Reading memo: connecting Goffman with the digital world

Discussion:

1. How does the interaction order change with the development of digital infrastructure? What are the suggested angle of analysis?

2. Physical vs virtual: Goffman highlights the important of face-to-face and physical situations in social interactions. Does he mean the true interaction only happen physically? When virtual communication can achieve semi-reality or true reality, e.g. see each other virtually via camera, or in the future with holography, will social interaction be the same physically and virtually?

Memo:

1: Social Situatedness

We are all socially situated, meaning that our behavior and interactions with others are shaped by social factors such as our cultural background, social status, and personal experiences. This awareness is crucial to understanding human behavior and the interactions between individuals.

2: Treating Social Situatedness as Data

Traditionally, the consequences of our social situatedness have been treated as effects of social structures, rather than being treated as data in their own right. However, by conceptualizing these effects differently and analyzing what they share, we can expose what is intrinsic to interactional life and move from the merely situated to the situational. Face-to-face assemblies have a unique and complex structure that requires a certain level of focus and energy. Standardized behaviors and specialized communicative functions facilitate and complicate social interaction, while sustained, intimate coordination of action is a combination of presence, focus, and the capacity to convert other’s responses.

3: The Process and Structure of Interaction Order

The dynamics of interaction order are shaped by the enabling conventions that facilitate coordination among participants. Two key concepts in the working of social interaction are social contract and social consensus. Social contract is the idea that society is formed through a mutual agreement among individuals, who surrender some of their freedom in exchange for protection and benefits provided by the government. Social consensus is the notion that society is a product of shared beliefs, values, and norms that are continuously negotiated and reinforced through social interactions. Violation of norms and compliance with norms can create tension between individual interests and the interests of the broader community or society.

4. the working of the interaction order, which can be seen as the result of enabling conventions that facilitate coordination among participants. These conventions can be thought of as social contracts or social consensus.

Social contract refers to the idea that society is formed through a mutual agreement among individuals, who surrender some of their freedom in exchange for protection and benefits provided by the government. This agreement is not necessarily a written contract, but rather an implied agreement that individuals have with their society. Social consensus, on the other hand, is the notion that society is a product of shared beliefs, values, and norms that are continuously negotiated and reinforced through social interactions.

Despite the importance of social norms in maintaining order, individuals may still violate these norms from time to time. However, even those who violate social norms still rely on the stability and predictability that those norms provide for most of their interactions.

Additionally, people may recognize the importance of social norms in maintaining order, but may not always find it in their personal interest to actually follow through with the niceties and norms of social interaction, especially if doing so requires a significant investment of time and effort. This can create a tension between individual interests and the interests of the broader community or society.

5: Five Basic Interactional Units

To study the dynamics of human social life, there are five basic interactional units: ambulatory units, contacts, small physical circles, the platform format, and celebrative social occasions. These units provide different contexts for social interaction and allow researchers to explore the unique characteristics of each context.

6: Interaction Order and Social Structure

Social structures are dependent on and vulnerable to what occurs in face-to-face contacts. The daily round of social situations can impact complex organizations that are dependent on particular personnel. A great deal of the work of organizations is done face-to-face and is vulnerable to face-to-face effects. People-processing encounters affect life chances.

7. The role of social relationships in interaction order

Firstly, social relationships provide a framework for individuals to navigate social situations. The nature of one’s social relationships, such as the strength and intimacy of their connections to others, can affect how they interact with others in different contexts. In this case, the social institution of “knowership” is critical for the organization of social contacts. The obligations to exchange passing greetings and maintain an active biography of acquaintances play a key role in resuscitating and organizing encounters.

Secondly, social relationships are an important factor in the formation and maintenance of the interaction order. The relationship between two individuals can affect the meaning and interpretation of the behavior and communication between them. For example, a conversation between two friends might involve more informal language and humor than a conversation between a supervisor and a subordinate. The social context of the relationship is also important in determining how individuals interpret the actions of others. A gesture or statement that might be considered harmless between friends might be seen as offensive in a professional or public setting.

8. Diffuse social statuses and interaction order

Diffuse social statuses refer to cross-cutting attributes that allow individuals to be categorized into certain social groups based on traits like age-grade, gender, class, and race. These can influence the way individuals interact with each other in face-to-face settings, especially the way individuals are perceived and evaluated by others in social interactions. Individuals who hold higher status positions based on these diffuse characteristics are more likely to be accorded deference and respect by others in face-to-face interactions, perpetuating social inequality and reproducing existing social hierarchies.