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
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
status set, the collection of statuses held at one time,
Ascribed status, assigned social status based on characteristics such as sex, race, and age
Achieved status, earned social status based on merit
master status, the social position central to your identity
Status symbols, material signals that are meant to convey a message to others about an individual’s social position
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.
role set, the complement of role-relationships within a single status
Role strain, incompatible demands, and expectations within a single role
role conflict, competing demands resulting from two or more statuses
role exit, the process of disengaging from significant roles,
role attachment, emotional intensity associated with the role
social institutions, organizational systems that link individuals to the larger society
Social groups, two or more individuals connected by common bonds and shared social relations,
primary groups, small-scale, intimate face-to-face long-lasting associations
secondary groups, large-scale, impersonal, task-focused, and time-limited associations
social networks, groups of individuals and organizations that are connected to one another
Functionalist Theory: Functionalists are concerned with the link between parts of society, how these parts function in relationship to one another, and how social institutions are designed to meet people’s needs. This macro-level perspective sees social institutions as a vital element of society.
Conflict Theory: Conflict theory focuses on the inequalities that result from groups competing over scarce resources. As a macro-level theory, this viewpoint contends that keeping the current social institutions in place effectively maintains inequality between different groups in society
Symbolic Interactionism: Symbolic interactionists use a micro-level approach to examine the meanings, symbols, and patterns within social interactions. This approach seeks to understand the dynamics of social relationships, groups, and networks.
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
technology, tools created by science to address and solve the problems of humankind,
Thomas theorem, the idea that if we think something is real, then it is indeed real to us