SOCI 210: Sociological perspectives

Intersectionality

  1. Administrative
  2. Interactional sociology
  3. Dramaturgical theory
  4. Status and Roles
  5. Boundaries, status, & class

Administrative

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Interactional sociology

Photo of a man holding a small photo of himself in the same shirt in front of his face

Social interaction

Photo of two women sitting next each other with their heads turned toward each other. One seems to be talking while the other listens intently with her chin on her hand.

Interaction is a basic part of social life

  • Present in much of what we have discussed so far
  • Socialization—understanding self in relation to society
  • Symbolic interactionism as basis of ‘self’

The individual often taken for granted

  • Many analyses start with the idea that there is such a thing as the individual, then discuss the ways that interactions and macro-social forces influence those individuals

Social interaction

Interactional sociology ‘starts’ with interaction

  • Not just about how interaction shapes the individual or defines groups
  • Social interaction is the starting point from which individuals and groups arise

The self as collection of the social situations we encounter

  • Series of interactional ‘situations’
    College lecture, argument with stranger, meeting a friend
  • Interactional theorists:
    We should focus on those situations, the expectations they entail, the way they are resolved again and again
    From there, try to understand sense of self, agency, role

Shift away from primacy of individual

Dramatically lit photo of many couples dancing from above

Social interaction

Goffman concluded: “not men and their moments, but moments and their men.” In gender-neutral language: not individuals and their interactions, but interactions and their individuals; not persons and their passions, but passions and their persons. “Every dog will have its day” is more accurately “every day will have its dog.” Incidents shape their incumbents, however momentary they may be; encounters make their encountees. It is games that make sports heroes, politics that makes politicians into charismatic leaders … To see the common realities of everyday life sociologically requires a gestalt shift, a reversal of perspectives. Breaking such deeply ingrained conventional frames is not easy to do; but the more we can discipline ourselves to think everything through the sociology of the situation, the more we will understand why we do what we do.

Randall Collins, Interaction Ritual Chains (2004:5)

Drama­turgical
theory

Still from Cats (2019), showing Taylor Swift, digitally altered to look like a cat, mid song looking dramatically past the camera

Dramaturgical theory

Book cover for Erving Goffman's The presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Erving Goffman (1922–1982)

  • Among the most well known and influential sociologists of 20th century
  • Defined much of the study of social interaction and how we think of roles, conversation, nonverbal communication, …

Dramaturgical theory

Photo of someone dressed as a storm trooper at a convention

Goffman’s dramaturgy

  • Individuals put on different faces depending on who we are interacting with
  • Situations necessitate ‘lines’—claims toward particular versions of ourselves
    Am I an engaged instructor? a disinterested observer? a critical participant? a helpful mediator?

Lines depend on situation

  • The lines we commit to are contingent on appropriateness for the situation at hand Who is party to the interaction? What environment are we in?
  • Constantly switching ‘roles’ to adapt to
    different situations

Dramaturgical theory

Self as collection of dramaturgical roles

  • At any moment, we are presenting one mask or another; enacting one part or another depending on the situation
  • Goffman: there is no psychological self outside of these interactional lines
  • Individuals are not playing these different parts
    they are those parts
illustration of an abstracted human figure surrounded by four other abstracted human figures

Dramaturgical theory

Self as collection of dramaturgical roles

  • At any moment, we are presenting one mask or another; enacting one part or another depending on the situation
  • Goffman: there is no psychological self outside of these interactional lines
  • Individuals are not playing these different parts
    they are those parts
illustration of four abstracted human figures surrounding an empty space

Dramaturgical theory

Interaction is impression management

  • Face work
  • Individuals work to make their 'lines' credible; for the situation to 'work out
  • Situations that are not working out create a crisis of identity

Strained situations

  • Differing ideas about expectations
    E.g. turn-taking, personal space, etc.
  • Conflicting roles
    Intersecting social spheres

Impression management is a group task

  • Usually everyone wants a situation to 'work out'
  • Embarrassment is the result of the situation not being maintained
Photo of a college party. Frame is crowded with people holding red Solo cups. They are all looking at the camera with expressions of disgust, surprise, and confusion on their faces.

Status
& roles

Photo of a doorman standing still in front of Lloyds of London with blurred images of other people walking quickly by.

