Key Terms for Exam 2
Achieved status:
a social position that a person assumes voluntarily as a result a personal choice,
merit, or direct effort
o
income education occupation (YOU DID SOMETHING TO BE ASSIGNED TO THIS TASK)
Ascribed status:
a social position received at birth or received involuntarily later in life, based on
attributes over which an individual has little or no control such as race, age, sex
o
given at birth EX:
Age, Sex, Race
Dramaturgical analysis:
Erving Goffman’s term for the study of social interaction that compares
everyday life to a theatrical presentation
o
– the world is a theatrical stage
o
(compares social life to “theater”)
o
I
mpression management:
Erving Goffman’s term for people’s effort to present
themselves to others in ways that are most favorable to their own interests or images
o
Face-saving:
Erving Goffman’s term for the strategies people use to rescue their
performance when they experience a potential or actual loss of face
o
front stage and back stage
- (also, civil attention, and the interaction order)
Ethnomethodology:
the study of common sense knowledge that people use to understand the
situations in which they find themselves
o
(Common sense knowledge)
o
Interaction - based on SHARED ASSUMPTIONS
o
Breaching experiments
Ex Classic:
Elevator they would disrupt social situations
Formal organization:
highly structured group formed to complete certain tasks or achieving specific
goals
o
structured group setting
o
created to complete tasks – require many
o
generally – rules – procedures – status limits
Master status:
the most important status that a person occupies
o
– Most important that you occupy
EX: something meaningful the one you want to give emphasize
Nonverbal communication:
the transfer of information between people without the use of words
o
: face/eyes/touch – personal space
Personal space:
the intermediate area surrounding a person that claims is private
Role:
a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status
o
Role Conflict:
a situation in which incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two
or more statuses at the same time
Incompatible for
multiple
statuses (Military Women?)
o
Role Exit:
a situation people disengage from social roles that have been central to their
identity
Ex: doing jobs that are gross and degrading just to pay the rent then trying to get
your degree to get a better job
to leave this status
o
Role Expectation:
a groups or society definition of the way that a specific role should be
played
What am I supposed to do or expected
o
Role Performance:
how a person actually plays a role
What are my actions (Ideal vs. Real)
o
Role Strain:
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- Fall '16
- Adams
- Sociology, person, Erving Goffman, common sense knowledge
