Objectives for this Module
1. Understand the concepts of status and role.
2. Understand the social construction of reality.
3. Understand the "Presentation of Self.
Social Structure
Refers to social patterns that guide our behavior in everyday life. The building block of social structure are status & role.
Social Interaction
The process by which people act and react in relation to others
* We do this all the time without thinking about it.
Status
A social position that a person holds that may change over our life time as you gain and lose status.
Example: Currently, I'm a husband to my wife, and a father to my kids. Before being a husband I was a stranger, friend, boyfriend, fianc�.
Status Set
All the statuses a person holds at a given time.
Example: Currently I'm a husband to my wife, father to my kids, student at eastern, manager at apple, teacher in church, a son to my parents, and many other all at the same time.
Ascribed Status
A social position a person receives at birth or takes on involuntarily later in life.
Example: I'm a male, and son.
Note: your ascribed statuses are likely to influence your achieved statuses.
Achieved Status
A social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort
Example: I'm a Husband, and Manager.
Note: You can achieve a positive or negative statue like a criminal.
Master Status
A status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life.
You may have one of more that dominate your life.
Example: President of the United States. Also Gender Race and ethnicity are included in this.
Role
Behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status.
Example: Student - Complete Assignments, Bartender - Make Drinks, Cab Driver - Navigate a city,
Role Set
a number of roles attached to a single status.
Example: Bar Tender - Make Drinks, Wash dishes, Take money, a little babysitting.
Role Set Illustration
Role Conflict
conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses
Example: Best friend who later work for the same company and I end up becoming his supervisor.
Another Example: When you enter a Job that is dominantly help by the opposite gender.
Role Strain
tension among the roles connected to a single status
Example: A coach that plays the part of a cheerleader, then when faced with a underperforming person has to be a dream crusher.
Role Exit
The process by which people disengage from important social roles. The process of becoming an "ex"
Example: ex-convicts, ex-wife, ex-employe, retiree, ex-nun, even transexuals.
Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh (1988)
She studied the process of becoming an "ex" and saw pattern in the process.
1. Doubt
2. Search of alternatives
3. Departure
4. Creation of a new identity
Social Construction of Reality
The process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction
Thomas theorem
William Isaac Thomas's (W.I. Thomas) statement that "Situations defined as real are real in their consequences
Ethnomethodogy
Harold Garfinkel's term for - The study of the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings.
An approach to social science that combines philosophy, social theory, and method study
Harold Garfinkel
developed the sociological tradition called ethnomethodology, in which the researcher tries to expose the common unstated assumptions that enable conversational shortcuts to work
Dramaturgical Analysis
Erving Goffman's term for - the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
Example: think of everyone as actors all putting on a performance.
Presentation of Self. also Called "Impression Managment
Erving Goffman's term for a person's efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others.
Example: Acting busy at work, Looking interested in something else as you wait for a date to arrive.
Erving Goffman
believed that the meaning was constructed through interaction (dramatology and impression management)
Nonverbal Communication or Body Language
Communication using body movements, gestures, and facial expressions rather than speech.
Example: Roll of the eye, thumbs up. In some cultures eye contact with a superior is good or bad.
Gender and Performance
The difference of how Gender plays a part in our socialization and performances.
Example: All the pink and blue items for kids and trucks and guns for boys and dolls and kitchen sets for girls.
Demeanor
The way we act and carry ourselves
personal space
the surrounding area over which a person makes some claim to privacy
Staring, Smiling, and Touching
Women hold eye contact more then men in social conversations: Men Stare
Smiling can be a sign of trying to please or of submission
Touching is generally something men do to women
Idealization
We construct performances to idealize our intentions.
We try to convince others (and perhaps ourselves) that our actions reflect ideal cultural standards rather than selfish motives.
Embarrassment
Discomfort after a spoiled performance "losing face
Tact
Helping someone "save face"
"Tact is the ability to describe others the way they see themselves." - Abraham Lincoln
Interactions in Everyday Life
Three important dimensions of everyday life
1. Emotions
2. Language
3. Humor