Status & roles

Screenshot from The Hunger Games. A plainly dressed woman (Katniss) stands next to an extravagantly dressed woman (Effie Trinket) in front of a microphone

Social status and social roles

  • Relationship between status and roles is central to interactional sociology

Status

  • Perceived categories that others use to define us
  • Ascribed status
    Gender, race, age, …
  • Achieved status
    Profession, popularity, wealth, …

Roles

  • Expectations of behavior based on status
  • Roles learned through socialization

Status & roles

Still from Trading Places. A shabbily dressed Black man (Eddie Murphy) sits between two older white men in matching expensive coats, hats, and gloves in the back of a limosine

Still from Trading Places (1983)

Status hierarchy

  • Status is usually realized in an implicit hierarchy
  • Wealth, profession, race, gender are “Status characteristics” that inform high- versus low-status
  • Status is realized in interaction
    People in high-status jobs get used to deferential treatment
    Many people are accustomed to disregarding those in poverty
Still from Trading Places. A white man in a fur coat that appears to have been nice but is now shabby presents a watch to a Black pawn shopo owner

Still from Trading Places (1983)

Status mismatch

  • Certain statuses are assumed to ‘go together’
    College degree and employment
    Homemaker and woman
  • Notable when those assumptions are subverted
    Well-payed garbage collector
    Men doing childcare

Boundaries, status,
& class

Black and white photo of a sign reading 'WAITING ROOM FOR WHITE ONLY; BY ORDER POLICE DEPT' with an arrow pointing to the right.

Boundaries, status, & class

Social status

  • Social status: Honor or prestige attributed to one's position in society
  • Status groups share styles, tastes, culture
    (Max Weber; Pierre Bourdieu)

Permeable status categories

  • Status is attributed using cultural categories
  • Membership in status categories is constructed
  • Social status requires agreement
    Membership requires the agreement of others
painging from colonial India. A British child rides a pony, surrounded by three adult Indian servants who are leading the hpony and shading the child with a large umbrella

Boundaries, status, & class

Boundary processes

  • Social process of inclusion and exclusion
  • Criteria establish difference, draw boundaries, distinguish
    How to dress
    How to act
    Right jokes to make
    Right way to make plans
    Cultural touchstones
    …
Photo of a woman standing by the seaside wearing expensive clothing and large sunglasses. Her scarf blows behind her in the wind

Status boundaries defined by hierarchy

  • People excluded from status categories ‘above’
  • Status boundaries helps people distinguish
    themselves from those they perceive as lower-status

Social class

  • One way to think about class:
    bundles of status categories associated as one
  • Class is established by ability to navigate clusters of social boundaries
  • To be high-class you must ‘pass’ as high-class

Boundaries, status, and class

Image credit

Photo of a man holding a small photo of himself in the same shirt in front of his face

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Photo of two women sitting next each other with their heads turned toward each other. One seems to be talking while the other listens intently with her chin on her hand.

Photo by Trung Thanh on Unsplash

Dramatically lit photo of many couples dancing from above

Photo by Ardian Lumi on Unsplash

Still from Cats (2019), showing Taylor Swift, digitally altered to look like a cat, mid song looking dramatically past the camera

Still from Cats (2019)

Photo of someone dressed as a storm trooper at a convention

Photo by chen zy on Unsplash

Photo of a college party. Frame is crowded with people holding red Solo cups. They are all looking at the camera with expressions of disgust, surprise, and confusion on their faces.

Unknown source, via X

Photo of a doorman standing still in front of Lloyds of London with blurred images of other people walking quickly by.

Photo by Boris Stefanik on Unsplash

Screenshot from The Hunger Games. A plainly dressed woman (Katniss) stands next to an extravagantly dressed woman (Effie Trinket) in front of a microphone

Still from The Hunger Games (2012)

Image credit

Still from Trading Places. A shabbily dressed Black man (Eddie Murphy) sits between two older white men in matching expensive coats, hats, and gloves in the back of a limosine

Still from Trading Places (1983)

Still from Trading Places. A white man in a fur coat that appears to have been nice but is now shabby presents a watch to a Black pawn shopo owner

Still from Trading Places (1983)

Black and white photo of a sign reading 'WAITING ROOM FOR WHITE ONLY; BY ORDER POLICE DEPT' with an arrow pointing to the right.

Photo from Getty Images via Forbes

painging from colonial India. A British child rides a pony, surrounded by three adult Indian servants who are leading the hpony and shading the child with a large umbrella

Shaikh Muhammad Amir, via the BBC

Photo of a woman standing by the seaside wearing expensive clothing and large sunglasses. Her scarf blows behind her in the wind

Still from Inventing Anna (2022)

I want to seem like an 'appropriate' instructor, and you, hopefully, want to seem like good students But if I did something that is not seen as appropriate right now, like calling my doctor to talk about some test results, it would create a problem for all of us. A strained situation

Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey