#5 social interaction

territorial behaviour

marking, occupying, defending a location

studies of territorial defence in parking lots showed that

people took longer to leave their spots with greater intrusion

person / character

unique individual, whose distinctiveness is captures in their personality

a person’s social environment is composed of

real or imagined others to whom the person

is connected.

organizations

Collectivities characterized by structure that encourages patterns in individual action

• social space where persons find themselves connected to others

social interaction

communication among people acting and reacting to one another

• structured around statuses, roles, and norms

status

culturally defined position or social location (doesn’t always mean higher or lower)

ascribed status

social position imposed on a person at birth

• or given involuntarily

achieved status

social position person acquires through efforts and choices

master status

social position considered central to a persons social identity

• can be achieved or ascribed

stigma

negatively evaluated because of a marker that is labelled as socially unacceptable

roles

expectations about thoughts, feelings, and actions appropriate for occupants of a particular status

role playing

conforming to existing performance expectations

• example of constraint

role making

creative process where individuals generate role expectations and performances

role conflict

two or more statuses with different role demands

role strain

single status with incompatible role demands

emotion management

people obeying "feeling rules" and responding appropriately to the situations in

which they find themselves.

emotion labour

paid to keep people calm and happy (emotion management)

Charles Derber’s theory of social interaction

competitive interaction involves people seeking to gain the most while paying the least

conversational narcissism

we’re always trying to get attention

power

the capacity to carry out one’s own will despite resistance

goffman’s dramaturgical analysis

Views social interaction as a play where people present themselves so that they appear in the best light

gallows humour

coping, emotional protection

role distancing

giving the impression that we are just "going through the motions" but actually lack serious commitment to a role

feminist theory view of social interaction

Status differences between women and men structure

social interaction.

conflict theory view of social interaction

The competitive exchange of valued resources structures

social interaction.

symbolic interactionist view of social interaction

Social interaction involves the interpretation, negotiation,

and modification of norms, roles, and statuses.

instrumental communication

sending messages that are a means to an end

• eg. raising hand in class

expressive communication

sending messages that are ends in themselves

• “yay!”

mediated interaction

communication that uses tech to send and receive messages

technological determinism

an assumption that the adoption of tech leads to inevitable and sometimes undesirable effects

displacement hypothesis (social media)

suggests that media use weakens in-person connections

domination

mode of interaction in which nearly all power is concentrated in people of high status

• fear is main emotion involved

cooperation

power is more or less equally distributed between people of diff status

• trust

competition

power unequal but degree of inequality is less than in systems of domination

• envy

cultural scaffolding

set of cultural values and beliefs that legitimate existing power arrangements, making them seem reasonable / natural

ethnomethodology

the study of how people make sense of what others do and say by adhering to pre-existing norms

breaching experiments

methods that disrupt interaction patterns to show the importance of pre-existing norms and understandings for social order.

status cues

visual indicators of a person’s social position

stereotypes

rigid views of how members of various groups act