Sociology: Social Structure and Social Interaction

Vocabulary flashcards covering societal stages, social roles, the dramaturgical approach, impression management, emotions, and nonverbal communication from Chapter 5.

Industrial societies

Large societies that rely on machines and factories as their primary modes of economic production.

Postindustrial societies

Societies in which information technology and service jobs have replaced machines and manufacturing jobs as the primary dimension of the economy.

Industrial Revolution

The growth of industrial societies from about 1750 to the late 1800s, marked by the development of steam- and water-powered machines and factories.

Social interaction

The ways in which people act with other people and react to how other people are acting.

Background assumptions

Our understanding of the roles expected of people in a given encounter.

Social construction of reality

The process by which individuals understand and create reality through their interaction with other individuals.

Role conflict

The problems arising when a person has to deal with competing demands on two or more roles that the person is expected to play.

Role strain

The problems arising when a person performing a single role has to deal with competing demands placed on that role by people in other statuses.

Dramaturgical approach

Erving Goffman's metaphor that likens social interaction to a performance in a theatrical production.

Impression management

Erving Goffman's term for the process whereby individuals who are interacting try to convey a favorable impression of themselves.

Emotions

Feelings that begin with a stimulus and that often involve psychological changes and a desire to engage in specific actions.

Emotion work

The process of managing one's emotions to avoid social disapproval when in situations that demand specific feelings one does not actually feel.

Nonverbal communication

Ways of communicating that do not involve talking, including gestures, posture, facial expressions, and physical distance.