Sociological Theory Interactionism

Starter – Topic Recap

Postmodernism

Postmodernism – A Visual Introduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqsP0vQJJ44

Postmodernism Society is changing and fragmenting.

Meta-narratives can no longer hope to explain the structure of society.

Instead, we must understand choice and diversity as leading factors in our experience of the social world.

First Came Modernity Industrialisation

Urbanization

Centralised Government

Rational and Scientific Thinking

Postmodernism

Globalisation

Increased Choice

Fragmentation

Knowledge as Relative not Fact

Postmodernism and Identity Steve Taylor 1999

Society has been transformed in to ‘something resembling an endless shopping mall where people now have much greater

choice about how they look, what they consume and what they believe in’

Interactionism

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Interactionism - Introduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E66iDghFkg

Ervin Goffman (1982)

Are You a Puppet? Reject structuralist theories as ignoring individual interaction

Our behaviour is actually developed through our exposure to social symbols and our experience of interaction

We are not a product of our environment, but our environment is a product of us

Goffman says…Interaction is simply successful roleplaying in the drama of

every day life.

Stage = environmentActors = individuals in certain rolesStage directions = Social symbols

Why is she crying??

Symbolic Interactionism and Identity Social Identity

Personal Identity

Self Identity

Labelling TheoryInteractionism TheoryMaster status

Howard Becker 1963

What is a Master Status?This is Zig…

… a CRIMINAL

Master Status In Sociology, master status is the social position which is the primary

identifying characteristic of an individual. It is defined as "a status that has exceptional importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life" [1]

The master status is often the most important constituent in the architecture of an individual’s identity. Common master statuses are those of race or ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, physical ability, age, economic standing, religion or spirituality, and education. Others include that of being a parent, child, or sibling; being employed or unemployed; and being disabled or mentally ill. It is not realistic to deny that as a society we label individuals based on their most prominent characteristic in this respect, such as the "old loon", the "blonde bimbo", etc.

Criminal act

Prison

Labelled as criminal

Cannot find work

Accepts label Self

Fulfilling Prophecy

3 – 3 – 1 Write sentences summarising

today’s lesson...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 Now reduce those to key words…3

And finally to key word...1

Note making