Chapter 7 Outline

  1. To be role competent it is necessary to know when to follow and when to violate social roles.
    1. In order to cooperate effectively, members of social groups most control and coordinate one another’s activities.
    2. One of the strongest forms of social control is the role.
      1. It is useful to distinguish between role and position.
        1. A position indicates where we stand in comparison to others in a social hierarchy; for example, on a college campus “president,” “professor,” “student,” and “staff” are positions.
        2. Roles are the behavioral expectations associated with a position; for example, faculty are expected to know their material, to convey it to students, and to show concern for student welfare.
      1. Role have at least four characteristics:
        1. Roles are learned.
        2. Roles are general.
        3. Roles affect beliefs about the self.
        4. Everyone plays multiple roles.
  2. According to McCall and Simmons, three sets of factors determine how important a role is.
    1. The degree of support we receive for playing a role determines its salience to us.
      1. In his Looking-Glass Self theory, Cooley states that we are affected by others’ reactions to us.
      2. Social comparison theory holds that we need to have our abilities and opinions validated by others.
    2. The amount of commitment we feel toward a role also determines role salience.
      1. Self-perception theory maintains that rather than knowing internally what we think or feel, we observe our external actions and infer internal states.
      2. If we see ourselves enacting a role, we assume it is a role we value.
    3. The kinds of rewards we receive for playing a role determines role salience.
      1. Sometimes merely enacting a role gives us intrinsic rewards.
      2. At other times we enact a role because it provides us with extrinsic rewards.
  3. Embedded in every role are instructions about how to communicate that role.
    1. Erving Goffman has argued that we are like actors, putting on a performance.
      1. Much of our social interaction is face-work.
        1. Face is that part of self we present to others for approval.
        2. Line consists of the verbal and nonverbal behaviors we use to present face.
        3. Face-work is the time and effort we spend performing face.
        4. competent individuals protect their own face and line and that of others.
      2. To present face to others, we must control the environments in which we act as well as the people who support our performances.
        1. The arena in which we perform is our front region; it consists of setting (environment) and personal front (clothing and artifacts.)
        2. When we are not performing, we escape to our back regions.
        3. The other people who support our performance are part of our role set; we coordinate our performance with them through altercasting, mirroring, and mutual negotiation.
    2. Narrative theorists argue that we are storytellers.
      1. We create autobiographies to tell ourselves and others who we are.
      2. Groups crease social identity by sharing stories about their successes and failures.
      3. Nations create myths that define national character and identity.
  4. Showing politeness and respect are skills essential to role competence.
    1. Politeness is not just about trivial social niceties; it allows people to live in harmony.
    2. There are three components to politeness and respect: interpersonal sensitivity, maintenance of face, and the ability to balance solidarity and independence.
      1. In order to be polite, people need to be sensitive to others’ needs.
        1. Sensitive communicators show empathic concern.
          • (1) Empathy increases when we pay attention to others’ emotional expressions.
          • (2) Communicating more expressively can enhance the ability to empathize.
          • (3) Empathic communicators resist defining others’ experience in terms of their own.
        2. Sensitive communicators can take the perspective of others.
          • (1) By consciously reminding ourselves to be more mindful, we can increase perspective-taking.
          • (2) Seeking feedback from others can correct faulty perspective-taking.
      2. Being respectful implies a willingness and ability to maintain the face of others.
        1. Respectful communicators recognize how important it is for people to have their views of self accepted.
        2. Respectful communicators monitor their behavior for face-threatening acts.                    
      3. Politeness and respect involve being close without being intrusive and allowing others privacy without being distant.
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