Sociology Lesson 5

List the four subjective interpretations of reality.

The social construction of reality is the process by which a person's and others' definitions and subjective interpretation of events shape his or her perceptions of reality as well as the perceptions of others. Similarly, the self-fulfilling prophecy is a false belief, perception, or prediction that produces behavior that makes the originally false belief come true. Ethnomethodology is the study of the common-sense knowledge that people use to understand and organize their everyday surroundings and events. Dramaturgical analysis is the study of everyday social interaction in theatrical terms.

Describe the relationship between a status and its role.

A status is a socially recognized position that an individual occupies, while a role is the set of behavioral and attitudinal expectations that someone in that position is expected to exhibit. We occupy a status and perform a role.

Differentiate between ascribed and achieved statuses, and list two examples of each

An ascribed status is a social position that is inherited at birth or involuntarily acquired later in life. Ethnicity and gender are examples of ascribed statuses, as is being an adolescent or being labeled a felon as a result of being convicted for a crime. Social positions that an individual acquires voluntarily as a result of their own choice or effort are called achieved statuses. Most jobs are achieved statuses, for example. Being married is another achieved status.

Describe how Goffman used dramaturgical analysis to study the way people act in different situations.

Dramaturgical analysis is the study of everyday social interaction in theatrical terms. Erving Goffman pioneered this method of analyzing the way people act. Goffman believed that everyday life had much in common with being in a stage play. In these terms, a status is like a part in a play, while a role functions as the script that directs people's behavior. Actors perform their part in a way to heighten the audience's understanding and response to the character. Presentation of self, or impression management, is the manipulation of one's role performance in order to leave a particular impression upon the audience. For example, a student may try to convince the professor that he or she has completed the assigned work when, in fact, they have not completed it. Our presentation of self may involve nonverbal communication—communication with others that employs facial expressions, body movements, and gestures rather than speech.

Harold Garfinkel

Ethnomethodologist who theorized that social interaction is based on assumptions of shared expectancies

Explain how ethnomethodology breaks social roles to uncover expectancies

Ethnomethodology is the study of the common-sense knowledge that people use to understand and organize their everyday surroundings and events. Ethnomethodology is largely based upon the research of Harold Garfinkel. According to Garfinkel and other ethnomethodologists, social interaction is based on assumptions of shared expectancies. To uncover these background expectancies, ethnomethodologists frequently "break the rules" of an interaction. For example, to understand what a price tag on an article of clothing means, an ethnomethodologist might attempt to negotiate the price with the sales clerk. By breaking the rules, ethnomethodologists seek to draw out the actual assumptions and procedures people employ to construct reality.

Erving Goffman

Pioneered method of dramaturgical analysis to explain soical interaction in theatrical terms

Explain how status can lead to role strain or role conflict.

Role strain involves tension between the different roles attached to a single status. For instance, in the status of college professor, there may be role strain between the roles of colleague and advisor if a coworker asks questions about a confidential conversation between the professor and a student. Role conflict involves tension between the roles attached to two or more statuses. For instance, the role attached to the status of employee may conflict with the role attached to the status of mother. If role strain or role conflict becomes too acute, a person may disengage from one of the roles. This is termed role exit.

Differentiate between the Thomas theorem and self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Thomas theorem states that situations defined as real are real in their consequences. The self-fulfilling prophecy is an initially false or inaccurate belief, perception, label, stereotype, or prediction that evokes behavior that makes the originally false belief or prediction come true. The key difference between the two concepts is that the behavior evoked by a self-fulfilling prophecy ensures the originally false definition comes true, while the behavior evoked by the Thomas theorem does not necessarily result in the original false definition coming true.

Explain how the Thomas theorem relates the construction of reality to a situation's consequences.

The Thomas theorem states that situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences. For instance, many people believed that the advent of the new millennium would be accompanied by widespread computer failures due to the programming shortcomings that rendered older computers unable to recognize the year as 2000, rather than as 1900. Based upon this belief, some people dug bunkers and stockpiled large quantities of food and supplies in order to be prepared for the massive disruptions they believed the "Y2K bug" would cause. Because some people defined the Y2K bug as a devastating and likely probability, they acted in ways that yielded real and, in some cases, severe consequences. Some people bought large generators and stockpiled enormous amounts of canned and dehydrated foods. These expenditures and changed behaviors were real consequences of defining the Y2K bug as a real threat.

anomie

a condition or situation of normlessness in which society provides little moral and behavioral guidance to individuals

self-fulfilling prophecy

a false or inaccurate label, belief, prediction, perception, or stereotype that evokes behavior, which then makes the originally false belief come true

achieved status

a social position that an individual voluntarily occupies as a result of their effort or choice

status

a socially defined position that an individual occupies

master status

a status that has exceptional importance in shaping a person's identity; a person's most salient social identity

status set

all of the statues a person occupies at a give time

social structure

any relatively stable, recurring pattern of relationships that exists within a society

nonverbal communication

communication with others that employs facial expressions, body movements, and gestures other than speech

role conflict

conflict between the roles associated with two or more statuses

role performance

how a person actually behaves and acts in a role, in contrast to how the role is expected to be played

role expectation

society's or a group's expectation of the manner in which a role ought to be performed

role strain

tension among the roles linked to a single status

role set

the different roles that are attached to a specific status

presentation of self

the manipulation of one's role performance designed to create a particular impression

social interaction

the process by which people act and react towards and with other people

social construction of reality

the process by which people's subjective definitions and interpretations of events shape their perceptions of reality

role

the set of behavioral and attitudinal expectations that accompany a particular status

ethnomethodology

the study of common-sense knowledge that people use to understand and organize their everyday surroundings and events

dramaturgical analysis

the study of everyday social interaction in theatrical terms

role exit

when someone disengages from an important social role