Ethnomethodology

One of the main principles of ethnomethodology is that sociology and sociologist's should treat social facts as interactional accomplishments.


In 1964 Schutz stated that without a grasp of the intersubjective aspects of social life, sociology
"loses its basic foundations, namely its reference to the social world of everyday life and experience. The safeguarding of the subjective point of view is the only but sufficient guarantee that the world of social
reality will not be replaced by a fictional non-existing world constructed by the scientific observer" . In short that means that "sociological procedures legislate a reality rather than discover one" (Smith, Dorothy p.53. 1990).

The basic idea of everything being relative is the foundation of a lot of meme's as one of the common themes is "you're doing it wrong". however utilising the principles of ethnomethodology there is no wrong way to do something simply the way that particular person has chosen to complete this particular act.

The article "Ethnomethodology" published on Psychlopedia, gives a good explanation of ethnomethodology, its philosophical underpinnings, techniques and applications. It also critiques the theory and states that "Sometimes, ethnomethodology is regarded as a form of relativism, because no objective patterns or regularities are assumed. As a form of relativism, ethnomethodology cannot address moral issues such as inequality and power." (http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=213)

Tales of Symphonia quote by Lloyd: "Regardless of who your real father is, you’re still you. Nothing’s changed. You just have two fathers. Just think of yourself as being lucky for having more than most people do." This quote shows how Lloyd is looking at Collete's situation from a relative point of view and not judging against preconceived rules of society. In short Lloyd is applying the rules of ethnomethodology.

Commented: http://www.natlombardo250.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/me-me-me-presentation-of-self-this.html

References:
Moss, S. (2008, 11 19). Ethnomethodology. Retrieved 8 2012, 31, from Psychlopedia: http://www.psych it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=213
Smith, D. (1990). The Conceptual Practices of Power.

Life as a Drama

Have you ever though about why you perform certain actions in private as opposed to those you do in public. This is one of the main aspects of "Dramaturgy". Although the idea was formally presented by Goffman he had numerous inspirations for conceiving this idea. Some of his inspirations link back as far as William Shakespeare. One of Shakespeare's more famous quotes that related to the theory of dramaturgy is

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages …”

The basic idea of dramaturgy is that life is a game or a drama and that like any game it has rules which the players are expected to follow. These rules lead to an ideal where social interaction in our world is conducted on stages, just like a play. There is the interaction that happens on the front stage and is open for the audience to see and then there is the interaction that happens back stage which is viewable only to a select few. In some instances further 'behind the scenes stages' exist to create more then 2 stages for interaction.

An example of backstage work is the effort you go to planning for a job interview and organising what to wear and what questions you wish answers to, while the front stage work is actually attending the job interview, wearing the clothes and the questions you ask in the interview.

Although a mock of the differences between males and females the following meme shows the backstage process of getting ready with the final pannels showing the front stage results.

The rules that control what interaction happens on what stage are controlled but the ritual structure of society. For example it is seen as inappropriate to interact intimately with a partner in public yet that behaviour is perfectly acceptable in private. By following these unwritten rules we know what behaviour is appropriate in certain situations.

Tales of Symphonia quote: [After he hugs Lloyd from behind after preparing a meal with sleeping drugs in it] "Cause we're best friends, right? I worry about you. You must be tired" This quote shows the difference between front stage (observable) and backstage (hidden) behaviour.

Comment: http://sociologyandstuff.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/goffman-and-andy-do-you-think-babies.html

What is 'The self'

Personally I found Goffman's ideas on the presentation of self to be rather unusual. It is at times very interesting and at times very difficult to stay interested it.

The lecture material was on Erving Goffman (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/goffmanbio.html). Although one of Goffman's works is titled "the Presentation of Self in Everyday Life", I personally found that the lecture focused more on Goffman's style of research and writing and consisted of a brief overview of some of his jobs and how he carried out his research more then it focused on the actual topic of presentation of self.

In my opinion Goffman's research styles and methods go directly against what we are being taught today at modern universities. He had no method (or at least didn't publish a method). This is the exact opposite to what students the world over are being taught about how to conduct research. They are being taught to control, record, obey and publish all aspects of their methodology for any research activity and yet Goffman got away without following the same restrictions. That said some of his research methods would not pass ethical standard in today's society.

Goffman's research related to the presentation of self  when defining oneself in a social role and how conflict can arise when differing social roles overlap. An example of this is how you act with friends and how you act with coworkers and the conflict that may arise when the two having to interact with the two groups simultaneously. This is further discussed in the reading for this week ("The nature and difference of demeanor" in "Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour", Doubleday, 1967 ).

This concept of a single person playing differing social roles in different social situations is an ever increasing concept with the modern trend of social networking sites and other modern technologies. This allows others to see how we interact when we are not with them and provides a more general view of ourselves. This said what we post on these social networking sites and how we act is still a particular social role we choose to display. It is just a social role that is more viable to differing sections of society and thus either incorporates aspects of many different roles or allows people to see us in a role that we would not normally display to them.

Tales of Symphonia Quote: "[Sheena Talking To Zelos] "Oh yeah, I've forgotten that this guy's actually a part of high society too." This quote shows how people can play different roles in different social groups and how this gives people a different perception of them."

Bibliography

Goffman, Erving. 1967. “The Nature of Deference and Demeanor.” Pp. 47-96 in Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour. New York: Pantheon Books.

Teuber's, A. (2010, 11 6). Erving Goffman. Retrieved 8 17, 2012, from Brandies University:       http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/goffmanbio.html