Social Performance and Interaction Rituals Flashcards
1
Q
What is status?
A
- a culturally defined social position that an individual holds in a social interaction
- defines a person’s identity and relationship to others
- only exists in social interactions, as we interact with people in different situations, our status also changes
- different types of statuses that exist that are ideal types, but in reality there is a lot of overlap between these
2
Q
What is Ascribed Status?
A
- a status that you are born with and don’t have control over
eg: royalty, celebrity children, ethnicity, economic status - this status can change
3
Q
What is Achieved Status?
A
- a status that you achieve through work
eg: Olympic athletes, students, military rankings - but other things go into this, like your relationships, race, gender, ethnicity, etc (not just through will and hard work)
4
Q
What is master status?
A
- one status that stands out and defines most of our existence
eg: priest, convict, parent, doctors (made a vow)
5
Q
Social Role
A
-the behavior performed by an individual who holds a particular social status
6
Q
Role Set
A
- complementary roles
- eg: the role of a doctor is part of a role set along with colleagues, nurses, patients, receptionists that compliment each other
- this does NOT mean they interact with each other or work together
7
Q
What is Role Strain?
A
- a situation that can occur when there is tension among the various roles attached to status, or even between roles attached to different statuses
- eg: mother has to be disiplinary and affectionate, a mother has to balance work and kids
8
Q
What did Goffman contribute to sociology?
A
- proponent of symbolic interactionalism and dramaturgy
- focused on how we interact, the patterns that guide our actions, and the way we manage our as well as other’s perception of us
- found that our actions are less spontaneous and more scripted than we believe
9
Q
What was Goffman’s idea of face-to-face interactions?
A
-the influence of another person on your actions when they are in your immediate physical presence
10
Q
What is Goffman’s dramaturgical metaphor?
A
- social life is like a series of performances given by actors on the stage
- performances are meant to present actors that are conforming to or exemplifying existing social norms
- audience decided if the performance is genuine or not
11
Q
What is the Front Stage?
A
- the setting where social performances that are meant to be seen take place
- defines the situation in a general way for both an audience and a performer
12
Q
What is the Back Stage?
A
- a place where actions or interactions take place that is not intended for public view but supports a public role performance
eg: getting ready before work
13
Q
What is the “Outside”?
A
- areas irrelevant to the performance of a particular social role or social situation
eg: Zozo drinking water on the couch after class
14
Q
What is a team?
A
- a set of individuals who work together in a single performance and rely on each other
- performance or social interaction requires this
15
Q
What is Goffman’s idea of role distance?
A
- individuals play many roles on many teams and their level of commitment to each role may vary
- are distanced from some teams because can, not 100% commit to everything
16
Q
What is impression management?
A
- activity engaged in by a social actor to guard against social faux pas (embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion)
- complimentary with face work
17
Q
What are some impression management techniques?
A
- Maintaining self control-not losing your temper when you have a job that requires you to control your emotions
- Using personal fronts (props) to make the performance look believable eg: dressing in a certain way to show your gender-fluid
- Institutionalized fronts (widely accepted fronts with fixed meanings for established roles) eg: putting credentials on wall, a butler has certain outfit and manner
18
Q
What was Goffman’s theory of what a face is?
A
- is like a mask that changes based on the audience and variety of social interaction-based on approved social attributes
- people strive to maintain the face they created in social situations-are emotionally attached to their faces so feels good to maintain face and experience emotional pain when the face is lost
- therefore people cooperate and use polite strategies to maintain each other’s faces
19
Q
Face-work
A
-our attempts to ensure that our behaviors are consistent with the “face” -communicational strategies we use to make sure our behaviors match those of a “good person”
20
Q
What is saving face?
A
- compensating for a poor impression that could be made, the things we do to maintain our image
- face is delicate
eg: Zozo maintains her image as a competent professor by saying she will search things up when she doesn’t know the answers to things
21
Q
How can we save face? (face-saving repertoire)
A
- avoidance eg: Zozo doesn’t put stuff on her slides that she doesn’t know
- eg: the Cuban missile crisis allowed each side to compromise and save face (got out of an awkward situation and everyone benefited)
eg: convoy has impossible demands that don’t allow the government to save face - correction eg: Zozo says something wrong but goes back and corrects it
22
Q
What are ritualistic things we do to save face?
A
- scripts that exist that we may use to save face
- eg: someone says excuse me and the other person says no problem
23
Q
What are interaction rituals?
A
- things that hold society together (Durkheim)
- they give individuals a common purpose with others
- a lot of life is ritualistic eg: going to office hours, attention is based on a common goal
24
Q
What are the four characteristics of interaction rituals?
A
- Two or more people need to be present
- Clear boundaries have to be established between insiders and outsiders
- The attention of all participants is focused on a common objective
- Participants share a common emotional experience or set of feelings
