Chapter 4

Social Structure and Interaction in

Everyday Life
Social Structure and Interaction

 Social interaction is the process by which people act

toward or respond to other people and is the foundation
for all relationships and groups in society.

 Status
 A socialposition that a person holds
 Generally refers to “prestige”

 Status set
 All the statuses a person holds at a given time
 Changes over life
 Ascribed and Achieved Status

 Ascribed status
 A social position a person receives at birth or takes involuntarily later
in life
 Matters about which we have little choice

 Achieved status
 A social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal
ability and effort
 People’s ascribed statuses influence the statuses they achieve
 Master Status
 A status that has special importance for social identity, often
shaping a person’s entire life
 Can be negative as well as positive
 Gender is a master status because all societies limit opportunities for
women
 Physical disability can serve as a master status
Status Symbols
 What are status symbols?

Home

Car

Clothes

Etc.
Homes
Cars
And more…
 Role

 Behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status

 A person holds a status and performs a role
 Varies by culture
 In every society, actual role performance varies according to a
person’s unique personality
 Some societies permit more individual expression than others

 Role Set
 A number of roles attached to a single status
 Differs by society
 Might or might not be important to social identity
 Role Conflict and Role Strain

 Role Conflict
 Conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses

 Role Strain
 Tension among the roles connected to a single status
 Role Exit

 The process by which people disengage from important social

roles
 The process of becoming an “ex”
 Process begins as people come to doubt their ability to continue in a
certain role
 “Exes” carry with them a self-image shaped by an earlier role
 “Exes” must also rebuild relationships with people who knew them in
their earlier life
Figure 4.1 (p. 101)
Status Set and Role Sets
A status set includes all the statuses
a person holds at a given time. The
status set defines who we are in
society. The many roles linked to
each status define what we do.
 The Social Construction of Reality

 “Inevitably we construct ourselves. Let me explain. I enter this

house and immediately I become what I have to become, what I
can become: I construct myself. That is, I present myself to you in
a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you. And,
of course, you do the same with me.”
(Pirandello, L. (1917). The Pleasure of Honesty. 1962: 157-58)
The Social Construction of Reality
 The process by which people creatively shape reality
through social interaction
 Idea is the foundation of the symbolic-interaction approach

 “Reality” remains unclear in everyone’s minds

 Especially in unfamiliar situations

 Social interaction is a complex negotiation that builds

reality

 Perception of events are based on different interests and

intentions
 The Thomas Theorem

 Situations that are defined as real are real in their

consequences
 Though reality is “soft” as it is being shaped, it can become
“hard” in its effects
Ethnomethodology
 The study of the way people make sense of their everyday
surroundings
 Approach points out that everyday behavior rests on a number of
assumptions

 Members of every culture have rules about how close people

should stand while talking.

 To test this assumption, during a conversation slowly move

closer and closer to the other person and see what happens.
Reality Building: Class and Culture
 How we act or what we see in our surroundings depends on our
interests

 Reality construction varies even more in a global perspective

 People build reality from the surrounding culture

 Films have an effect on the reality we all experience

Eving Goffman (1922-1982)

 Dramaturgical analysis

 The study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance

 Explained how people live their lives like actors performing on a

stage

 Front Stage and Back Stage

Interactions in Everyday Life: Three Applications
 Three important dimensions of everyday life

 Emotions

 Language

 Humor
Emotions: The Social Construction of Feeling

 Emotions are more commonly called “feelings”

 What we do matters less than how we feel about it

 Emotions seem very personal because they are “inside”

 Just as society guides our behavior, it guides our emotional life

 The Biological Side of Emotions

 People everywhere express six basic emotions

 Happiness

 Sadness

 Anger

 Fear

 Disgust

 Surprise

 Emotions are powerful forces that allow us to overcome

individualism and build connections with others
Universal Facial Expressions

Sadness Happiness Fear

Universal Facial Expressions

Disgust Surprise Anger

Language: The Social Construction of Gender
 Language conveys not only a surface message but also
deeper levels of meaning

 An important level is gender

 Language defines men and women differently in terms of

power and value
Reality Play: The Social Construction of Humor

 Humor plays an important part in everyday life

 By using humor, we “play with reality”

 Humor is produced by the social construction of reality
 One reality is conventional
 The other reality is unconventional
 Humor arises from the contradictions, ambiguities, and
double meanings found in differing definitions of the same
situation
 The dynamics of humor: “Getting It”
 To “get” humor, members of an audience must understand the two
realities involved well enough to appreciate the difference

 Enjoyment of a joke is increased by the pleasure of figuring out all

the pieces needed to “get it”

 The joke makes you an insider compared to those who don’t “get it”

 Jokes that must be explained aren’t very funny

 The Topics of Humor

 Humor is a universal element of human culture

 Because of different cultures, humor rarely travels well

 The diversity of America means people will find humor in different

situations

 To everyone, topics that lend themselves to double meanings or

controversy generate humor

 Jokes can break through cultural barriers but they must touch on
universal human experiences
 Controversy of humor is a fine line between what is funny and
what is “sick”

 Middle Ages – “humors” from the Latin “humidus” meaning

“moist”
 A balance of bodily fluids that regulated health

 Researcherstoday document the power of humor to reduce stress

and improve health
 “Laughter is the best medicine”
 At the extreme, people who always take conventional reality
lightly risk being defined as deviant or mentally ill

 Every social group considers certain topics too sensitive for

humorous treatment
 People’s religious beliefs, tragic accidents, or appalling crimes are
some of the subjects of “sick” jokes or no jokes at all
 Here is a joke about sociologists:

 How many sociologists does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; it’s the
system that needs to be changed!

 What makes this joke funny?

 What sort of people are likely to get it?

 What kind of people probably won’t?

 Why?
 The Functions of Humor

 Humor is found everywhere because it works as a safety valve for

potentially disruptive sentiments

 Humor provides an acceptable way to discuss a sensitive topic

without appearing to be serious or offensive

 People use humor to relieve tension in uncomfortable situations

 Humor and Conflict

 Humor can also be used to put down others

 Men who tell jokes about women, for example, typically are voicing hostility
towards them
 Similarly, jokes about gay people reveal tensions about sexual orientation

 Real conflict can be masked by humor when people choose not to bring
the conflict out into the open

 “Put-down” jokes make one category of people feel good at the expense
of another
Humor is more important than we think
 It is a means of mental escape from a conventional world
that is not entirely to our liking

 Many of our nation’s comedians come from the ranks of the

historically marginalized

 Maintaining a sense of humor asserts our freedom, and we

are never a prisoner of reality