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The fourth edition of this seminal work introduces students to social constructionism. Using a variety of examples from everyday experience and from existing research in areas such as personality, sexuality and health, it clearly explains the basic theoretical assumptions of social constructionism.Drawing on a range of empirical studies, the book clearly defines the various approaches to social constructionist theory and research and explores the theoretical and practical issues they raise. It presents and analyses key debates, such as the nature and status of knowledge, truth, reality, and the self, in an accessible style. The new edition has been updated with relevant and contemporary references to aid understanding of key theoretical and methodological issues. The author additionally utilises new illustrative examples from research and contemporary life, such as the #MeToo movement, BlackLivesMatter, and Post-Truth politics. The updated work has also been expanded to include an extended discussion of affect and embodiment and a number of exercises to help illustrate important concepts.Social Constructionism extends and updates the material covered in previous editions and will be an invaluable and informative resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of Psychology, Sociology, Education, and other related disciplines.

The Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism features a diverse array of cutting-edge scholarship in symbolic interactionism (SI). Contributors present original research in various established and emerging areas of concern while outlining key theoretical and methodological foundations of this multifaceted and broadly relevant perspective in the field of sociology. The scholars featured in this volume present new and evolving outlooks on foundational SI themes including the self and identity, the interactive construction of meaning, classical pragmatism, interactionist research methods, performance, culture and subcultures, cognition, emotion, organizations and institutions, and social constructionism. Contributors merge these and other traditional concepts and perspectives of symbolic interactionism with a range of other influences to bring SI to bear on various developing areas of research, and to address a variety of new and interesting questions, problems, and issues. These include issues pertaining to race and racism, gender, sex and sexuality, power, digital technologies and computer-mediated interaction, crime, health and illness, and environmental concerns. Presenting an expansive and forward-looking take on symbolic interactionism while providing readers with valuable tools with which to conduct their own research, this handbook addresses important developments that are reshaping the field. The handbook is organized into four parts: (I) theoretical and methodological orientations; (II) culture, context, and symbolic interaction; (III) power and inequalities; and (IV) environment, disasters, and risk. In each part, contributors demonstrate the timely and unique contributions of symbolic interactionism to our understanding of important issues and social problems in the contemporary world.

A rich sociological analysis of how and why we use anonymity. In recent years, anonymity has rocked the political and social landscape. There are countless examples: An anonymous whistleblower was at the heart of President Trump's first impeachment, an anonymous group of hackers compromised more than 77 million Sony accounts, and best-selling author Elena Ferrante resolutely continued to hide her real name and identity. In Anonymous, Thomas DeGloma draws on a fascinating set of contemporary and historical cases to build a sociological theory that accounts for the many faces of anonymity. He asks a number of pressing questions about the social conditions and effects of anonymity. What is anonymity, and why, under various circumstances, do individuals act anonymously? How do individuals accomplish anonymity? How do they use it, and, in some situations, how is it imposed on them? To answer these questions, DeGloma tackles anonymity thematically, dedicating each chapter to a distinct type of anonymous action, including ones he dubs protective, subversive, institutional, and ascribed. Ultimately, he argues that anonymity and pseudonymity are best understood as performances in which people obscure personal identities as they make meaning for various audiences. As they bring anonymity and pseudonymity to life, DeGloma shows, people work to define the world around them to achieve different goals and objectives.

This book examines how different levels and forms of human collectivity have interacted, voluntarily or coercively, and how these transformed societies and polities.Every size and type of human collective involve co-operation among members and competition with other groups. The two most recent trends in human relations – individualism and economic globalisation – have contributed to authoritarianism in politics and inequality among citizens. This book analyses how collective action might offset the most destructive consequences for well-being of these two tendencies. It explores these manifestations of collective action and their impact on social relations and social policies in the developed world. Further, the volume sets out a programme for more progressive and egalitarian future for global populations.Engaging, accessible and transdisciplinary, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics and public policy, sociology, social psychology, social policy and social work, as well as political philosophy, political economy and migration studies.

Un ensayo que apuesta por profundizar en el calado político que reside también en nuestros vínculos entretejiendo anarquismo, pensamiento queer y disidencias sexoafectivas. Las formulaciones contemporáneas de esta «anarquía relacional» se concretan por primera vez en Suecia durante la primera década del siglo XXI, pero beben no solo de la larga tradición del anarquismo, sino también de aportes de la sociología, la antropología, el feminismo, la teoría queer y los activismos no-monógamos. En un momento en que las perspectivas revolucionarias parecen haberse desplazado más allá del horizonte, el reto de la anarquía relacional es construir desde abajo redes de afectos y maneras de cuidarnos, modelos de convivencia con quienes nos acompañan acordes a los mismos ideales que desearíamos rigieran en la sociedad, superando la normatividad, las estructuras de poder y de autoridad heredadas y los mecanismos de control estereotipados.

