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Content Category 8C: Social Interactions

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Humans are social beings by nature. Though the sentiment is simple, the actions and processes underlying and shaping our social interactions are not.

The changing nature of social interaction is important for understanding the mechanisms and processes through which people interact with each other, both individually and within groups. A variety of factors — environment, culture, and biology — affect how we present ourselves to others and how we treat them. For example, perceptions of prejudice and stereotypes can lead to acts of discrimination, whereas positive attitudes about others can lead to the provision of help and social support.

The content in this category covers the mechanisms of self-presentation and social interaction including expressing and detecting emotion, impression management, communication, the biological underpinning of social behavior, and discrimination.

Topic Our Social World Introduction to Sociology Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life Exploring Psychology

Elements of Social Interaction (PSY, SOC)

  • Status (SOC)
    • Types of status (e.g., achieved, ascribed)
  • Role
    • Role conflict and role strain (SOC)
    • Role exit (SOC)
  • Groups
    • Primary and secondary groups (SOC)
    • In-group vs. out-group
    • Group size (e.g., dyads, triads) (SOC)
  • Networks (SOC)
  • Organizations (SOC)
    • Formal organization
    • Bureaucracy
  • Characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy
  • Perspectives on bureaucracy (e.g., iron law of oligarchy, McDonaldization)
  • Ch. 1: Sociology 
  • Ch. 5: Interaction, Groups, and Organizations
  • Ch. 7: Stratification
  • Ch. 12: Religion
 Groups
  • Ch. 2, Seeing and Thinking Sociologically
  • Ch. 9, The Structure of Society: Organizations, Social Institutions, and Globalization
  • Ch. 4, pp. 146, 149-150
  • Ch. 5, p. 164
  • Ch. 10, pp. 350-351, 355-357, 376
  • Ch. 11, pp. 396-397
  • Ch. 12, pp. 415-460, 465-466
  • Ch. 13, pp. 487-491
  • Ch. 14, p. 504, 517-518 

Self-Presentation and Interacting with Others (PSY, SOC)

  • Expressing and detecting emotion
    • The role of gender in the expression and detection of emotion
    • The role of culture in the expression and detection of emotion
  • Presentation of self
    • Impression management
    • Front-stage vs. back-stage self (dramaturgical approach) (SOC)
  • Verbal and nonverbal communication
  • Animal signals and communication (PSY, BIO)
 		 NA Groups
  • Ch. 6, Supporting Identity: The Presentation of Self
  • Ch. 10, pp. 352-353, 375-382
  • Ch. 12, pp. 448-450, 458-459
  • Ch. 13, pp. 486-491

Social Behavior (PSY)

  • Attraction
  • Aggression
  • Attachment
  • Altruism
  • Social support (PSY, SOC)
  • Biological explanations of social behavior in animals (PSY, BIO)
    • Foraging behavior (BIO)
    • Mating behavior and mate choice
    • Applying game theory (BIO)
    • Altruism
    • Inclusive fitness (BIO)
 NA Groups NA
  • Ch. 3, p. 92
  • Ch. 4, pp. 132-138, 147-157
  • Ch. 5, pp. 165-166, 183-185
  • Ch. 7, pp. 259-261
  • Ch. 9, pp. 309-310, 317-318
  • Ch. 10, pp. 348-357
  • Ch. 11, pp. 399-401, 404-406, 411-413
  • Ch. 12, pp. 441-456
  • Ch. 13, pp. 489-491
  • Ch. 14, p. 504
  • Ch. 15, pp. 548, 555-556

Discrimination (PSY, SOC)

  • Individual vs. institutional discrimination (SOC)
  • The relationship between prejudice and discrimination
  • How power, prestige, and class facilitate discrimination (SOC)
 
  • Ch. 8: Race and Ethnic Group Stratification 
  • Ch. 9: Gender Stratification 
  • Ch. 12: Religion
 Race and Ethnicity
  • Ch. 11, The Architecture of Inequality: Race and Ethnicity
  • Ch. 5, pp. 164, 170
  • Ch. 9, pp. 298, 343-345
  • Ch. 10, p. 365
  • Ch. 11, p. 386
  • Ch. 12, pp. 435-439