2.1: Social Norms
Have you ever considered why you do what you do? Why do you dress the way you do?
Why do you eat the food you eat? Why do you spend your free time the way you do? To
understand why, you must first understand that what you consider normal may be different
than what your classmates consider normal. Your definition of normal may be different than
that of people in other parts of the country or the world.
In sociology, we aim to debunk the idea of normal, to acknowledge and recognize that
normal is different based on different social norms. Norms are a socially accepted
behavior. For instance, if you step on an elevator today and stand looking at all the people
(instead of turning around and facing the door), you are, in theory, defining a socially
accepted norm or behavior. This may not seem significant because we do not define our lives
by the direction we face in the elevator, but it becomes incredibly significant in learning to
define meaning for your life. We will explore large structures of society that define social
norms, such as education and social media, and examine how individual interactions shape
how we understand the world. If you understand the effects of large-scale societal structures
and small-scale societal interactions, then you will better understand society as a whole.
Source (YouTube video: Symbolic
Interactionism):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/jF
QIIM8IRZU
2.2: Social Identity
As we noted in the previous module, one of the primary, powerful, and unavoidable ways
that we come to see ourselves, others, and the social world is through interactions with other
people, such as family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and even strangers! This module
examines the work of several sociologists who have explored the nature and impact of such
interactions.
Main Ideas
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Georg Simmel’s “dyad and triad”
Bibb Latane and John Darley’s “social loafing”
George Herbert Mead’s “I, me, and generalized other”
Erving Goffman’s “dramaturgy”
Charles Horton Cooley’s “looking-glass self”
George Simmel
George Simmel was a German sociologist who was most interested in studying human
interaction, including the impact that the number of people in a group may have on
interaction. In this regard, he discussed the dyad and triad. A dyad is the most basic form of
human interaction, and it consists of two people. A triad is a three-person group. He noticed
that the nature of interaction changed when one more person was added to a dyad to make a
triad. For example, in a triad:
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If one person exits the interaction, there remains human interaction between the two
remaining persons.
Coalitions may form between two members of the triad in response to another member
of the triad.
Three sets of dyads are present within the triad, which offers a variety of human
interaction.
In the language of the course, Simmel was trying to determine if there is more than what
meets the eye in human interaction patterns, and he concluded that there is! More
specifically, he believed that the number of people involved in the interaction makes a
difference with respect to the nature and relative quality of the interaction and, ultimately,
to human relationships.
Latane and Darley
Bibb Latane and John Darley were social psychologists who, during the 1960s, also became
interested in the connection between the size of a group and the nature of human
interaction. For example, in one highly publicized case, they studied the stabbing of a
woman in New York City in 1964. At least 38 residents were in close proximity to the
woman during the stabbing, and they heard her screams, but they did absolutely nothing to
respond. Latane and Darley concluded that all 38 residents simply believed that someone else
would respond. Another way to say this is: The larger the group, the less responsible each
member of the group feels for what may occur in their midst.
This phenomenon is called “social loafing.” Think about it. Have you seen it happen? What
about in a college classroom of 30 students when the professor is trying to get students to
respond to different prompts. Maybe three to five students respond, and respond regularly,
which makes it even easier for others in the class to “socially loaf," simply because they can
be inconspicuous in a class comprised of that many people.
Social loafing is a great concept. If you are interested, look up some of the other studies that
these researchers did to illustrate the power of social loafing! The size of the group seems to
make a difference with respect to individual responsibility of group members, as well as to
the nature and quality of human interaction.
George Herbert Mead
Mead was an American sociologist who is often credited with being a forerunner of a
particular school of sociology that is now called “symbolic interactionism” (feel free to
explore further online if you wish). Symbolic interactionism also focuses on human
interactions with a particular eye towards the ways in which human interactions in smaller
groups and larger groups contribute to or shape human identity.