For two decades, Sébastien Tutenges has conducted research in bars, nightclubs, festivals, drug dens, nightlife resorts, and underground dance parties in a quest to answer a fundamental question: Why do people across cultures gather regularly to intoxicate themselves? Vivid and at times deeply personal, this book offers new insights into a wide variety of intoxicating experiences, from the intimate feeling of connection among concertgoers to the adrenaline-fueled rush of a fight, to the thrill of jumping off a balcony into a swimming pool. Tutenges shows what it means and feels to move beyond the ordinary into altered states in which the transgressive, spectacular, and unexpected take place. He argues that the primary aim of group intoxication is the religious experience that Émile Durkheim calls collective effervescence, the essence of which is a sense of connecting with other people and being part of a larger whole. This experience is empowering and emboldening and may lead to crime and deviance, but it is at the same time vital to our humanity because it strengthens social bonds and solidarity. The book fills important gaps in Durkheim's social theory and contributes to current debates in micro-sociology as well as cultural criminology and cultural sociology. Here, for the first time, readers will discover a detailed account of collective effervescence in contemporary society that includes: an explanation of what collective effervescence is; a description of the conditions that generate collective effervescence; a typology of the varieties of collective effervescence; a discussion of how collective effervescence manifests in the realm of nightlife, politics, sports, and religion; and an analysis of how commercial forces amplify and capitalize on the universal human need for intoxication. This book is also freely available online as an open access digital edition. Download the open access ebook here.

This book is devoted to the reintroduction of the remarkable approach to sociological inquiry developed by Harvey Sacks. Sacks's original analyses – concerned with the lived detail of action and language-in-interaction, discoverable in members'actual activities – demonstrated a means of doing sociology that had previously seemed impossible. In so doing, Sacks provided for highly technical, detailed, yet stunningly simple solutions to some of the most trenchant troubles for the social sciences relating to language, culture, meaning, knowledge, action, and social organisation. In this original collection, scholars working in a range of different fields, including sociology, human geography, communication and media studies, social psychology, and linguistics, outline the ways in which their work has been inspired, influenced, and shaped by Sacks's approach, as well as how their current research is taking Sacks's legacy forward in new directions. As such, the collection is intended to provide both an introduction to, and critical exploration of, the work of Harvey Sacks and its continued relevance for the analysis of contemporary society.

Digital networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized everyday human interaction by facilitating the search for, and access to, information, entertainment, and social connection. But with the rise of digital surveillance and data extraction for profit, more people are seeking not just to disconnect from technology but to fully disentangle themselves from the widespread social, economic, and political networks of digital communications. Disentangling offers an interdisciplinary global analysis of this growing trend toward disconnection. Moving beyond technological disconnection, this volume proposes the term'disentangling'as a lens for re-thinking the structures of our digital world and categorizing the ways in which people reject, avoid, or rework their digital networks. Across twelve chapters, contributors explore the existential issues stemming from digitally entangled lives, including cultural capital and digital'detox'retreats, and investigate how geographies of disconnection relate to wider societal challenges. Additional chapters explore connections between digital disconnection and other forms of disconnection, including death, sleep, and the abandonment of human settlements. The volume closes with a reflection on connectivity in the post-pandemic society and how we might rework our connections to fit a'socially distanced'world. Blending philosophy and sociology with media geography, Disentangling offers a crucial reflection on how we might unravel our digital dependence by reasserting resilient boundaries between ourselves and the surrounding political, economic, cultural, and technological systems.

Get the Summary of Joseph Henrich's The WEIRDest People in the World in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you're rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves-their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations-over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries?

Most of the time, we believe our daily lives to be governed by structures determined from above: laws that dictate our behavior, companies that pay our wages, even climate patterns that determine what we eat or where we live. In contrast, social organization is often a feature of local organization. While those forces may seem beyond individual grasp, we often come together in small communities to change circumstances that would otherwise flatten us. Challenging traditional sociological models of powerful forces, in The Hinge, Gary Alan Fine emphasizes and describes those meso-level collectives, the organizations that bridge our individual interests and the larger structures that shape our lives. Focusing on “tiny publics,” he describes meso-level social collectives as “hinges”: groups that come together to pursue a shared social goal, bridging the individual and the broader society. Understanding these hinges, Fine argues, is crucial to explaining how societies function, creating links between the micro- and macro-orders of society. He draws on historical cases and fieldwork to illustrate how these hinges work and how to describe them. In The Hinge, Fine has given us powerful new theoretical tools for understanding an essential part of our social worlds.

Through comparative historical research, this book offers a novel theory explaining the emergence of boredom in modernity. Presenting a Durkheimian topology of cross-cultural boredom, it grounds the sociological cause of boredom in anomie and the perception of time, compares its development through case studies in Anglo and Russian society, and explains its minimal presence outside of the West. By way of illustrative examples, it includes archetypes of boredom in literature, art, film, and music, with a focus on the death of traditional art, and boredom in politics, including strategies enacted by Queer intellectuals. The author argues that boredom often results from the absence of a strong commitment to engaging with society, and extends Durkheim's theory of suicide to boredom in order to consider whether an imbalance between social regulation and integration results in boredom. The first book to scientifically explain the historical emergence and epidemic of boredom while engaging with cutting edge political debates, Towards a General Theory of Boredom will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in social theory, social psychology, and sociology.

