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Chapter 5: Social Interaction

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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

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.

Rewards – Costs = Outcome (Positive or Negative)

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.

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.