Chapter 3: Social Interaction

Pages 58-80
Our behavior in public restrooms is heavily influenced by gender
Men virtually never have conversations from stall to stall
Women occasionally have conversations from stall to stall
o Women report that restrooms are where they go to chat
o Women use bathroom as places to groom themselves, hold their bodies,
use menstrual products, adjust their clothes
We introspect & do it w/ help of other people
Need to think of individual & society as interdependent
Individual & society influences one another continuously through history &
constantly from moment to moment
1. How do we develop a sense of self?
Why is social interaction vital to the development of self?
Social self
Remarkable human capacity for consciousnessself (individual reflection of ones own
identity & social position)
Self is made & reformulated via interactionbecomes vehicles through which we
take our actions, interpret/evaluate everything that comes our way
Interactionism: symbolic interaction
Important school of thought in sociology based in thinking of philosopher George
Herbert Mead
Idea that individuals personality, preferences, ideas are constructed & shaped by
& through communication w/ bother others & his/her self
Looking-Glass Self
How do the opinions & judgments of others shape our identities?
Studies of orphanages reveal that babies have a hard time surviving biologically w/o
social stimuli
Psychoanalyst Rene Spitz learned in his classic 1945 studywhen comparing
babies & small children in orphanage to nursery for children of incarcerated
mothers
o In nursery, infants were surrounded by attendants & visitorscould see
everything & each other
o In orphanage, babies were separate from staff most of time, only had
human contact when being fed or changed, lived in cubicles (making it
impossible to see each other)
Orphanage infants suffered emotionally & physicallyunlike
infants in nursery
Orphans became progressively more withdrawn & more
susceptible to maladies as they grew
Poor emotional & physical health of orphanage babies caused by
lack of social contact w/ others

W/o real contact w/ others, prisoners health falls apart

Minds of some go into confusion, lethargy, inability to concentrate
Others go wild w/ hallucinations, paranoia, intense anxiety
We really only know ourselves via the eyes of other people
Others tell us what we arewe interpret their evaluations as representing our
being
Starts w/ our parents & other caregivers
o First to notice our babbling & silly movementssmiles and frowns
become the stuff that gives us an early sense that we even exist
o Feedback comes about what type of person we are
Judgements accumulate throughout our lives as we gather playmates, siblings, friends,
teachers (sometimes psychiatrists & police)
Looking-glass self: emphasizes extent to which our own self-understandings are
dependent on how others view us
Term coined by sociologist Charles Horton Cooley
We see ourselves as others see us
Looking for approval becomes motivating
Becomes fundamental human instinct
We want to belong & make connections w/ others
We have the tool to conform to others expectations
Since we can imagine how other people will receive what we do or say
Some shape their behaviors in light of their expectations of how people will
receive them
Becomes complicated system of interactions across complicated array of people
in direct & indirect communication
o Where conscience & guilt comes fromdont want to let others down
o Want to satisfy others expectations of us b/c its the only way for us to
create a positive sense of ones own being

Lifes a stage
How is interaction in public unique?
We are always on stageperforming the self in the spotlight of others
We need approval from others
Show becomes our life
Different people think differently about what they are willing to see
Some people would be horrified to let others see their receipts in their wallets
while others dont worry
We think differently about what aspects of our identities we are willing to show &
exactly how
There are overlaps b/w individuals w/ common origins & similarities of gender, class, &
ethnicity but there is never identical identities
People themselves are constantly changing
Circumstances keep shifting so we constantly alter identity over time

