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Social structure is expressed through social interaction

Social structure is expressed through social interaction. * stable pattern of relationships * in place before we come along * creates boundaries -- defines which groups are insiders / outsiders Serves some better than others… social marginality and stigma.

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Social structure is expressed through social interaction

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  1. Social structure is expressed through social interaction • * stable pattern of relationships • * in place before we come along • * creates boundaries -- defines which groups are insiders / outsiders • Serves some better than others… • social marginality and stigma

  2. Socialization and Social interaction reinforce social structure • * e.g., established patterns of relationships between men & women • * e.g., teachers and students, parents and children

  3. Social Status • recognized social position with privileges and obligations • Includes wealth power and prestige but more to it than that.

  4. Master status • (establishes social identity) • overriding ingredient in determining a person’s general social position (e.g., millionaire, white, black, old, young)

  5. Achieved (earned) e.g., lawyer, mother versus • Ascribed (born with) race, gender Status Sets (all positions occupied at a given time)

  6. Status Symbols • (material indicators of status)

  7. Status Symbols say more about us than we realize…. Help define self Bumper stickers as status symbols?

  8. Badges – another symbol about our “self”

  9. Roles: • obligations and privileges attached to our statuses We learn through socialization how we ought to play our roles

  10. Expectations (society’s demands) may sometimes sharply contrast with our…… • Performance (how we actually play out our roles)

  11. Role ambiguity An unclear sense of what and how to perform Examples??

  12. Role conflict • (incompatible role demands of two or more statuses) e.g. Professor – teaching or research

  13. Role Embracement • (foster the impression that our core social identity is attached to this status)

  14. versus • Role Distancing • (foster impression that we are not attached to the role)

  15. Statuses and Roles are social structure in action We Occupy a Status and Perform a Role

  16. The everyday components of Social Structure – Micro- perspective • Social interaction • what we do in the presence of others has somewhat of an order to it. • e.g., Goffman’s “civil inattention” • Interaction order – ways that we maintain and reinforce social structure

  17. Dramaturgy: Life is like a drama • Front stage • "it will be convenient to label as 'front' that part of the individual's performance which regularly functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance" (Goffman, 1959, p.32) • Back stage • “Where we let down our defenses and relax our roles “

  18. Oops…. A little back stage behavior.

  19. Ethnomethodology - H. Garfinkel • the study of the taken-for-granted assumptions that guide behaviors. e.g., burping at the table, letting a door fly shut behind you, wearing shoes on the wrong feet

  20. To understand the underlying structure……. • break a rule… Stand backwards in the elevator, barter for the price of a candy bar, when someone asks, “how are you?” respond with a very long reply

  21. breaching experiments reveal the subconscious social world • Breaching experiment • Sociology Experiment • And what do we learn from these?

  22. Our definitions of situations are very much determined by our frame of reference (e.g., race, gender, social class, ethnicity – our social location or status) • But - those with power may have the ability to establish definitions of reality. Gatekeepers and moral entrepreneurs

  23. Impression management - our efforts to present ourselves in a favorable way

  24. face-saving -- fixing a poor performance or ignoring it. • Team performance -- two or more people work to present a particular impression

  25. impression management • is especially important if the person has a devalued status or fears being devalued -- e.g., being elderly, homeless, physical handicap, an x-convict, AIDs patient, registered sex offender

  26. We learn from the micro perspective that we are not totally free from the rules that regulate social interaction.

  27. Nonverbal communication • facial expressions, body positions,

  28. Personal space • How does status impact these? American Office Japanese Office • Eye contact

  29. Invading Your Personal Space • Sociology experiment • Another fun one for you to check out • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeNGSZK01Hs&feature=related

  30. Touch, Emotions, Culture, and Gender • Who is more likely to touch who and why?

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