'Hey You': A Study of the Social-Psychological Implications of Form of Address.

The research reported in this paper is concerned with the social and psychological implications of everyday interaction between graduate students and faculty in the sociology department of a small university. The researchers assumed that form of address is problematic for subordinates in social interaction and is a dilemma whose solution represents an evaluation by the addressor of both the addressed and his relationship to the addressed. The study examines certain characteristics of faculty members--age, authority, eminence, visibility, and years at the university--as potential influences on social distance between themselves and graduate students. Data from questionnaires distributed to graduate students indicate that form of address is especially problematic for subordinates in the academic setting where social structure is fluid and the potential for role strain is great. However, the more advanced graduate students exhibit less formality in addressing faculty and even manifest the ambiguity of their relationships with faculty by avoiding any form of address. (Author/SES)