Social Interaction and Everyday Life

1
Social Interaction and Everyday Life

• Social construction of everyday life
• Studying social interaction and everyday life
• Linking micro with macro

2
Social construction of everyday life

• Social action (Weber) behavior that involves
  thought and is directed toward others
  meaningful, intentional behavior

• Social interaction the process of acting and
  reacting in relation to others

3
Social structure

• underlying regularities and patterns in behavior
  and relationships
• Social status (position) social identity an
  individual has in a given society position in
  relation to others
• Social role socially defined expectations of an
  individual in a given status or position

4
Social construction of everyday life definition
of the situation

• Preliminary to any self-determined act of
  behavior there is always a stage of examination
  and deliberation which we may call the definition
  of the situation. Thomas

5
Social construction of everyday life definition
of the situation

• Social interaction involves active negotiation of
  the definition of the situation
• Therefore, social structure is a product of
  social construction

6
Studying social interaction and everyday life

• Ethnomethodology

7
Ethnomethodology

• Theoretical approach developed by Garfinkel
• Study of the folk or lay methods we use to make
  sense of what others are saying and doing
• Background rules and knowledge are taken for
  granted
• Use of demonstration (or breeching) experiment to
  reveal them
• Conversation analysis

8
Nonverbal communication

• Basic facial expressions are innate, universal
• Gestures are culturally specific
• Body position also conveys meaning
• Civil inattention avoiding eye contact to convey
  absence of aggression

9
Interaction in context

• Compulsion of proximity need to interact with
  others in copresence, face-to-face
• Social context shapes interaction
• Is internet interaction the same?
• Interactional vandalism if Mudrick is saying
  nice things why is it harassment? (89-92)

10
Studying social interaction and everyday life

• Dramaturgical analysis

11
Dramaturgical analysis

• Theoretical approach developed by Erving Goffman
• all the worlds a stage, and we are all actors
  upon it.

12
Unfocused interaction

• Mutual awareness of others in group or crowd
• No direct verbal communication
• Nonverbal communication through body and gestures
  
• Involves civil inattention

13
Focused interaction

• Direct attention to others in the group
• An encounter is a case of focused interaction
• Encounters require openings to signal end of
  civil inattention e.g., sup?
• Encounters separated by markers, also known as
  brackets

14
Presentation of self in everyday life

• Impression management
• Roles socially defined expectations of a person
  in a
• Status social position
• Status set
• Ascribed status
• Achieved status
• Master status
• Front regions formal roles
• Back regions relaxed, preparation for front
• Face work
• Facebook?

15
Linking micro with macro

• Micro level of social structure roles
  statuses, groups
• Middle or meso level organizations, subcultures,
  institutions
• Macro level society, culture, world system

16
Linking micro with macro
society
institutions
Self roles statuses