Theories of Social Interaction

Symbolic Interactionism

A sociological perspective that views society as a product of everyday interactions among individuals, guided by the interpretation of symbols and shared meanings.

Impression Management

Strategies and tactics individuals use to control and shape the impressions others form of them during social encounters.

Front Stage

Public regions where individuals perform before an audience, adhering to normative expectations and role obligations.

Back Stage

Private regions where actors can relax, drop their performance, and express their authentic feelings without an audience.

Feeling Rules

Culturally defined expectations dictating what individuals should feel, how intensely they should feel it, and how feelings should be expressed in specific social situations.

Emotional Labor

The commodified form of emotion management performed for wages or profit in the workplace, requiring the display of specific organizational personas.

Groupthink

A mode of collective deliberation characterized by the overwhelming desire for consensus that discourages critical evaluation of alternatives.

Civil Inattention

An interactional ritual among strangers in public, involving brief acknowledgment of each other's presence followed by avoidance of prolonged interaction.

Interaction Ritual Theory

A framework developed by Randall Collins that explains how social solidarity and emotional energy emerge from face-to-face interactions.

Bodily Co-Presence

The physical assembly of people in the same space, facilitating interaction and social connection.

Social Norms

Shared rules or standards governing behavior within a group or society, supported by social sanctions.

Identity Work

Efforts by individuals to establish, modify, or defend their claims to a specific identity in social interactions.