Sometimes we identify by race, occupation, hobbies or passions

We bring at least a slightly different self to any new circumstance

2. How do we make sense of our worlds?

Peoples methodology
Human beings have specific, common methods for interacting w/ others & people all
over the worldregardless of culture or historical moments
Belief of sociologist Harold Garfinkelinventor of sociological field
Ethnomethodology: study of peoples methods
Context, context, context
How do we use context & conversation patterns to know whats going on?
People persistently & intensively take context into account
People always construct meaning by drawing on social context
Ex: Being asked how are you? you typically give a fine or okay; being
asked how are you? by doctor might mean more specific answers like body
temperature, etc.
Conversational precision
How do individuals manipulate emotion in social interaction?
People fit utterance in precise way to ongoing flow of what other person is saying
Turn taking: fundamental basis of conversation
People use careful tactics to allow this to occur
People take turns b/c simultaneous talk is almost impossible to maintain
Brief silences are information
Tiny silence can serve as notice of bad new coming
Words like uh, well, geeserve as turning down, utterances that serve as a
waste of time
Way to maintain practical ethicsbuilds sense of safety & solidarity w/ other
human beings even if we cant agree to one anothers requests
Repair: response to conservation disruption; someone bows out of conversation to avoid
speaking at the same time
Way that one of speakers helpfully acts to safeguard interaction
We are all active in doing this, but some of us are more ready to do it than others
People who are more likely to relent conversations:
o Women more so than men
o Doctors interrupt patients more than patients than doctors (except when
doctors are woman)
o Adults interrupt children more than vice versa
o Bosses show more power in talktalking down to employers
Conversational inequalities are sometimes hard to noticeat least described by those
taking part

Being interrupted in insulting

When someone lacks access to conversational turn, they miss the opportunity for
their opinions to count
Have less capacity to help create the reality that they & others live by

Emotion
What impact have new communication technologies & social media had on our methods of selfpresentation?
Emotions: performances we arrange for specific purposes
Specific content of emotion displays vary by context
In some cultures, people who fail to cry are inappropriateshould cry at death of
loved one
In some cultures, it is appropriate to dance at funerals
Bursts of laughter are displays of how context affects emotion & its display
In laughter, everyone can get in on the action all at once
When we all laugh together, we are in collective agreement that abandons our
facades of emotional reserve
o Laughter affirms one anothers emotions
o Safe way to express emotion w/ loud yelps & unconventional bodily
movement
o In contrast to conversation turn takingwould be odd & disruptive to
hold off ones laugh until the prior laughter was finished
Way to understand social nature of emotion: studying how audiences interact w/ those
who perform on stage
Performers acknowledge that they feed off the audience in front of them just as
audience feeds off performerbecomes cycle of mutual reinforcement
Appreciating a performance w/ others of like mind & spirit is rousing
People fit their response to the conditions at hand
We need each other to build a common experience & have a greater mutual appreciation
We like it when someone knows how to rouse us in the crowd
Collective effervescenceaudience members egg each other on
People change the situation that changes them
Applause happens in burstsquickly rising to crescendo in about 1 second before gently
leveling off
Embarrassment of applauding alone
Talented speechmaker provides audience members w/ cues that tell when to applaud
moments when they can presume others will be applauding with them
W/ right kind of intonations, audience members will respond appropriately & clap
at just the right moment & together
People who can generate such a response are charismatic
o Ability to work a crowd isin factknowing what people need to act
together as a social skill

Successful speech involves mastering interaction system of individuals w/ one another by

speaker who is trying to get through to them
Popular people are effective at working the crowd

Sociology perspective: do impressions matter?

Different greetings & behaviors in specific situations give off different impressions
Greeting or behavior can set the tone for the rest of the interaction
We make adjustments to our behavior depending on where we are & who we are w/
Self-presentation in digital age
New social media (texting, Facebook) changes some of details of patterns of interactions
Online, people still yearn for approval of others & work social media to bring it about
Much of texting, tweeting, facebooking designed to bring about copresence
scheduling date, reunion, business meeting
Great deal of e-mail & text messaging involves arranging face-to-face gettogethers
Copresence provides most crucial elements of coordinating & making decisions
One of the reasons we want to be together is the richness of nonverbal info we give off
nods of head, hesitations, real smiles
Changes in how we communicate stimulate new ways to send social signals
Not a complete substitute for real person-to-person interaction
Interaction in public
We become wary to interacting w/ strangers
Public restroom is extreme in careful monitoring that goes on
In dealing w/ strangers, we glance at them but only for a fleeting moment
Civil inattention: ignoring each another to appropriate degree although noticing that the
other is present
Inattentionespecially done in dense placesmakes social life possible
Ex: when entering empty bus or move theater, people search for seat by looking at
empty chairs not the faces of others already sitting
Ex: when riding the bus, we try hard not to stare at strangers faces
Individuals might deliberately not avert their glance
Schoolyard bullies might stare down victims as form of intimidation
If stranger sits next to you on empty bus & proceeds to stare at your face, you feel
like something is wrong
When beggars ask for money, they often dont observe the fine points of conversation
Approach people when we already signal that we dont want to talk
Dont modify their question to allow us to say no
Might force issue & require us to rude
o Why we are upsetwe dont like being forced to behave in an uncivil way
When people make a compliment or ask a question, they almost always get a response &
get one quickly if they have a willing conversation partner

