Comment #2

This week I commented on Lucy's blogpost, "Where the Bloody Hell Are You?".

Follow the link below to check it out:

Comment #2

Annnd, just for fun, here's a .gif of a guy with some killer dance moves:

Data Discussion Presentation

Here's a link to the data that I'm going to discuss in my presentation tomorrow:

brockelection 2010, Gordon Brown and “Bigoted Woman IN FULL- Rochdale 28 April 2010", accessed 08/09/2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTr8IVWBuPE

Social Codes And First Meetings

What’s It All About?

Every social interaction is guided by specific ‘codes’ that both guide behaviour and are shaped by the behaviour itself. These codes dictate what should generally occur when an individual is faced with a certain situation to ensure a reasonable level of social cohesion and order is maintained. Typically the codes are not written, and sometimes not actually verbalised, but emerge at some point in time and become accepted. In this week’s reading, “Telling the Code”, Wieder explores the example of the implementation of a set of social codes in the setting of prisons, half way houses and rehabilitation facilities. In this setting, individuals create rules of conduct, that are often unspoken, that are recognised and enforced by those belonging to the group of criminals, their rehabilitated counterparts and interestingly, the staff who work at the institution in which they live.

I felt as though Wieder may have been able to communicate the general gist of the example in fewer pages. Although the example is quite interesting, I found it got a little boring and repetitive at times. I also think that perhaps the inclusion of examples other than the ‘convict code’ may have made the concept of social codes easier to understand and apply to everyday life.

Example Time!

This week is was a little more difficult to come up with an example relating to social codes. However, I was able to identify the manner in which social codes are utilised when two individuals meet for the first time.

Often people, upon meeting for the first time, use some kind of salutation such as ‘hello’ and then proceed to introduce themself with simple and generally public information, such as their name and profession. Upon first meeting it is generally not socially acceptable to divulge information that is more personal or sensitive in nature, such as sexual orientation and sometimes age. Similarly, the proximity to which each person stands and the level of physical contact that they can engage in are normally socially understood. There are no written rules regarding how to behave in this manner, but everyone goes about behaving like this anyway because the unwritten, and sometimes unspoken social codes suggest we should. If the social codes are broken when two people meet, or the two people have been raised with different social codes, the situation tends to get a little awkward and no one really knows what to do other than to attempt to ‘save face’.

Yep, it happens, and it sure is awkward when it does.

Comment #1

I left a comment on Lakan's blog post 'Garfinkel and Ethnomethodolgy (week 7)'.

Follow the link below to check it out:

Comment #1

Also, seeing as this is an extremely small blog post, I felt it was necessary to include a gif. of Barack Obama skateboarding. Enjoy!

Ethnomethodology And Awkward Text Messages

What's It All About?

Ethnomethodology focuses on the interactions that are occurring in the present. It does not seek to change these interactions, but rather merely observe the ways in which they do occur.

Within the reading, ‘The Morality of Cognition’ by J. Heritage, I was intrigued by the concept of underlying patterns and the use of ‘documents’, social facts that can be pieced together to arrive at a conclusion. In most interactions, the ‘documents’ point to underlying patterns that are expected and drawn from prior experiences and knowledge. However, when the ‘documents’ do not follow socially constructed norms, confusion can occur. Dennis (2011) explains this concept simply as being a process through which both a problem and solution are established and that through the course of the interaction, the contributions of all parties involved helps to clarify what is actually occurring, the problem and the solution. The concept is definitely something that I’ve never really considered, but it seems to be quite obvious in its manifestation when I think about it!

Some of the concepts within the set reading seem to be a little over complicated and a bit wordy, but as with the Goffman readings, the inclusion of examples helps to clarify things to a reasonable extent.

Example Time!

When the ‘documents’ found within a certain situation don’t actually point towards an expected underlying pattern, people often give others the benefit of the doubt in order to try and understand what is happening and help 'save face' for all involved. This is evident when it comes to text messages that contain more than one possible meaning or a response that is otherwise unexpected. Sometimes it is possible to determine what is trying to be said, but otherwise it just gets really awkward and very confusing for all involved.

The main culprit in these interactional confusions is almost always the auto correct function found on almost all mobile phones. Whilst helpful for the majority of the time, it can cause some problems in altering what is communicated and the ‘documents’ to be observed during the interaction. It's happened to us all! 

Take for example the text message conversation depicted in the image below. As auto correct changed one word, the entire meaning of a response has, as a result, been altered in  a negative way. The situation has led the victim of auto correct to try and 'save face' by attempting to send more text messages to clarify the intended meaning of his message, but in the end, it pretty much turned out to be a massive fail...

Dennis, A 2011, 'Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnomethodology', Symbolic Interaction, vol.34, no.3, pp.349-356, accessed 02/09/2012, http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/docview/894710587