social interaction

social interaction

moments we share with other people

- everyday events which at least 2 people communicate and respond through langauge and gesture to affects ones behavior and thinking

-imaginative back and forth, spontaneous and a balance between inventiveness and predictability

- interactions are living things and never static

context

larger historical circumstances and social forces that bring people together for social interaction

content

cultural frameworks (norms, values, beliefs, material culture) that guide social interactions, behavior dialoge and interpretation of events

social roles

the behavior expected of a status in relationship to another status

- people occupy statuses but they enact roles

- include rights and obligations

role set

an array of roles

social structure

2 or more people occupying social statuses and enacting roles

rights

behaviors that a person assuming a role can demand or expect from others

obligations

the relationship and behavior that the person enacting a role must assume towards others in a particular status

role strain

predicament in which contradictory or conflicting expectations are associated with a single role that a person is enacting

role conflict

predicament in which the expectations associated with 2 or more roles in a role set contradict one another

social rules

culturally specific norms, policies, and laws that guide our behavior

- folkways

-mores

- taboos

- policies

- laws

folkways

-loosely enforced norms aimed at facilitating everyday interaction

- rude/ polite behavior

- no moral or legal consequences

ex. waiting in line, modes of appropriate dress

Mores

-tightly enforced norms that carry moral significance

- moral or social consequences - might get you canceled

ex. discrimination, unemployment

Taboos

- social prohibitions so strong that thought of violating then can be sickening

- legal, moral and social consequences

ex. incest, pedophilia, cannibalism

- some behaviors may not be taboo to engage in but are taboo to discuss

policies and laws

policies - rules made and enforced by organizations. consequences related to the organization

law - rules that are made and enforced by cities, states, or federal govt

sanctions

-reactions by others aimed at promoting conformity

- encourage conformity by regard or discourage by punishment

- formal or informal, legal or social/moral

- no one follows the rules all the time. we break them accidentally and on purpose

- we vary in our opinions on the fairness and justness of sanctions

account

excuse that explains our rule breaking but also affirms that the rule is good and right

- acknowledgment that the rule is valide

- explanation for why we broke it that resonates with the observer

- suggests that we wouldnt break such rules under other circumstances, even if we get away with this circumstance

symbolic interactionism

theory that social interaction depends on the social construction of reality (meaning is negotiated in interaction) --> depends on setting behavior is guided by signals --> successful social interactions depend on everyone involved agreeing and cooperating

dramaturgical analysis

the practice of looking at social life as a series of performances in which we are actors on metaphorical stages

- to perform we use roles, scripts, sets available to us

- the set is the situation, roles are the relative positions in a social interaction, props are symbols

- we behave according to the constraints of the situation and the role we are expected to play

- others in the scene help us, we help them in return

impression management

efforts to control how we're preceived by others

face

-version of ourselves we want to project in a specific setting

- we're sometimes acutely aware of our performances, but other times we act so convincingly that even we are taken in

- some acts are habitual that they come to feel natural

front stage

public space in which we are aware of having an audience

backstage

private or semiprivate spaces in which we can relax or rehearse

background

behavior that can be carried out automatically without much reflection

- prevents necessity of having to recreate or rethink every interaction

foreground

behavior that requires reflection and choice

- who am i and how should i live

- modern life in increases foreground and makes the background questionable

attribution theory

relies on the assumption that people asisgn a cause to behavoir in order to make sense of it

disposition traits - personal or group traits

situation factors - forces outside indiidual control (bad luck or enviroment)

- people tend to use situation factors when evaluating their own faliures and disposition traits when evaluating anotehr persons faliures