People signal they dont want to talk via pauses & nonresponses (disaffiliative gestures)
Interactional vandalism: person forces another to be rude by ignoring the signals
of wanting to end of the conversation
People put up w/ more from others depending on the kinds of statuses in play & how
individual identities are socially categorized
Ex: street people are considered way down on the totem pole

3. How matters to us?

Significant others, reference groups, generalized other
How do reference groups guide our behavior?
We take some people & types of people more seriously than others
Homeless street people dont count as much as those able to present themselves in
higher-status way
Significant other: denotes individuals close enough to us to have strong capacity to
motivate our behavior
Term invented to refer to relationships like parent-child or other close family
members, not just spouse or lover
We reference others whose social positions & preferences makes them especially relevant
to our own sense of worth
Reference groups: groups that influence our behavior
Each of us have our own set of these groups & we tend to stick w/ our reference
groups
We model our behavior on such individuals
Role models: stars or particular individuals in these reference groups
o Have disproportionate influence when we imitate how they move, dress,
carry out life
We are each associated w/ number of reference groupseven at the same time
Developing bonds w/ outsiders tend to be few in number & dissolve more quickly than
those in groups having multiple links into our own social circles & interests
Some ties are more general than our immediate social networks
Generalized other: social control exercised by common-sense understandings of
what is appropriate in a specific time & place
We walk around w/ all kinds of unspoken knowledge of dos & donts w/o much
understanding or need to consult where we got it
Socialization: process by which we come to understand the expectations & norms of our
groups, various roles we transition into over the life course
Culture: refers to substance of the taken-for-granted world that together we have been
socialized into

Subcultures: set of individuals who share common preferences or understandings

of specific aspects of social world but remain part of larger group that is tied
together on more basic level
Substance: systems of beliefs & knowledge

Social interaction in digital age

What role does the voice of the generalized other play in shaping our sense of self?
Social media has changed some of the details of our patterns of interaction
4. What challenges do we face as we move from one social context to another?
Shifts & dilemmas
We give more weight to our social interactions w/ some people over others
Our social selves are always set up for potential change as we move from one social
location to another
As we move b/w social contexts, we sometimes encounter difficulties in deciding how to
act
Status & role change
What causes role conflict?
We enter into different life statuses as we age or change our life situation
Status: distinct social category that is set off from others & has associated w/ it set of
expected behaviors & roles for individuals to assume
Each of status changes brings: different types of groups, expectations they have
for US
Different statuses come w/ set of roles others expect us to perform
Role sets: certain expectations
Role sets of students: respect teacher, show up to lecture, keep hands to ones self
while sitting in classroom, complete assigned papers, take exams
Role conflict: fulfilling expectations of one of our roles conflicts w/ meeting the
expectations of another
Ex: role of son or daughter conflicts w/ fulfilling expectation of friend
Can create psychological stress
Inconsistent demands arise in patterned ways based on variety of reference groups
exerting influence
Important for certain types of working-class youths to satisfy peer-group
expectations that arent consistent w/ those of school authorities
Sociologists who study delinquency found this conformity dilemma
o Delinquents arent nonconformists but conforming to groups who are
devalued by those w/ authority
Labeling
How does a self-fulfilling prophecy influence label formation?
People are similar by conforming
People are different by their opinions of the groups w/ which they identify

Deviants: people regarded as problem by dominant members of society

Dominant members of society: make rules & express opinions about behaviors
they find troubling
Labeling theory of sociological school of thought: deviants come about b/c there is a
person serving as the object of deviant & individual or institution can put the label on
& make it strict
Social construction of reality: interactive process by which knowledge is produced &
codifiedmaking it specific to certain group or society
Goal: understanding larger interaction systems that create such classifications,
keeping them alive, or causing them to erode
Consequence of being labeled: individuals become so identified in fact that they change
their conduct & embrace the very behavior that lead them into the deviant category
Ex: person being told he is no good links him/herself w/ others told the same
thing
o Now share common bond or labelleads to gang
o Networks might start to overlap, esp. if put in same detention centers or
programs
Self-fulfilling prophecy: something becomes true b/c people say its true
Patients in mental hospitals might be pressured to accept that they are crazy even if
they actually arent
Some learn that the best way for being released from treatment is acknowledging
that they are crazy
David Rosenhan tested this by having his research assistantsw/o history of
mental or health issuesto present themselves to different psychiatric hospitals &
tell a single lie: that they were hearing voices in their heads
o People on duty diagnosed all of them as having psychiatric disorders &
had them admitted to hospital
o Once in hospital, undercover assistants told everyone that they had no
more symptoms & continued acting normally
o Some researchers were held for months & non were released by hospital
until they agreed that they had mental illness
Social policy can lead to policy change
Became part of deinstitutionalization movement leading to closing of many
psychiatric hospitals or replacement by community-based treatment facilities

