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Connecting Sociology and YOU!

Chapter 5: Social Interaction

Notes:social interaction, interpersonal relationships between two or more persons

social context, the environment of the interaction

definition of the situation, an individual’s interpretation of the social setting, and stated that the complex interpretations of the situation are not always interpreted accurately.

 social construction of reality, an individual’s perceptions of one’s social world as determined or influenced by social interactions

social attribution, an explanation of how others appear, behave, or are motivated

fundamental attribution error, the bias of attributing our behavior to our circumstances and others’ behavior to their character

Ethnomethodology, the study of people’s methods as it relates to the formation of society

breaching, purposely violating social norms to examine an individual’s reactions

dramaturgy, the theory that we are all actors on the stage of life and we divide our world based on what we let others see or not see of us

face work, the efforts exerted by both actors during an interaction to get through unanticipated events without casting an undesirable light or disrupting the relationship of the participants

 social exchange, the process by which social decisions are based on perceived costs and benefits.

Social status, an individual’s position or rank within a social system (HP), impacts how we interact with others.

status set, the collection of statuses held at one time, can include student, teammate, worker, and kinship statuses such as son/daughter, brother/sister, boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, and father/mother. 

 Ascribed status, assigned social status based on characteristics such as sex, race, and age, is a helpful measurement in determining your level of status.

Achieved status, earned social status based on merit, is another way to measure your social position within society.

master status, the social position central to your identity

tatus symbols, material signals that are meant to convey a message to others about an individual’s social position, are one way that people embellish their statuses. 

conspicuous consumption, the public display of lavish and wasteful spending to enhance one’s social status 

social roles, expected patterns of behaviors for specific statuses and positions

ole set, the complement of role-relationships within a single status, includes your role-relationships with your professors, graduate assistants, staff, and classmates.

Role strain, incompatible demands, and expectations within a single role 

ole conflict, competing demands resulting from two or more statuses

feeling rules, norms about which emotions are appropriate to display in a given situation

emotion labor, a worker’s regulation of personal feelings in an effort to set an emotional tone for customers in a business setting

Thomas theorem, the idea that if we think something is real, then it is indeed real to us