The Sociology of Everyday Life

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The Sociology of Everyday Life
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Our Selves in Social Interaction

• Status.
• Refers to position in social hierarchy.
• Is a relational term.
• Role.
• Refers to the behavioural expectations of a
  status.
• One holds a status and performs a role.
• Role and status are sociological topics.
• The dramaturgical perspective emphasizes
  role-playing and other play-like aspects of
  everyday life.

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Ethnomethodology

• The term ethnomethodology.
• The nature of social order in real time and
  from the bottom up.
• Social order consists of rules that we create,
  follow, and enforce (as in the management of
  conversation).

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The Tic-Tac-Toe Experiment

• The rules were implicit.
• The breach of the rules was treated as
  motivated (and as morally wrong), not as random.
• The breach was not ignored, and could not have
  been ignored- breaches are always noticed.
• Some other breaching experiments that you can try
  at home

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A Few Additional Topics in the Sociology of
Everyday Life

• Impression management
• Politeness norms and rituals of personal space
• The relationship between social status and
  language use (and other cultural issues)
• The sociology of emotions