Social Interaction

• Social Interaction


  the micro-level encounters between individuals

  - responsible for early socialization

  - amounts to a relationship between individuals who take on ROLES in particular SETTINGS
• Role


  a prescribed way of interacting that is conditioned to a particular time and space

  - each one has particular expectations and acceptable behaviors built into it

  - Without roles, social interaction would be much more difficult

  - For Goffman, social interaction occurs a much between roles as it does between the individuals who inhabit them

  They have 2 components:

  1. Appearence

  2. Manner
• Frontstage Activities


  involve the coordination of roles to present a certain kind of interactive experience to an audience (people who aren't involved in the construction and reproduction of the setting)

  - The "frontstage" of social activity is digital
• Backstage Activities


  involve actors coordinating to produce the situation of the frontstage

  -is also a "setting," and people inhabit roles here
• Setting


  interaction is conditioned by the character of the space in which it takes place
• Mead's 4 Stages of Social Development


  1. Imitation

  2. Role Playing

  3. Simultaneous Appreciation of Multiple Roles

  4. The Internalization of the "generalized other"
• Generalized Other


  the organized community or social group that gives an individual their unity of self

  - the attitude of the generalized other, is the attitude of the whole community -> internalization of social norms