Micro-level

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Units of Analysis
Macro-level
Micro-level
Dyad
Individual
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Talking
People have different conversational styles,
influenced by the part of the country they grew
up in, their ethnic backgrounds, their age,
class, and gender.
NOT referring to differences in the use of
language, phrases and the definition of
words ?idiosyncratic usage ?argot/slang where
the same word has very different meanings for
different people in different contextsmy three
girls, aged 20, 22 25
bad meaning incredibly good the bomb
the shiznet fixin yall, scoot over
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Talking
People have different conversational styles,
influenced by the part of the country they grew
up in, their ethnic backgrounds, their age,
class, and gender.
Im from New York City loud, obnoxious,
aggressive?
Or straight-forward, direct, honest?
NY call it like you see it
South Billy is so dumb . . .
Bless his little heart!
Argumentative?
NY To argue is a sign of respect.
Good for you!
South If you dont have something nice to say,
dont say anything . . .
to their face.
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Talking
People have different conversational styles,
influenced by the part of the country they grew
up in, their ethnic backgrounds, their age,
class, and gender.
But conversational style is rarely recognized by
participants in interactions. Unaware that these
and other aspects of our backgrounds influence
our ways of talking, we think that we are simply
saying what we mean and often experience
frustration when we feel misinterpreted of
course, others accuse us of the same thing
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Deborah Tannen Professor of Linguistics
Georgetown University
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Gender-Differences in Communication Style
General Tendencies Patterns are a matter of
degree, not of absolute differences
Rapport vs. Report Women Conversations are
negotiations for closeness in which people try to
seek and give confirmation and support, and to
reach consensus. Their world is one of
connection intimacy rapport. Talk is the
glue that holds relationships together.
Conflict is often perceived as a threat to
connection and to be avoided at all costs.
Disputes are preferably settled without direct
confrontation. Consensus building and maintenance.
Eye-contact constant feed-back loop finishing
each others sentences tag questions
Talk for long periods of time on the phone -
about everything.
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Gender-Differences in Communication Style
Rapport vs. Report Women Children tend to play
in sex-separate groups in which very different
styles are learned, practiced and
reinforced. Girls play in small groups or in
pairs typically have one best friend where
everything is shared not hierarchical
favorite games are jump-rope and hopscotch ?
everyone gets a turn no winners or losers
girls compromise to preserve harmony cooperative
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Gender-Differences in Communication Style
Rapport vs. Report Boys play outside, in large
groups that are hierarchically structured there
is a leader who gives orders there are winners
and losers boys use verbal and physical threats
competitive
Conversations are negotiations in which people
try to achieve and maintain the upper-hand if
they can, and protect themselves from others
attempts to put them down and push them around.
Their world is one of contestation, of mutual
jockeying around for position for status
independence. Name-calling jokes. Boys
relationships are held together by activities.
Conflict is the necessary means by which status
is negotiated. Men often use opposition to
establish connections
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Gender-Differences in Communication Style
Rapport vs. Report
Put the two together Remember General
Tendencies Patterns are a matter of degree, not
of absolute differences
How was your day?
Youre not listening!
Would you like to stop off at x on the way home?
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Deborah Tannen Professor of Linguistics
Georgetown University
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Gender-Differences in Communication Style
Implications Talking at Work
Systematic differences in womens and mens
characteristic styles often put women in a
subordinate position in interactions with men.
Giving orders Getting a subordinate to re-write
a report Indirect approach Maybe you should
. . .
Ritual beginnings and endings Im sorry/
Thank you
Asking questions directions. emergency room
Pitching ideas confidence/assertiveness vs.
doubt/uncertainty women are more likely to
downplay their certainty, men are more likely to
downplay their doubts
Allocation of credit Who gets the credit? Who
gets the raise?
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The latest study on girls says they may be as
likely to use aggression as boys. Rather than
fists, girls express it through manipulation,
exclusion and gossip-mongering.
Simmons, who visited 30 schools and talked to 300
girls, catalogues acts of aggression, including
the silent treatment, note-passing, glaring,
gossiping, ganging up, fashion police, and being
nice in private/mean in public.
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Units of Analysis
Macro-level
Micro-level
Group
Dyad
Individual
Triad
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Units of Analysis
Macro-level
Micro-level
Social Institutions
Group
Dyad
Formal Org Bureaucracy
Individual
Triad
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Social Institutions
Education
Family
Religion
Polity
Science
Economy
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Units of Analysis
Macro-level
Micro-level
Social Institutions
Group
Dyad
Formal Org Bureaucracy
Society
Individual
Triad
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Politics
The Social System
Economy
Science
Family
Education
Institutional Autonomy Interdependence
Religion
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Units of Analysis
Macro-level
Micro-level
Structural-Functional
Symbolic Interaction
Conflict
Social Institutions
World
Group
Dyad
Formal Org Bureaucracy
Society
Individual
Triad
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Symbolic Interaction
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Symbolic Interactionist Approach George Herbert
Mead
Mead and others who followed his footsteps
believed that previous approaches ignored the
fundamental fact that individuals think they
actively perceive, define, and interpret the
world around them.
Rather than see the actor as a passive puppet
blindly responding to stimuli as did Watson
(in Meads view) Mead wanted to understand
what goes on between stimulus and response. Do
all individuals interpret and define the
stimulus in the same manner?
1863 - 1931
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Symbolic Interactionist Approach George Herbert
Mead
Rather than see individuals as impelled by either
mentalistic Freud or biological Davenport
impulses over which they had no control, Mead
wanted to focus on how actors, when confronted
with situations,