Mead suggested that a person’s social identity was comprised of three component parts: the I,
the Me, and the Generalized Other. He used the concept of the I to illustrate that aspect of
every person that is creative or imaginative; the I is that part of the self that can be
characterized as individualistic or free-thinking. In contrast, Mead used the Me to depict that
aspect of every person that responds to and reflects the interests of other persons, other
groups, and other things; the Me is that part of the self that can be characterized as
conformist or willing to be controlled by external forces. Mead used the concept of the
Generalized Other to represent other groups or things that exert some level of influence on
every person. In fact, Mead suggests that various forms of the Generalized Other have
powerful effects on the shaping of a person’s identity. Some examples of the Generalized
Other are peer groups, athletic teams, family, social class, church, America, race, and the
generation.
For Mead, your identity is formed via a dynamic process in which you interact regularly and
continuously with others, other groups, and other things. Every person both conforms to the
interests exerted from these interactions as well as maintains some level of individuality
through it all. Needless to say, such interactions have considerable impact on how we come
to see ourselves, other groups, and all other things in the social world.
Erving Goffman
Goffman was an American sociologist who also was interested in human interaction. More
specifically, he compared human interactions with the theater, calling it “dramaturgy.” That
is, he believed that everyone plays roles—quite intentionally—based on how they want
others to see them. He also believed that people are willing to play different roles with
different people, with different groups of people, or as circumstances warrant. In other
words, with one group of friends, you act one way, but with another group of friends you act
quite a different way. Or, in one social setting (e.g., family) you act a particular way, but
when you go to another social setting (e.g., school), you act quite differently. According to
Goffman, how a person acts has everything to do with the particular impressions that they
desire to make on the particular group with whom they are, at any given moment,
associating. Of course, the purpose for trying to cultivate particular impressions has
everything to do with wanting to be associated with particular persons, groups of persons, or
other social entities.
Charles Horton Cooley
Cooley was an American sociologist, most notably at the University of Michigan. One of the
concepts for which Cooley is famous is called the looking-glass self, a concept that he first
used in 1902. Similar to Goffman’s idea of dramaturgy and Mead’s idea of the Me, Cooley
proposed that we look to others to determine what we will look like: Others are a mirror (or
looking glass) in which we see who we should be and what we should do. Said another way,
we take our cues from what we think others want us to be and to do. These interactions with
others and other groups, then, are absolutely vital in shaping our social identity or, in the
context of this course, how we see ourselves, others, and all other parts of social life. If we
look into the mirror of a particular group of friends and conclude that “we want to be the
person that they want us to be”—acknowledging that they want us to look a certain way, act
a certain way, not hang out with a certain other group of people, be interested in certain
kinds of music, and not to care about school—then that is the person that we become, even
though it may not be for forever, especially if we are just 10 years old at the time!
2.3: Social Interaction
Watch: TED Talk: Sherry Turkle “Connected, but Alone?"
Source:
https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_tu
rkle_connected_but_alone/up-next
Watch: TED Talk: Susan Cain "The Power of Introverts"
Source:
https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cai
n_the_power_of_introverts/up-next
Please, read and watch all of the above
materials prior to looking at the essay
questions. Also, plagiarism is complete
prohibited since they use sophisticate
materials to check for plagiarism.
2.4: Module 2 Instructions
Instructions
Please review the note on plagiarism, if you have any questions as to
what you may or may not use from the presented materials or outside
sources in your answers.
Write an essay answering the following prompts:
1. Using what you learned from Simmel, Latane, and Darley, define the following terms:
dyad, triad, and social loafing. Provide an example of how each term impacts
communication. (10 pts)
2. Discuss Mead’s idea of social identity, using the terms I, Me, and Generalized Other to
explain the concept. (10 pts)
3. Discuss how the looking-glass self and dramatology contribute to developing social
identity. (10 pts)
4. According to Turkle, why is it hard to be alone? Why do people need to learn to be alone
in order to have healthy social interaction? (10 pts)
5. Susan Cain explains that humans interact differently. Identify and explain three important
learnings from her TED talk. (10 pts)
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