The Routledge International Handbook of Interactionism demonstrates the promise and diversity of the interactionist perspective in social science today, providing students and practitioners with an overview of the impressive developments in interactionist theory, methods and research. Thematically organized, it explores the history of interactionism and the contemporary state of the field, considering the ways in which scholars approach topics that are central to interactionism. As such, it presents discussions of self, identity, gender and sexuality, race, emotions, social organization, media and the internet, and social problems. With attention to new developments in methods and methodologies, including digital ethnography, visual methods and research ethics, the authors also engage with new areas of investigation that have emerged in light of current societal developments, such as policing and police violence, interactionism beyond binaries and social media. Providing a comprehensive overview of the current state and possible future of interactionist research, it will appeal to interactionist scholars, as well as to established sociologists and students of sociology who have an interest in latest developments in interactionism.

In his third book, The Dignity Doctrine: Pursuing Rational Relations in an Irrational World, award-winning author Mark C. Coleman lays out a pragmatic framework for how humanity can attain a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world. His perspective and real-life examples of how to accomplish this are drawn from his family's triumph over challenging personal experiences and his career as a consultant for practitioners of sustainability in business. Coleman explores the role of business and consumers in addressing our human-induced ecological degradation, the crisis of climate change, and both the threat and salvation from advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. During this time of great insecurity about the future, he concludes we must transform our attitutdes toward our individual freedoms and privilege to successfully navigate our precarious relationship with each other and the earth's precious resources. Coleman tackles tough existential questions to arrive at a deeper understanding of our life's purpose as consumers and caretakers of all living beings on planet Earth and ways we can reconcile deep rifts in our relationships with each other during this perilous time. He believes the possibility of the permanent loss of our planet's life-sustaining ecologic resources as a result of the errors of our human-built environment calls all of us to engage in an active pursuit to discover who we are and why we are here. The Dignity Doctrine aims to provide an alternative to the irrational, uncivil political discourse and social conflicts happening throughout the world—a much needed, more tempered call to action to achieve more rational relationships necessary for people to work together toward a more intentional future and higher purpose. Colman beckons readers to reinvent their true relationship with all life forms from a more enlightened perspective of the meaning of human dignity. His logical framework offers a way to create positive change in our life to help us attain more meaningful and dignified relationships with each other and our planet.

Without joint action, man's cultural, scientific and everyday achievements would be unthinkable. What special cognitive abilities make it possible for this to happen so often and in so many ways? Dancing, waging war, building a castle together in the sandbox - joint action is a central component of everyday life and the success of mankind. This ability is based on special socio-cognitive abilities, the scope and interplay of which characterize the human species. Literature often focuses on the large and complex forms of joint action.This book represents an attempt to present a philosophical reconstruction of joint action through an interdisciplinary investigation of small forms with few actors. This is suitable for explaining the behavior of children and adults, as well as for taking into account empirical results from related disciplines, especially developmental psychology.

The notion of common sense and abiding by its implications is something that, seemingly, everyone agrees is a good way of making behavioral decisions and conducting one's daily activities. This holds true whether one is a liberal, moderate, or conservative; young or old; and regardless of one's race and ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. If utilizing common sense is such a good idea, why then, do so many people seem to violate it? This is just one of many significant questions surrounding the idea of common sense explored and discussed in this book. This volume presents common sense as a ‘paradigm of thought'and as such, compares it to other major categories of thought — tradition, faith, enlightened and rational. Combining a balance of practical, everyday approaches (through the use of popular culture references and featured boxes) and academic analysis of core and conceptual methodological issues, Delaney demonstrates: The limitations of common sense and its place in everyday social interactions How we learn about common sense Why common sense is so important Common Sense as a Paradigm of Thought introduces readers to a rich variety of sociological authors and will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as: sociology, philosophy, social psychology, cultural studies, communications and health studies.

One of the longest standing traditions in sociology, interactionism is concerned with studying human interaction and showing how society to a large part is constituted by patterns of interaction. In spite of the work of figures such as Robert E. Park, Everett C. Hughes, Erving Goffman, Herbert Blumer, Norman K. Denzin and Gary Alan Fine, interactionism – perhaps owing to its association with the perspective of symbolic interactionism – remains something of an odd man out in mainstream sociology. This book seeks to rectify this apparent neglect by bringing together critical social theories and microsociological approaches to research, thus revealing the critical and cultural potentials in interactionism – the chapters arguing that far from being oriented towards the status quo, interactionism in fact contains a critical and cultural edge. Presenting the latest work from some of the leading figures in interactionist thought to show recent developments in the field and offer an overview of some of the most potent and prominent ideas within critical and cultural criminology, Critical and Cultural Interactionism will appeal to scholars of sociology with interests in interactionism, social theory research methods and criminology.