Rule Use
In what types of social interactions is it acceptable to invoke informal rules?
Some rules are explicitlaws, institutional regulations
Some rules are informalnorms, expectations for individual behaviors
Each of us judges context & uses human capacity to scan organizational &
individual needs to come up w/ appropriate behavior
Ex: receptionists modified rules in order to keep overall operation running
smoothly
o Give early attention to someone who was visibly ill, disorderly, injured

o Give huge celebrity service first w/o having them wait in line
Being competent members of society is from knowing what to do on particular occasions
given what is expected of us
We act to maintain normalness of world so we can all move forward
o Like saying oops so people know that things are pretty much OK
Judgmental dopes: people who seem unable to function w/o taking context into account
Insist on going by book
Might strike us as silly or severely incompetent
Might make difficult coworkers, neighbors, friends

Conformity Experiments
What makes people conform & how does conformity impact how we live together?
How people conform to social circumstance has fundamental consequences for how
people live together
Social scientists sometimes set up lab experiments to see how people interact under one
condition to another
Soloman Aschs line study: presented individuals w/ line drawn on card & asks them to
choose among 3 lines which one matched closely in length
Pretty simply b/c one of the lines matched perfectly
Participants gave consistently wrong answersconformed occurred when
subjects agreed to wrong answer
o of subjects conformed at least once
o 25% never conformed
People do differ, but social context changes what happens in many, many instances
Importance of people having even just one other person in support
Easier to go against the world if you have a companion
Saying things you dont believe is conforming & has its effects
In real life, we are trying to gain other peoples favor
We dont want to go against significant others & reference group members who
could fire us from our jobs, flunk us in our courses, or put us in prison
Ordinary people will harm other ordinary people when conditions are right
Stanley Milgrams shock experiments
o Obedience study: subjects had to deliver supposedly painful, fatal
electrical shocks to stranger who gives wrong answer
Philip Zimbardos Stanford prison study
Participants conformed to their assigned roles as prisoner or guard
o Guards in many cases became sadistic & humiliated prisoners
o Early on prisoners rebelled but once rebellion failed, they became
submitted to abuseseveral had emotional breakdowns, 1/3 had strongly
negative psychological effects
Although make belief, prisoners became radically dependent on
guards attitude toward them

Some people are born into particular groups & have to deal w/ how others react to those
identities
Face-to-face interactions can build up group loyaltiesfollowing along ethnic,
racial, or national lines
Unlike Stanford students who were randomly assigned their roles as prisoner or
guard
We get into one identity classification or another
Those who surround us give meanings to our self & personal identity
Ethnocentrism: inability to understand, accept, or reference patterns of behavior or belief
different from ones own
Those who belong to groups at the top of the structure have special capacity to demean or
punish those belowwhether w/n same community or in societies farther afield

Conclusion: What we know & what we dont know

Interactionism provides us w/ tools to understanding the social self
Relevant others differ & helps create uniqueness
Unique individuals must gain approval from at least some people & groups to have
positive sense of self and be able to function in world
People have all sorts of artful techniques to know exactly what to do & under what
conditions
We creatively interpret rules to make them work for ourselves & organizations
We read contextsusing exacting precision as we converse & play our emotions
to fit conditions at hand
At individual level, we feel like we have to conform to inconsistent demands
Could mean trouble for groups who get labeled as deviant b/c of the relevant
others & reference groups that shape their identity & density
At macro level, terrible danger arises when people conform in ways that create harm &
havoc on mass scale
Building society that gives people a sense of their own dignity while doing least harm to
others is huge challenge
Given how much people usually conform to social circumstances, we dont always have
strong explanation for those who dont go w/ the flow
of Aschs subjects didnt conform
5 of Zimbardos prison experiment dropped
Milgrams shock experiment had 1/3 of people who would refrain from giving
fatal shock