2. Chapter 5: Social Interaction and Everyday Life
in the Age of the Internet
2
3. Social Interaction and Everyday Life in the
Age of the Internet: Opening Question
3
• Imagine you are in need of assistance in a
crowded subway car. A person who is listening
to her iPod will probably
– (a) willingly provide help.
– (b) begrudgingly provide help.
– (c) react angrily to your request for help.
– (d) ignore your request for help altogether.
4. Learning Objectives
4
• Basic Concepts
– Understand the core concepts of the “impression management”
perspective.
– Recognize how we use impression management techniques in everyday
life.
Theories of Social Interaction
– Learn about sociological theories of interaction, ethnomethodology, and
conversation analysis.
Contemporary Research on Social Interaction
– Understand how social interaction and broader features of society are
closely related.
Unanswered Questions
– Consider how face-to-face interactions remain important in the age of the
Internet.
•
•
•
5. Basic Concepts: Part 1
5
• Impression Management: The World as a Stage
– Roles
• the expected behaviors of people occupying particular
social positions
– Status
• the social honor or prestige that a particular group is
accorded by other members of a society
– Social position
• the social identity an individual has in a given group or
society
– Impression management
• preparing for the presentation of one’s social role
6. Basic Concepts: Part 2
6
• Audience Segregation
• Civil Inattention
– Civil inattention
• individuals in the same physical setting glance at each
other and quickly look away to indicate awareness of
each other but not intrusiveness
7. Basic Concepts: Part 3
7
• Nonverbal Communication
– Nonverbal communication
• communication between individuals based on facial
expression or bodily gesture rather than on language
– Face, gestures, and emotion
9. Basic Concepts: Part 5
9
• Response Cries
– Response cries
• seemingly involuntary exclamations individuals make
when, for example, they are taken by surprise, drop
something inadvertently, or want to express pleasure
10. Basic Concepts: Part 6
10
• Focused and Unfocused Interaction
– Unfocused interaction
• interaction occurring among people present in a
particular setting but not engaged in direct face-to-face
communication
– Focused interaction
• interaction between individuals engaged in a common
activity or in direct conversation with one another
– Encounter
• a meeting between two or more people in a face-to-
face interaction
11. Basic Concepts: Part 7
11
• Interaction in Time and Space
– Time-space
• when and where events occur
– Regionalization
• the division of social life into different regional settings or zones
– Back region
• areas apart from front-region performance, in which individuals are
able to relax and behave informally
– Front region
• settings of social activity in which people seek to put on a definite
“performance” for others
– Clock time
• time as measured by the clock, in terms of hours, minutes, and
seconds, as opposed to measuring it by the rising and setting of the sun
12. Theories of Social Interaction: Goffman
12
• Erving Goffman
– Social interaction
• the process by which we act and react to those
around us
– Agency
• the ability to think, act, and make choices
independently
13. Theories of Social Interaction: Hall, Part 1
13
• Edward T. Hall
– Personal space
• the physical space individuals maintain between
themselves and others
– Zones of personal space
• intimate
• personal
• social
• public
15. Theories of Social Interaction: Garfinkel
15
• Harold Garfinkel
– Ethnomethodology
• study of how people make sense of what others say
and do in the course of daily social interaction
16. Contemporary Research on
Social Interaction: Part 1
16
• Interactional Vandalism
– Conversation analysis
• the empirical study of conversations, employing
techniques drawn from ethnomethodology
– Interactional vandalism
• the deliberate subversion of the tacit rules of
conversation
• Interactional Vandalism Online
18. Contemporary Research on
Social Interaction: Part 3
18
• Interaction on the “Digital Street”
• The Macro-Micro Link: Anderson’s Streetwise
– The cosmopolitan canopy
22. Unanswered Questions:
Question 3
22
• How far can electronic communication
substitute for face-to-face communication?
– Compulsion of proximity
• people’s need to interact with others in their presence
23. Concept Quiz: Question 1
23
1. After school, Sandra often has to help her
grandparents with chores and grocery shopping. On
these days, Sandra always bring a change of clothes
to avoid appearing at her grandparents’ house in
the punk-rock outfits she likes to wear to school.
This is an example of
(a) audience segregation.
(b) impression management.
(c) civil inattention.
(d) social posturing.
24. Concept Quiz: Question 2
24
2. Expressions “given off” are most likely
to be composed of
(a) nonverbal expressions.
(b) managed impressions.
(c) deliberate body movements.
(d) carefully worded phrases.
25. Concept Quiz: Question 3
25
3. What is audience segregation, as defined
in the text?
(a)creating separate seating areas in a theater for different racial
groups
(b)ensuring the separation of social groups for which one plays
different roles
(c)keeping an audience separated from everything that happens
backstage
(d)ensuring that one interacts only with those who really care about
him or her
26. Concept Quiz: Question 4
26
4. Which of the following views are supported by the
research carried out by Paul Ekman and W. V. Friesen?
(a) Facial expressions have no meaning outside of their cultural context.
(b)Facial expressions are merely unconscious physical responses to
environment and have little to tell us about social interaction.
(c) New Guineans have only a very limited array of facial expressions.
(d)Facial expressions of emotion and their interpretation may be
innate.
27. Concept Quiz: Question 5
27
5. The division of social life into different
spatial settings or zones is called
(a) clock time.
(b) audience segregation.
(c) regionalization.
(d) compartmentalization.
28. Concept Quiz: Question 6
28
6. Edward T. Hall distinguishes four different
zones of personal space. Which of the following
distances is most likely to be maintained in a
conversation with a friend from class?
(a) social distance
(b) intimate distance
(c) public distance
(d) personal distance
29. Discussion Question 1:
Thinking Sociologically
29
• Identify the important elements to the
dramaturgical perspective. This chapter shows
how such a perspective might be applied in
viewing the ministrations of a nurse to his or
her patient. Apply the theory to account for a
plumber’s visit to a client’s home. Are there
any similarities? Explain.
30. Discussion Question 2:
Thinking Sociologically
30
• Smoking cigarettes is a pervasive habit found
in many parts of the world and a habit that
could be explained by both micro-sociological
and macro-sociological forces. Give an
example of each that would be relevant to
explain the proliferation of smoking. How
might your suggested micro- and macro-level
analyses be linked?
32. The west sees Russian Invasion of Ukraine as oppression and blames Russia for
indiscriminate killing of civilians including children, however when Israel does the
same in the Gaza Strip they hail the Israeli narrative as self defense.
1. Explain both conflicts in detail and their similarities and difference.
2. Do you believe the dual stance of West is justified? Give reasons to support your
answer.
Requirements:
1. You document should have at least 2,000 words with 7 words in each line with no
line spacing.
2. Your document will be hand written and will be an individual assignment.
3. This assignment will carry 10 marks of your internal submission and in case of non
submission, you’ll be getting zero.
4. There will be no late submissions allowed.
5. The deadline for submission is 14 March 2024.