This book is about the ways which human behavior is affected concerns with people may be doing, their public impressions they typically prefer that No matter what else other people perceive them in certain desired ways and not perceive them in other, undesired ways. Put simply, human beings have a pervasive and ongoing concern with their self-presentations. Sometimes they act in ceflain ways just to make a particular impression on someone else mras when a job applicant responds inthat will satisfactorily impress the interviewer. But more often, people 5 concerns with others'impressions simply constrain their behavioural options. Most of the time inclined to do things that will lead others to see us as incompetent, inwnoral, maladjusted, or otherwise socially undesirable. As a result, our concerns with others'impressions limit what we are willing to do.Self-presentation almotives underlie and pervade near corner of interpersonal life.

This book shows how primitive games relate to the broader framework of the theory of games and provides a general discussion of the different types of primitive games. It deals with applications of primitive games to particular areas of social research.

Embodied Family Choreography documents the lived and embodied practices employed to establish, maintain, and negotiate intimate social relationships in the family, examining forms of control, care, and creativity. Making use of the extensive video archives of family interaction in the US and Sweden, it presents the first investigation of how touch and interaction between bodies, in conjunction with talk, constitute a primary means of orchestrating activities through directives, thus creating rich relationships through supportive interchanges, and engaging in playful explorations of the world. Through close investigation of the sequential and simultaneous engagement of bodies interacting with other bodies, this book makes visible the important role touch plays in the context of contemporary Western middle class family life and is pioneering in its analysis of how the visual, aural, and haptic senses (usually analysed separately) mutually elaborate one another. As such, Embodied Family Choreography will appeal to scholars of child development, the sociology of the family and ethnomethodology and conversation analysis.

This book focuses on major theories of language from several disciplines and aims to develop an approach to communicative practice that combines the formal properties of linguistic systems with the dynamics of speech as social activity.

This book presents theoretical expositions of the various group topics and descriptions of existing research, emphasizing performance and interaction issues. It discusses some specific groups, of workplace groups, juries, computer-based groups, and other unique groups.

Social decentering theory was developed in response to the confusion created by the use of the term empathy and to a lesser extent, perspective-taking, to reflect a wide and varied set of human cognitive processes and behaviors. Theory of Social Decentering: A Theory of Other-Orientation Encompassing Empathy and Perspective-Taking, presents an innovative approach to the social cognitive process by which humans take into consideration the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and dispositions of other people. The multidimensional theory and measure of social decentering represents a unifying theory that identifies and incorporates key elements imbedded in other-oriented terms. The first chapters present the theory and development of a measure of social decentering in a complete and detailed manner examining the important role that social decentering plays in human communication. The remaining chapters of the book examine the role that social decentering, empathy, and perspective-taking play in the development and management of interpersonal relationships, in marital relationships, in teams and group interactions, and in the workplace. The final chapter examines the negative consequences to individuals, decisions, and relationships potentially created by engaging in social decentering. The appendices include copies of the measure of social decentering and the measure of relationship-specific social decentering. The book is of interest for graduates in communication studies, psychology, and sociology, and valuable for communication and social psychology scholars interested in empathy or perspective taking.

This book focuses on the stereotypes, prejudices, and discriminatory behavior of individuals and the manner in which these cognitions, feelings, and behaviors affect others and are affected by them, concentrating in relations among individuals as they are affected by their own group memberships.

Over the past few decades, various types of hate material have caused increasing concern. Today, the scope of hate is wider than ever, as easy and often-anonymous access to an enormous amount of online content has opened the Internet up to both use and abuse. By providing possibilities for inexpensive and instantaneous access without ties to geographic location or a user identification system, the Internet has permitted hate groups and individuals espousing hate to transmit their ideas to a worldwide audience. Online Hate and Harmful Content focuses on the role of potentially harmful online content, particularly among young people. This focus is explored through two approaches: firstly, the commonality of online hate through cross-national survey statistics. This includes a discussion of the various implications of online hate for young people in terms of, for example, subjective wellbeing, trust, self-image and social relationships. Secondly, the book examines theoretical frameworks from the fields of sociology, social psychology and criminology that are useful for understanding online behaviour and online victimisation. Limitations of past theory are assessed and complemented with a novel theoretical model linking past work to the online environment as it exists today. An important and timely volume in this ever-changing digital age, this book is suitable for graduates and undergraduates interested in the fields of Internet and new media studies, social psychology and criminology. The analyses and findings of the book are also particularly relevant to practitioners and policy-makers working in the areas of Internet regulation, crime prevention, child protection and social work/youth work.

Elementary Forms of Social Relations introduces the reader to social life as a perpetual quest by individuals to gain attention, respect and regard (status) accompanied by an effort to marshal defensive and offensive means (power) to overcome the reluctance of others to grant status. This work is based on empirical evidence from many research settings showing that status and power are the main relational modes and that to understand our own and others'social behaviour, we need to understand how status and power operate in relational conduct.The status-power and reference group approach is applied to enumerate the relatively few ways in which social interaction can occur. Chapters compare the analytic value of the concept of the self with the value of reference groups that create the self. Threads of investigation include: considering the fallacy of abandoning reference groups as sources of cultural information in favour of approaches derived from cognitive neuroscience; examining a multi-person conversation from a status-power-and-reference-group stance as against a view of the same conversation based on principles of Conversation Analysis; and asserting the universality of personal status-power interests even among national leaders to name a few. By applying the author's main theory to a range of specific cases, the author reaffirms the importance of the social to our understanding of a variety of phenomena, including the self, cultural transmission, the conduct of leaders and economic activity.This book provides readers with transparent instances of the theory in action and thus will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in theory and social interaction.