1. define the objects and situation they encounter,

(2) creatively think about possible modes of
conduct,
(3) imagine the consequences of alternative
courses of action,
(4) eliminate unlikely possibilities, and finally
1863 - 1931
(5) select what they believe to be the best
course of action.
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Symbolic Interactionist Approach George Herbert
Mead
Rather than focus attention on the larger
structure of society the inequalities inherent
in a capitalist economy that were stressed by
Marx Mead wanted to focus on the practical
face-to-face, day-to-day activities of people in
their more immediate social setting. How do they
communicate? How are symbols created, defined,
and shared by interacting individuals? How is
reality socially constructed from the ground
up?
Since action is created by the actor out of what
he perceives, interprets, and judges, to fully
understand it the analyst would have to see the
situation as the actor sees it, perceive objects
as the actor perceives them, ascertain the
meanings they have for the actor, and follow the
actors line of conduct as the actor organizes
it and modifies it during its course.
1863 - 1931
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The Subjective Element in Social Action
The Thomas Theorem The Definition of the
Situation
If men define situations as real, they are real
in their consequences.
Interpretative flexibility
W. I. Thomas 1863-1947
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Symbolic Interaction
Herbert Blumer 1900-1987
How do people go about creating, defining,
sharing and using symbols to facilitate
interaction?
Interpretative flexibility
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What is a Symbol?
Anything that stands for something other than
itself.
Anything that carries a particular meaning that
is recognized and shared by people.
A word
A hairstyle
A cross
A whistle
A piece of jewelry on a finger
A flashing light
A flag
A raised fist
A gesture
A manner of dressing
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Structural Functional Analysis
Social Systems
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Structural Functional Analysis
Harvard University
Robert K. Merton 1910 - 2003
Talcott Parsons 1902 - 1979
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Biological System
Walter B. Cannon 1871 - 1945
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System
A system is made up of different parts.
Parts can be independently isolated and
analyzed. How does each contribute to the smooth
operation of the total system? What functions
do they serve?
Parts are interdependent. Whatever happens in one
part reverberates throughout the entire
system. How does each part affect all of the
others?
The normal state of the system is equilibrium and
stability. How is it maintained?
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The Social System
1. Identify the parts of the system
Biological System Social System
Social Roles
Individual Cells
Tissues (clusters of specialized cells)
Groups
Institutions
Organs
Society
Body
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Social Institutions
Family
Polity
Economy
Education
Religion
Science
Father Mother Son Daughter Brother Sister Aunt Unc
le Cousin Grandmother
Priest Minister Rabbi Deacon Congregant
Researcher Lab tech
President Senator Congressman Governor Mayor Assem
blyman Judge Lawyer
Teacher Student Dean Principal Superintendent
X Occupation Consumer entrepreneur
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Social Functions
FAMILY Socialization regulation of sexual
activity
RELIGION Social cohesion Social control
POLITY Setting goals laws Social
control Defense
EDUCATION Transmitting requisite skills
knowledge Socialization
ECONOMY Production distribution of goods
services
SCIENCE Technology medicine
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Politics
The Social System
Economy
Science
Family
Education
Institutional Autonomy Interdependence
Religion
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Systemic Interdependence

Poverty Divorce
Church State
Evolution Special Design
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Social Institutions
Family
Polity
Economy
Education
Religion
Science
Beliefs Values Attitudes Norms Customs Tradit
ions
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Unintended Consequences
Adam Smith
Thomas Malthus
Karl Marx
Its not mere happenstance - there are
specifiable and predictable reasons why these
occur.
We dont know precisely what and when - just why.
Most of the consequences of purposive social
action are unintended.
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Structural-Functional Analysis
All social actions and behaviors have multiple
consequences, some of which are intended
(manifest), the vast majority of which are
unintended and unanticipated (latent).
Consequences that contribute to the stability of
a social system are called functions.
Consequences that disrupt the social system are
called dysfunctions.
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Manifest
Latent
Functions
Dysfunctions
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The Ubiquity/Inevitability of Conflict
Conflict is built-in to the very fabric of
society. It is as normal - and healthy - as the
air we breathe and most often occurs in socially
patterned ways.
People who occupy different social positions - by
virtue of occupying different positions - will
have different sets of LEGITIMATE interests,
values and attitudes.
These differences may be exacerbated by political
differences and an all too familiar pattern
appears
(1) Circling the wagons and polarizing the issues
(2) Drawing and responding to caricatures of
opponents
(3) Selective perception
(4) Talking past one another - looking to score
off the other person
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Early Structural - Functional Analysis
Major emphasis on functions - those
consequences that contribute to the stability of
the social system.
Analogy with biological system bacteria and
viruses - which are outside of the body -
attack and threaten the health of the body
conflict and social disruptions are like
diseases that threaten the health of society
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Politics
The Social System
Economy
Science
Family
Education
Institutional Autonomy Interdependence
Religion
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Social Institutions
Family
Polity
Economy
Education
Religion
Science
Beliefs Values Attitudes Norms Customs Tradit
ions
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Systemic Interdependence

Church State
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The Christian people of America will not sit
idly by . . . . They are going to vote as a bloc
for the man with the strongest moral and
spiritual platform, regardless of his views on
other matters. I believe we can hold the
balance of power.
Billy Graham, 1951
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Systemic Interdependence

Church State
Textbook Controversies
Sex Education
Evolution Special Design