Sociology 101: Chapter 4: Social Interaction

Status

A distinct social category that is set off from others and has associated with it a set of expected behaviors and roles for individuals to assume. The category can often involve prestige, such as that accorded to individuals and to important social or economic roles (like "priest," "lawyer," "truck driver"). An individual's status may reflect some accomplishment or position attained, one's memebership in a particular group, or both.

Ethnomethodology

A line of sociological inquiry (introduced by Harold Garfinkel) that studies the ways (tools and methods) members of a particular group construct social order and make sense of their everyday lives. (The study of people's methods)

According to labeling theory, how do people become deviant?

A person or institution labels a person or group deviant, and that label influences future behavior.

Roles

A position within an institution or organization that comes with specific social expectations for how to behave and be treated. Some roles may be ascribed, that is, assigned to us by birth (man, woman. white, black), and some may be achieved, that is, acquired through our actions (doctor, professor, class clown).

Reference Group

A set of individuals who share similar preferences or social positions and have influence on an individual or members of a group

Role Models

A specific individual who exhibits significant influence on others and acts as a reference for how to act.

Significant Other

A term coined by George Herbert Mead to mean individuals close enough to us to have a strong capacity to motivate our behavior.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

A term coined by Robert Merton to mean the process by which someone is defined in a particular way and then comes to fulfill the expectations of that definition.

Looking-Glass Self

A term coined by sociologist Charles Horton Cooley to emphasize the extent to which our own self-understandings are dependent on how others view us.

Deviants

An individual whose actions or attitudes fall outside the generally accepted norms of a given group or society. What is "deviant" behavior is subject to change, depending on which group(s) have the power to define what is "normal"

What best describes the relationship between changing roles and role expectations?

Changes in roles confer different challenges and opportunities for individuals.

People use the word "love" to express their preferences for flavors of ice cream as well as their feelings toward their children. This is an example of the way what gives meaning to words and situations?

Context

People sometimes signal with a long pause that they do not want to engage in a conversation. What is the name for this type of signal?

Disaffiliative Gesture

The sociological subfield that refers to the study of the methods people use during everyday interactions is known as

Ethnomethodology

What statement best explains the relationship between formal and informal rules?

Informal rules fill the spaces between formal rules by allowing for exceptions in social behavior that are generally acceptable.

Jace is known among his friends as a loud-mouthed practical joker, but his family sees him as a quiet, responsible young man. What will likely happen if Jace invites his friends over to meet his family?

Jace will likely experience role conflict.

What is the best example of the generalized other?

Kerry knows she will be expected to wear black when attending a funeral.

What have sociologists observed about laughter?

Laughter is an emotional performance.

What term refers to the idea that how we understand ourselves depends on how others view us?

Looking-glass self

What is an example of what Erving Goffman described as the "presentation of self"?

People attend to the details of their social media profiles.

What is one of the conclusions ethnographer Christena Nippert-Eng made about the items found in people's wallets and purses?

People carefully consider what aspects of their identities they want to reveal and under what circumstances they want to reveal them.

In what sense are individuals unique despite the fact that they may share common identities based on gender, race, and class?

People experience a unique array of social interactions that shape their identities.

According to the chapter, why do people sometimes follow informal rules, even when they contradict formal rules?

People interpret situations and apply informal rules so that the social world runs more smoothly.

What have ethnomethodologists observed about emotion?

People often exercise control over their emotions, and the way they express emotion differs from society to society

What does the chapter author observe about emoticons?

People use emoticons and other signs to avoid confusion.

What is a good example of observations that comes from analyzing people's methods during conversations?

People who have more power and status often interrupt those who have less.

Who do all individuals associate themselves with, or groups of people who share similar preferences or social positions?

Reference Groups

What is a distinct social category, such as a parent or teacher, and it has associated with it a set of expected behaviors?

Role

When meeting the expectations of one role precludes a person's ability to meet the expectations of another role, the person is experiencing what?

Role Conflict

Ron decides to go to the same college as his best friend Ken. What term best describes Ken's position for Ron?

Significant Other

What best describes individuals who have a powerful impact on how we behave because they are so close?

Significant other

What best defines the term "generalized other"?

Social control exercised by commonsense understandings of what is appropriate in a specific time and place.

Which social psychologist conducted a famous conformity experiment in 1963 in which people believed they were being asked to administer painful electric shocks to others?

Stanley Milgram

Tannistha stood up to a classmate who was bullying another classmate. In the language of the sociology of interaction, what describes what Tannistha did?

Tannistha "took the role of the other."

What is the best definition of civil inattention?

The act of ignoring other people to an appropriate degree even when you notice they are nearby

Civil Inattention

The act of ignoring other people to an appropriate degree even while noticing that other people are present.

From a very young age, a child is told by his parents that he is good at sports. As he gets older, he tries out for many different sporting teams, spends time practicing, and eventually becomes an excellent athlete. This scenario illustrates what?

The concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy

Self

The conscious being, personified in a human body, which is made and reformulated through social interaction.

Conversational precision refers to what?

The often subtle physical and verbal cues people deploy to converse successfully with others.

Generalized Other

The social control exercised by commonsense understandings of what is appropriate given a specific time and place.

One worker at a local grocery store chain is unhappy with the company's sick leave policy. The worker wants to start a petition to present to upper management. According to what sociologists know about social conformity, what situations would most likely result in the worker actually starting the petition?

The worker has at least one other ally to support the petition.

Role Conflict

When two or more discordant demands are placed on individuals, rendering them unable to fulfill their own or others, expectations.

What is the best definition of the self?

an identity developed through social interaction