The Presentation of Self in Contemporary Social Life covers the popular theories of Erving Goffman, and shows modern applications of dramaturgical analysis in a wide range of social contexts. David Shulman's innovative new text demonstrates how Goffman's ideas, first introduced in 1959, continue to inspire research into how we manage the impressions that others form about us. He synthesizes the work of contemporary scholars who use dramaturgical approaches from several disciplines, who recognize that many values, social norms, and laws have changed since Goffman's time, and that contemporary society offers significant new forms of impression management that we can engage in and experience. After a general introduction to dramaturgical sociology, readers will see many examples of how Goffman's ideas can provide powerful insights into familiar aspects of contemporary life, including business and the workplace, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and the digital world.

Die Technologien der digitalen Kommunikation und mobilen Vernetzung durchdringen in einem hohen Ausmaß unseren Alltag. Gleichermaßen subtil wie nachhaltig eroberten sie im Verlauf der Technisierung die unterschiedlichen Lebensbereiche und erlauben uns heute zeitlich permanenten und ubiquitären Zugang zu den globalen Netzwerken der Kommunikation. Diese Publikation nimmt sowohl theoretische Konzepte wie historische Entwicklungslinien in den Blick. In Fortführung und Weiterentwicklung des Projekts zu den „Tele-Visionen“, das sich mit der Verbreitung und den Aneignungsformen des Fernsehens auseinandersetzte, widmet sich diese Arbeit nunmehr der Frage des Umgangs der Menschen mit mobilen Technologien der Konnektivität und den daraus erwachsenden Konsequenzen für Individuum wie Gesellschaft.D

Now in its third edition, this successful book introduces students to the area of social science theory and research known as social constructionism. Using a variety of examples from everyday experience and from existing research in areas such as personality, sexuality and health, it clearly explains the basic theoretical assumptions of social constructionism. Key debates, such as the nature and status of knowledge, truth, reality and the self are given in-depth analysis in an accessible style. Drawing on a range of empirical studies, the book clearly defines the various different approaches to social constructionist research and explores the theoretical and practical issues involved. While the text is broadly sympathetic to social constructionism, it also adopts a critical perspective to the material, addressing its weaknesses and, in the final chapter, subjecting the theory itself to a more extensive critique. New to this edition: Extended coverage of the relationship between'mainstream'psychology and social constructionism and how the two fields can engage with each other. An exploration of the rise and popularity of neuroscience and the challenge it poses to social constructionism. New material on the field of psychosocial studies. Updated coverage of existing key issues such as age and sexuality, and inclusion of more recently emerging issues (e.g. status and role of affect). Updated discussion of key social constructionist contributors, with revised references. Updated chapter on research methods, including more on narrative and critical narrative analysis, and personal construct methods. The third edition of Social Constructionism extends and updates the material covered in previous editions and will be an invaluable and informative resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students across the social and behavioural sciences.

'Belonging'is often overlooked in its relationship to society and social change, and yet it forms the bedrock of how we relate to the world around us. Through the work of Marx, Giddens and Goffman, this book covers the familiar terrain of identity theory, while going beyond it to other sites of identification and social change.

This issue focuses on'radical interactionism,'which recent emergence as an alternative perspective to conventional symbolic interactionism has sparked fierce debate in both North America and Europe. Lonnie Athens discusses the four fundamental differences between radical and conventional symbolic interactionism. The prominent scholars compare the relative insights offered not only between radical interactionism and symbolic interactionism, but between radical interactionism and feminism, dramaturgy, critical studies, and neo-pragmatism. Without exception, they found the radical interactionism revealed new and formidable insights that improved our general understanding of human group life and critical problems that arise during it. While some contributors believe that radical interactionism marks the development of a new and more vibrant form of interactionism which in due time will replace its much older and more conservative cousin, others believe that it only signals the need for traditional interactionists to finally start making some much-needed modifications in symbolic interactionism if they wish it to remain a viable sociological perspective in the 21st century.

In diesem Buch wird, ausgehend vom Werk Jean Piagets, kritisiert und erweitert in den Arbeiten von Vygotsky und Mead, ein theoretisches Modell konzipiert, womit sich grundlegende kognitive und soziale Strukturen unserer sozio-kulturellen Lebensweise über die Beziehung von Kleinkind und Betreuungsperson rekonstruieren lassen.Zentral ist hierbei das wechselseitige Konstitutionsverhältnis von Konstruktion und Interaktion. Einerseits wird die Konstruktion von Wissenssystemen erst dann verständlich, wenn wir sie im Kontext sozialer Interaktion analysieren, andererseits ist die Reproduktion von Interaktionsstrukturen nur möglich, weil sie sich in kognitive Strukturen objektivieren und damit nachfolgenden Akteuren verfügbar bleiben.

