Week 2 - Social Interaction

Question 1

What is social interaction?

When does it occur?

Answer 1

When interaction is social it involves a range of social and cultural processes - they are complex and multifaceted, its a generative and active process

all interactions are social!
Even when alone we can still be interacting with others in our heads - deciding what to wear, what to eat etc
Actions of others (to some extent), determine our own actions/responses

Question 2

Define symbolic interactionism? give an example? thinker?

Answer 2

Herbert Blumer

Reality is created by people through their interactions/perception - ex: lecture, if prof started talking on the phone it wouldn’t be a lecture, lecture hall as the location is what makes it a lecture

It is a microfocus on everyday interactions between people (gestures, words, facial expressions)
- Meaning and interpretation of social action/behavior

can be non-verbal

Question 3

What does Herbert think? or contribute?

Hint: 3 premises

Answer 3

How meaning is co-constructed between people in the process of interaction
Meaning is central to understanding the social action of humans

3 premises

1. Human beings act towards things on the basis of meanings that the things have for them
   - abstract ideas are intangible
   - dont act in a dis-interested fashion
2. These meaning are derived for the social interactions between people
3. these meanings are modified through an interpretive process used by the persons in dealing with the thing/siuation encountered (can be changed/amended)

Question 4

More Herbert… how do we arrive at meaning? provide an example

Answer 4

Meaning is not straightforward - it is arrived at through a process of interpretation then consensus or disagreement (not simple reading meaning but generating and deciding subsequent actions)
also habitual

Consensus: use of objects/places is agreed upon based on qualities but not directly because of those qualities (ex: aliens and chairs)
use of objects is agreed upon = objective, but interactions w others are fluid
ex: if you were an alien and saw a chair, would you know how to use it?

Ex: school exists as more than a building because you + others agree that it is a school (consensus)

Question 5

Thomas Theorem - define and explain with example?

Merton?

Answer 5

If people define a situation as real it is real in its consequences for them
People’s behavior can be determined by their subjective construction of reality rather than by objective reality (ex: labeling teen emo, they may become that label)

Merton: Self fulfilling prophecy

Ex: Just for laughs video - based on gestures/facial expressions of businessmen people acc believed they were interrupting and acted accordingly

Question 6

Defining deviance … the consequences of meaning?

Answer 6

What we agree to as real can/does have consequences for other people vice versa

The power of norms and who gets to decide them - they are not fixed, produced and reproduced and involve a range of background knowledge

Ex: security guards urge to follow someone based on prior knowledge

Question 7

Define the dramaturgical approach? thinker?

front stage? back stage?

Answer 7

Erving Goffman

Dramaturgy: art of theater production

Social interaction is a kind of theatrical stage where we “perform” our social statuses and roles together
We act as observers, actors, and directors of our own social performance - we always seek to impression manage in social situations

Front stage: where the social performance takes place
Back stage: mangerial part of us that works “behind the scenes”
not always perfect, sometimes gaffes occur

Question 8

define facework? what does effectiveness depend on?

Answer 8

Impression management

1. consistency between the impression you give to people and the perception they have of you
2. The predictability of social interactions and statuses - everyone has a range of strategies for this work
3. whether or not people believe this to be genuine

Can: losing face, maintaining face, saving face

Question 9

Define the looking glass self? thinker?

Answer 9

Cooley

we base our self-image on what we think other people see

Question 10

define and differentiate statuses and roles?

hint: strain, conflict,

Answer 10

Indicate the social position of someone within a network of social relations

• mutually defining: professor vs. student
• influenced interations: chnages power dynamics, professionalism, respect and responsibility

Roles: recognizable/expected patterns of social behavior indicating a person’s status or position

• Role set: a collection of roles
• role strain: to much demanded of one role
• role conflict: two diff roles responsibilities clashing/limiting each other