Exam 5: Social Interaction in Everyday Life

Of the three major sociological perspectives, symbolic interactionism is the most flexible and prone to change.

The Zimbardo experiment was a classic example of how people can successfully learn roles and also maintain the various statuses they occupy separate from one another.

Jacob is a 56-year-old married philosophy professor dating one of his 18-year-old students. Such an arrangement, which is frowned upon by other members of society, is called ________.

For most Americans the distance from their body outward to approximately 18 inches is called ________.

According to functionalists, what is the basic necessity required for society to exist, which is defined as the patterned and recurrent relationships among group members?

Police officers are often guilty of overidentifying their occupation with the other statuses and roles that they must occupy and perform, such as father, husband, and neighbor. This over-emphasis on a role that becomes central to a person's identity so that the person literally becomes that role is called ________.

Role performance varies widely from one person to another but remains consistent for individuals occupying multiple statuses.

How would a conflict theorist view the purpose of roles, statuses, and institutions that provide structure to society and, by doing so, makes the concept of society possible?

What do sociologists call groups, such as family, education, religion, government, and the economy, that address fundamental social needs?

When a person occupies two or more statuses that appear to be contradictory to each other, it is called ________.

Age, gender, race, ethnicity, and family background each comprise a socially defined position in the social structure called ________.

Contradictory expectations and demands attached to a single role, such as a student's wish to do well in a course and impress the professor but not alienate himself from his peers as being a "nerd," is role strain.

Role strain is a contradictory expectation attached to a single role, whereas role conflict is contradictory expectations occurring when one in obligated to fulfill more than one role.

It is customary for executioners to wear hoods. By doing so, the individual assigned this status can remain detached from his or her role to avoid the negative aspects associated with it. This is called ________.

Status is an individualized possession, unrelated to the status of others.

When one's personal space is violated, defensive strategies are employed to create a barrier between oneself and the offending party.

Officer Joe Friday responded to a burglar alarm at the Acme Jewelry Store late one night to discover his next door neighbor and best friend filling a bag with diamond rings and other loot. Officer Friday faced a dilemma because he knew he couldn't fulfill his duties as a police officer without violating the friendship he held with his neighbor. Such a scenario is an example of ________.

Dr. Smith missed breakfast this morning as well as lunch. During his afternoon class his stomach began growling so loudly that it could be heard throughout the classroom. Even so, none of the students reacted in a negative manner and simply ignored the temporary disruption. In dramaturgy, to overlook such an incident requires what Goffman would call ________.

A common link between conflict theorists and structural functionalists is that both groups agree on the importance and purpose of social institutions.

What was Robert Nisbet referring to when he spoke of the "molecular cement" that binds people, groups, and societies together?