8 Kant machte keinen Hehl daraus, daß die Metaphysik den erhabenen wissenschaftlichen Vorbildern der Mathematik und der Physik folgen sollte. Beeindruckt von den ersten Erfolgen der aufstrebenden Naturwissenschaften und der logischen Stringenz der Mathematik glaubte Kant, mit einer Revolu­ tion der Denkart auch die Philosophie über bloßes Scheinwissen hinauszu­ führen und ihr einen festen Platz im angesehenen Wissenschaftsgebäude zu erkämpfen. Die Überlegungen von Kant erscheinen ebenso einfach wie genial. Kopernikus hatte gelehrt, daß sich die Himmelsbewegungen leichter erklären lassen, wenn man die alte, traditionelle Annahme aufgibt, daß'das ganze Stemheer (...) sich um den Zuschauer',2 dreht und man es stattdessen ein­ mal umgekehrt versucht. Also ließ Kopernikus'den Zuschauer drehen und dagegen die Sterne in RUhe.3, und diese Umänderung der Denkart ermög­ lichte in der Tat die erklärungsstärkere Beschreibung der Himmelskörper. Kant schlug nun vor, es in der Metaphysik einmal auf ähnliche Weise zu versuchen. Statt weiter der Vorstellung zu folgen, daß die Erkenntnis sich nach den Gegenständen richtet, sollte man es laut Kant einmal mit der umgekehrten Annahme probieren, also mit der Überlegung, daß sich die 4 Dinge als Erscheinungen nach unserer VorsteIlungsart richten.

Kommunikation ist das tägliche Miteinander sozialer Wesen. Kommunikation wirkt auf Menschen, und Menschen wirken auf Kommunikation. Das vorliegende Buch informiert über die Theorie und Praxis der sozialen Kommunikation und gibt Anre­ gungen zur Verbesserung kommunikativer Fertigkeiten. Jeder, der besser kommu­ niziert, gewinnt, und zwar nach innen wie nach außen. Das Buch ist in stark erweiterter Form aus Vorlesungen entstanden, die ich auf Einladung der SEL-Stiftung für technische und wirtschaftliche Kommunikations­ forschung im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft im Sommersemester 1991 an der Universität S tuttgart gehalten habe. Für die Einladung zu dieser Vorlesungsreihe bin ich Herrn Rektor Prof. Dr. J. Giesecke und dem Vorsitzenden des Kuratoriums, Herrn Prof. Dr. G. Zeidler, zu Dank verpflichtet. Danken möchte ich ganz besonders Herrn Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. W. Kaiser und Herrn D. Klumpp, dem Geschäfts­ führer der SEL-Stiftung, für wertvolle Anregungen und Hilfen verschiedenster Art. Herr Dipl.-Ing. W. Kluge hat durch seine technische Unterstützung wesentlich zum Erfolg der Veranstaltung beigetragen. Ihm und meinen Hörerlnnen danke ich herzlich für ihr waches Interesse an meinen Vorlesungen. Ich habe dieses Buch nicht als sogenannte Lebenshilfe geschrieben. Dafür gibt es andere Werke, die Hilfen für die Verbesserung zwischenmenschlicher Beziehun­ gen anbieten. Die vorliegende Arbeit soll einen Platz zwischen den wissenschaftlichen Fachbüchern und den anwendungsorientierten Sachbüchern einnehmen. Es soll wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse über soziale Kommunikation vermitteln und in die Nähe der praktischen Anwendung im Alltag und Beruf bringen. In diesem Sinne ist es Theorie- und Praxisbuch zugleich. Die umfangreicheLiteraturliste zeugt davon.

Soziologie hat es mit der Untersuchung menschlichen Handeins zu tun. Diese Feststellung kann als Gemeinplatz gelten. Doch schon die Frage, was Handlungen sind, führt in kontroverse Zonen der Theoriediskussion. Die soziologische wie die philosophische Handlungstheorie begreift Handeln im 1 wesentlichen immer noch als intentionales Verhalten. Obwohl damit von Hause aus je individuell und psychisch konstituiert, gelten Handlungen 2 zugleich als Basiseinheiten des Sozialen.'Sozialisiert'werden sie durch den Einbau sozialer Bezüge in den psychischen Handlungssinn. Diese kommen ins Spiel durch die Orientierung an den Erwartungen oder Handlungen anderer Akteure sowie durch die soziale Prägung individuell verfolgter Handlungsziele und dafür ausgewählter Mittel. Fragt man nach den Bedingungen der Möglichkeit dafür, wie Akteure fremde Erwartungen antizipieren, den Sinn fremder Handlungen erraten und in ihrem Handeln sozialisatorisch geprägt werden können, trifft man auf Kommunikation. Soziales Handeln und Kommunikation erscheinen so als korrelative Begriffe, deren Beziehung zueinander der genaueren Klärung bedarf. Zwei Grundpositionen dazu konkurrieren im soziologischen Theorieangebot: (1) Kommunikation kann als spezifische Form des Handelns gedeutet werden. Sie besteht demnach in der Ausführung von Mitteilungsakten oder Sprechhandlungen, mit denen ein Akteur anderen Akteuren intentional ausgewählte Informationen übermittelt bzw. Interaktionsoffertenanzeigt. Die Spannweite der so angelegten Positionen reicht von informationstheoreti­ schen Übertragungsmodellen bis hin zur Sprechakttheorie und zur Haber­ 3 masschen Theorie kommunikativen Handelns. Oder in der Diktion der sprachanalytischen Philosophie seit Anscombe (1957): als Körperbewegungen und derenWirkungen, soweit diese intentional unter einer Beschreibung sind. Siehe dazu unten, Kap. 1.4.

