupants of a particular status
Ascribed Status (definition and examples)
- a social position imposed on a person at birth
- examples = race, sex, age, country of origin
Achieved Status (definition and examples)
- a social position that a person acquires through his or her effort, results from the choices a person makes
- examples = marital status, educational attainment, and occupation
Prescriptive Norms
what you should do
Proscriptive Norms
what you shouldn’t do
Master Status
- a social position that a person considers central to his or her social identity
- the person identifies strong with the status. the closer the identification, the more central the status and its associated roles and norms are to understanding a person’s thoughts, feelings, and actions
Role-Playing
conforming to specific performance expectations. if someone performs a role in exactly the way social convention prescribes, it is an act of conformity
Role-Making
the creative process by which people generate and perform roles. through role-making, people display their individuality and autonomy
Social Interaction
- the process by which people act and react in relation to one another
- involves people communicating face to face or via virtual reality
- it is structures around statuses, roles, and norms
Emotion Management (definition and who)
- people obeying “feeling rules” and responding appropriately to the situations in which they find themselves
- Arlie Russel Hochschild
Power
the capacity to carry out one’s own will despite resistance
Cultural Scaffolding
the set of cultural values and beliefs that legitimate existing power arrangements, making them seem reasonable and giving them a natural, taken-for-granted quality
Dramaturgical Analysis (definition and who)
- one of the most popular variants of symbolic interactionism
- based on the idea that people play roles in their daily lives in much the same way actors on stage play roles.
- implies that there is no single self, just the ensemble of roles we play in different social contexts
- Erving Goffman
Role Distancing
giving the impression of just “going through the motions” without making a serious commitment to a role
Ethnomethodology (2)
- the methods people use, often unconsciously, to make sense of what others do and say
- insists on importance of pre-existing shared norms and understandings in making everyday interaction possible
Enthomethodologists
stress that everyday interactions could not take place without pre-existing shared norms and understandings
Breaching Experiments (definition and who)
- illustrate the importance of everyday, ritualistic interactions by disrupting interaction patterns
- Harold Garfinkel
Status Cues
visual indicators of a person’s social position. focusing on these cues assists status identification
Stereotypes
inflexible views of how members of various groups act, regardless of whether individual group members actually behave that way. they create social barriers that impair interaction or prevent it altogether
Instrumental Communication (definition and example)
- sending messages that are means to an end
- example: asking a question in class
Expressive Communication (definition and example)
- involves sending message that are ends in themselves
- example: if you win a game and say “yes!” in excitement
Mediated Interaction
communication that uses technologies to send and receive messages
Technological Determinism
asserts that the adoption of technologies leads to inevitable and sometimes undesirable effects
Digital Divide
an inequality in access to and use of mediated interaction technologies
Mesostructures
high level structures such as networks, groups, and organizations
Institutions
macrolevel structures
Role Conflict
when two or more statuses held at the same time place contradictory role demands on a person
Role Strain
when incompatible role demands are placed on a person in a single status
Feminist Theory of Social Interaction
status differences between men and women structure social interaction
Conflict Theory of Social Interaction
the competitive exchange of valued resources structures social interaction
Symbolic Interactionist Theory of Social Interaction
social interaction involves interpretation, negotiation, and modification of norms, roles, and statuses
3 types of roles of power
- Dominance = high level of inequality, fear, low efficiency
- Competition = medium level of inequality, envy, medium efficiency
- Cooperation = low level of inequality, trust, high efficiency
4 aspects of social interaction that sociological theories focus on
- the way status hierarchies influence social interaction
- the way norms, roles, and statuses are interpreted, negotiated, and modified
- the way individuals manage the impressions they give to others
- the way preexisting norms influence social interaction
