4.4 Resources and References
Key Terms
achieved statuses: Statuses obtained by personal effort or choice.
ascribed status: Statuses obtained by attributions outside of an individual’s control, such as sex or race.
definition of the situation: The mutual understanding of a shared social context, which arises out of communicative interaction
dramaturgical analysis: A technique sociologists use in which they view society through the metaphor of theatrical performance.
emotion management: Producing or inhibiting feelings according to the social expectations of different situations.
emotional labour: The production of emotional qualities required as an aspect of paid labour.
face: An image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes.
face-work: The management of one’s face in light of the responses of others.
feeling rules: A set of socially shared guidelines that define appropriate emotions in given situations.
habitualization: The process whereby social patterns become routinized through repetition so they can be performed again in the future in the same manner and with the same economical effort
impression management: Strategies used by a performer to control the impressions and responses of the others in a social interaction.
institutionalization: The act of implanting a convention or norm into society.
line: An act of self-presentation in which an individual expresses their view of the situation, their attitude towards the other members of the group, and their attitude towards themselves.
looking-glass self: The individual’s perception of how they think they appear to others.
practice of the self: Shared way in which people freely or voluntarily act upon themselves to transform themselves
role conflict: When one or more of an individual’s roles clash.
role performance: The expression of a role.
role strain: Stress that occurs when too much is required of a single role.
role-set: An array of roles attached to a particular status.
roles: Patterns of behaviour that are representative of a person’s social status.
self-fulfilling prophecy: An idea that becomes true when acted on.
social interaction: The process of social exchange and reciprocal influence exercised by individuals over one another during social encounters.
social scripts: Pre-established patterns of behaviour that people are expected to follow in specific social situations.
status: The privileges and benefits that a person experiences according to their prestige and role in society.
structure of feeling: Large scale, societal patterns in people’s feelings or emotional responses towards things
Thomas theorem: How a subjective reality can drive events to develop in accordance with that reality, despite being originally unsupported by objective reality.
Quiz Questions
4.1 Emotional Life
Mary works full-time at an office downtown while her young children stay at a neighbour’s house. She’s just learned that the child care provider is leaving the country. Mary has succumbed to pressure to volunteer at her church, plus her ailing mother-in-law will be moving in with her next month. Which of the following is likely to occur as Mary tries to balance her existing and new responsibilities?
a. role strain
b. self-fulfilling prophecy
c. status conflict
d. status strain
4.2 The Social Construction of Reality
According to Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, society is based on .
a. habitual actions
b. social facts
c. structures of feeling
d. role performance
4.3 Symbolic Interaction
Paco knows that women find him attractive, and he has never found it hard to get a date. But as he ages, he dyes his hair to hide the grey and wears clothes that camouflage the weight he has put on. Paco’s behaviour can be best explained by the concept of .
a. role strain
b. the looking-glass self
c. role performance
d. habitualization
Future Research
4.1 Emotional Life
Review job descriptions posted on sites such as Indeed or Glassdoor. Can you identify aspects of the job descriptions that involve ‘emotional labour’ or ‘feeling rules’? What are some of the benefits and consequences of commodifying emotions?
4.2 Social Construction of Reality
TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/) is a website where users identify concepts that are commonly used in literature, film, and other media. Although its tone is for the most part humorous, the site provides a good jumping-off point for research. Browse the list of examples under the entry of “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy” (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SelfFulfillingProphecy). Pay careful attention to the real-life examples. Are there ones that surprised you or that you do not agree with?
4.3 Symbolic Interaction
Watch the “Playing the Interrogation Game.” While the situation is more extreme than a ‘typical’ interaction, consider how it captures the importance of understanding the rules of the game, the kind of feeling rules and face-work different situations give rise to, and how roles and statuses shape the nature of interactions. For reference to the full academic article, see: Playing the Interrogation Game: Rapport, Coercion, and Confessions in Police Interrogations by Gary C. David
References
4.1 Emotional Life
Beard, M. (2014). Laughter in ancient Rome: On joking, tickling, and cracking up. University of California Press
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. Sage.
Doughty, C. (2013). A passionate defense of selfies at funerals. Jezebel. http://jezebel.com/a-passionate-defense-of-selfies-at-funerals-1455095190
Giddens, A. (1990). The Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press.
Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85(3), 551–575. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2778583
Huffington Post. (2013). Funeral selfies are the latest evidence apocalypse can’t come soon enough. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/funeral-selfies_n_4175153.html
Provine, R. R. (1996). Laughter. American Scientist, 84(1), 38–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29775596
Williams, R. (1977). Structures of feeling. In Marxism and literature (pp. 128–135). Oxford University Press
4.2 Social Construction of Reality
Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. Free Press Glencoe.
Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Anchor Books.
Merton, R. K. (1957). The role-set: Problems in sociological theory. The British Journal of Sociology, 8(2), 106–120. https://doi.org/10.2307/587363
Thomas, W. I. & Thomas, D.S. (1928). The child in America: Behavior problems and programs. Knopf.
4.3 Symbolic Interaction
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Prentice-Hall.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Goffman, E. (1972). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction.
In Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behaviour (pp. 5–45). Penguin Books.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self & society; from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. (C. W. Morris, Ed.) (Vol. III). University of Chicago Press.
Merton, R. K. (1957). The role-set: Problems in sociological theory. British Journal of Sociology 8(2), 106–120.