The field of personal life is a relatively new area of sociological study that seeks to understand the complexities of contemporary personal and social relationships. This includes exploration of the impact of social, economic, legal, and political change on personal experiences, opportunities, and life-styles. This ground breaking edited collection presents research on personal and public lives in a period of rapid social and political change. Relatively little is known about how personal and public aspects of life inter-relate and even less about how the outcomes of this relationship shape different areas of life. This book aims to capture and understand the effects of these overlapping spheres on the everyday lives of people in different geographical, cultural, and spatial settings. It brings together research in four key areas; migration and displacement, gender, sexuality, and health, with two main overarching themes. The first theme is how individuals cope with social, political, geographical, and cultural change in these diverse settings. The second relates to how these changes produce diverse inequalities that impact on relationships, roles, and responsibilities. The book thus seeks to increase the visibility of particular aspects of life that have often been neglected in social science research and subsequently open them up to further research and debate.

Le silence peut-il favoriser la rencontre entre deux individus? L'originalité de cet ouvrage réside dans l'exploration de ce paradoxe. Il met en contraste le phénomène social du silence, déterminé par les codes du théâtre de la vie, et l'expérience phénoménale de celui-ci, vécue au plus intime de soi.

If all politics is local, then so is almost everything else, argues sociologist Gary Alan Fine. We organize our lives by relying on those closest to us—family members, friends, work colleagues, team mates, and other intimates—to create meaning and order. In this thoughtful and wide-ranging book, Fine argues that the basic building blocks of society itself are forged within the boundaries of such small groups, the'tiny publics'necessary for a robust, functioning social order at all levels. Action, meaning, authority, inequality, organization, and institutions all have their roots in small groups. Yet for the past twenty-five years social scientists have tended to ignore the power of groups in favor of an emphasis on organizations, societies, or individuals. Based on over thirty-five years of Fine's own ethnographic research across an array of small groups, Tiny Publics presents a compelling new theory of the pivotal role of small groups in organizing social life. No social system can thrive without flourishing small groups. They provide havens in an impersonal world, where faceless organizations become humanized. Taking examples from such diverse worlds as Little League baseball teams, restaurant workers, high school debate teams, weather forecasters, and political volunteers, Fine demonstrates how each group has its own unique culture, or idioculture—the system of knowledge, beliefs, behavior, and customs that define and hold a group together. With their dense network of relationships, groups serve as important sources of social and cultural capital for their members. The apparently innocuous jokes, rituals, and nicknames prevalent within Little League baseball teams help establish how teams function internally and how they compete with other teams. Small groups also provide a platform for their members to engage in broader social discourse and a supportive environment to begin effecting change in larger institutions. In his studies of mushroom collectors and high school debate teams, Fine demonstrates the importance of stories that group members tell each other about their successes and frustrations in fostering a strong sense of social cohesion. And Fine shows how the personal commitment political volunteers bring to their efforts is reinforced by the close-knit nature of their work, which in turn has the power to change larger groups and institutions. In this way, the actions and debates begun in small groups can eventually radiate outward to affect every level of society. Fine convincingly demonstrates how small groups provide fertile ground for the seeds of civic engagement. Outcomes often attributed to large-scale social forces originate within such small-scale domains. Employing rich insights from both sociology and social psychology, as well as vivid examples from a revealing array of real-work groups, Tiny Publics provides a compelling examination of the importance of small groups and of the rich vitality they bring to social life. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Series on Trust

Inhalt: Christoph Bräuer & Jakob Ossner: Rahmungen der Unterrichtskommunikation; Christoph Bräuer: Die Unterrichtsrahmenanalyse – ein Beobachtungsinstrument für die praktische Forschung wie die forschende Praxis; Michael Becker-Mrotzek: Der Erzählkreis als Exempel für die Besonderheiten der Unterrichtskommunikation; Rüdiger Vogt: Was macht die Lehrperson denn da? Der Beitrag gesprächsanalytischer Untersuchungen bei der Unterrichtsanalyse für die Weiterentwicklung der professionellen Kompetenz von Deutschlehrerinnen und Deutschlehrern; Janet Spreckels: „was ihr jetzt machen sollt“ – Aufgabenerklärungen im Deutschunterricht; Inga Harren: Die verborgene Arbeit der Fachlehrer – sprachliche Anforderungen im Fachunterricht; Michael Krelle: Mündliches Argumentieren als Aspekt von Unterrichtskommunikation. Kompetenzen und Leistungserwartungen im Fokus; Miriam Lotz, Frank Lipowsky & Gabriele Faust: Kognitive Aktivierung im Leseunterricht der Grundschule. Konzeptionelle Überlegungen und erste empirische Ergebnisse zu ausgewählten Merkmalen kognitiv aktivierender Unterrichtsgespräche; Astrid Steiner: Unterrichtskommunikation. Eine linguistische Untersuchung des Dialektgebrauchs in Gymnasien der Deutschschweiz; Patrick Vosskamp: Rezension: von der Heiden, Gregor (2009): Gespräche in einer Krise

Crossing borders and boundaries, countries and cultures, they are the children of the military, diplomatic corps, international business, education and missions communities. They are called Third Culture Kids or Global Nomads, and the many benefits of their lifestyle – expanded worldview, multiplicity of languages, tolerance for difference – are often mitigated by recurring losses – of relationships, of stability, of permanent roots. They are part of an accelerating demographic that is only recently coming into visibility.In this groundbreaking collection, writers from around the world address issues of language acquisition and identity formation, childhood mobility and adaptation, memory and grief, and the artist's struggle to articulate the experience of growing up global. And, woven like a thread through the entire collection, runs the individual's search for belonging and a place called “home.”This book provides a major leap in understanding what it's like to grow up among worlds. It is invaluable reading for the new global age.

Este libro es una versión ampliada, revisada y autocrítica de Tuercas y tornillos: una introducción a los conceptos básicos de las ciencias sociales, obra con la que Jon Elster conquistó la aclamación de la crítica. En veintiséis sucintos capítulos, el autor describe la naturaleza de la explicación en las ciencias sociales; analiza los estados mentales -creencias, deseos y emociones- que son precursores de la acción; hace una comparación sistemática de los modelos de comportamiento basados en la elección racional con explicaciones alternativas; examina las posibles enseñanzas que las ciencias sociales pueden extraer de la neurociencia y la biología evolutiva, y revisa los mecanismos de la interacción social, desde el comportamiento estratégico hasta la toma colectiva de decisiones. Nos ofrece un panorama general de los mecanismos explicativos claves de las ciencias sociales, sobre la base de numerosos ejemplos y el recurso a una amplia variedad de fuentes: psicología, economía comportamental, biología, ciencias políticas, escritos históricos, filosofía y ficción. En un lenguaje accesible y liberado de toda jerga, Elster aspira a la exactitud y la claridad, a la vez que elude los modelos formales. En una provocativa conclusión, defiende el carácter central de la ciencia social cualitativa en una guerra de dos frentes contra las formas blandas (literarias) y duras (matemáticas) de oscurantismo.

The purpose of this book is to provide insights that make social interactions more predictable by better understanding how people come to the conclusion that a particular social action is both possible and desirable in a particular relational situation. This it does by demarcating and exploring the implications of a set of situational logics that are grounded in how a person can coherently choose not only to comprehend the actuality of a relational situation, but also to understand why social actions are carried out the way they are in that situation.

How understanding the signaling within social networks can change the way we make decisions, work with others, and manage organizations.How can you know when someone is bluffing? Paying attention? Genuinely interested? The answer, writes Alex Pentland in Honest Signals, is that subtle patterns in how we interact with other people reveal our attitudes toward them. These unconscious social signals are not just a back channel or a complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network. Biologically based “honest signaling,” evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, offers an unmatched window into our intentions, goals, and values. If we understand this ancient channel of communication, Pentland claims, we can accurately predict the outcomes of situations ranging from job interviews to first dates.Pentland, an MIT professor, has used a specially designed digital sensor worn like an ID badge—a “sociometer”—to monitor and analyze the back-and-forth patterns of signaling among groups of people. He and his researchers found that this second channel of communication, revolving not around words but around social relations, profoundly influences major decisions in our lives—even though we are largely unaware of it. Pentland presents the scientific background necessary for understanding this form of communication, applies it to examples of group behavior in real organizations, and shows how by “reading” our social networks we can become more successful at pitching an idea, getting a job, or closing a deal. Using this “network intelligence” theory of social signaling, Pentland describes how we can harness the intelligence of our social network to become better managers, workers, and communicators.

This book emphasizes critical approaches to the study of race, identity and self, as well as developments in interactionist theory, ethics and dramaturical studies.

Volume 31 of'Studies in Symbolic Interaction'inaugurates the'Blue Ribbon Paper Series'under the editorship of Lonnie Athens. The papers in this series celebrate cutting-edge theory and research presented at the Couch-Stone Spring Symposium, and the Annual Meetings of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. New theoretical developments in the areas of everyday life, race, Native Americans, politics, performance, Spartan Superhunks, and Persian Monsters in recent Hollywood film are also included.