Adler & Adler- Loyalty

Adler & Adler examine intense loyalty within organization. This includes the loyalty
found within military combat units, religious groups, sports teams, etc., as opposed to that
found within, say, businesses. Specifically, Adler and Adler study a prominent college
basketball team. Peter Adler takes up a role as the “team sociologist,” working with the
coach, and Patricia Adler observes as a professor at the school and as the wife of one of
the coaches. They find that there are five elements essential to the development of
intense loyalty in organizations: domination, identification, commitment, integration,
and alignment.
• Domination: Players are subordinated by coaches. The coach reinforces this
through displays of power. Feelings of awe and respect increased loyalty. Also,
they saw the instrumental value in giving their loyalty to such a powerful
superordinate. Also, the coach maintained control over players, first as the
organization’s gatekeeper and then by staying abreast of information about their
lives and by controlling many facets of their lives. Also, the players’ lives and
future depended on the coach (and vice-versa). Furthermore, players underwent a
process of resocialization, a stripping down and rebuilding of their selves. They
started out spending a lot of time on the bench and re-learning the game so that
they became team players. Also, the coach discouraged certain aspects of their
personalities and encouraged others through private talks and public shaming
rituals.
• Identification: If one identifies with an organization, then loyalty to the
organization follows naturally because it is loyalty to oneself. The players were
taught to feel that they represented the program and the coach wherever they
went. Also, the coach made them identify more closely with him by adopting a
paternalistic style. He symbolically extended his family bonds to include the
players by inviting them to his house often etc. Also, he offered loyalty to them,
thereby ensuring their loyalty through the norm of reciprocity.
• Commitment: Signing was symbolically like an oath of allegiance to the
program. Also, NCAA transfer rules made it difficult to switch to another
school’s program.
• Integration: Integration is the coalescence of discrete individuals into a close-knit
whole. The coach encouraged this by being harsh on them and thereby unifying
the players against him. Also, group solidarity was encouraged by the athletes
spending their summers together on campus. Furthermore, they were racially
different from other students, lived in a special athletic dorm, had little time to
socialize outside the team, and shared a common outlook. These factors brought
them together while segregating them from others. Also, upperclassmen often
took freshmen under their wings, creating intimacy, camaraderie, and
interpersonal loyalty.
• Goal Alignment: The players had a variety of personal goal, whereas the coach
just wanted the program to succeed. These goals overlapped in that they all
wanted to win games. However, some players focused more on improving their
 individual playing statistics and did not give their loyalty to the organization.
So Adler and Adler ask, “What kinds of organizational characteristics foster this
intense kind of loyalty, and how do these organization differ structurally from those
without it? First, paternalistic organizations with charismatic leadership are more likely
than bureaucratic organization to promote loyalty. Second, organizations that recruit
members based on talent really have to re-socialize them into a group that works well
together, and this is conducive to intense loyalty. Third, organizations that engage in
controlling the extraorganizational behavior of their members are more likely to evoke
intense loyalty. Fourth, organizational loyalty is more likely to arise in organizations
where the central life interest of the members revolves around the organization.
A few more things: Within organizations exhibiting intense loyalty, members
give up individual autonomy and accept subordination. Also, organizations in which
productivity is achieved on a group basis generate greater loyalty than those characterized
by individual achievement. Finally, the alignment of organizational and individual goals
is important

Hecter
Chapter 2: The Problem
This chapter presents the background, motivation, and foundation for Hechter’s
theory of group solidarity, which is presented in the next chapter. I studied the text a lot
in order to summarize, but then I realized Hechter summarizes the entire chapter
beautifully in the final two paragraphs. Here’s that summary:
“A group is solidary to the degree that its members comply with corporate rules in
the absence of compensation (that is, some tangible payment for value received or service
rendered, but not mere psychic gratification). Each of the principal sociological
approaches to the problem of group solidarity is inadequate. Normativists recognize that
the key to solidarity lies in the obligation to comply with group norms, but they fail to
explain the conditions under which compliance is likely to occur. Structuralists
recognize the importance of common interest in the generation of solidarity, but they fail
to explain how rational actors are dissuaded from free riding. An adequate theory of
group solidarity must explain the conditions under which obligation develops and free
riding is controlled.
Despite longstanding sociological reservations, rational choice theory offers the
prospect of a better solution to the solidarity problem. It conceives of groups as the
producers of various types of joint goods. As such, their survival depends upon the
enactment and enforcement of rules governing the production and allocation of these
goods. Solidarity will be rare in groups whose rationale is the production of marketable
commodities, for in this case compliance to group rules can be secured via compensation
rather than obligation. High levels of solidarity are likely to be confined to groups whose
rationale is the production of joint goods that members themselves desire to consume.
The approach has a further implication. Due to the free-rider problem, the only groups
that can attain lasting solidarity are those that produce excludable goods. Some of the
necessary conditions for the development of solidarity flow from these premises. A new
theory must be devised, however, to specify its sufficient conditions.”
Chapter 3: A Theory of Group Solidarity
• An individual will always choose the route that best serves his or her interests.
• “Since groups that produce goods for the marketplace can compensate their
members with wages, solidarity will be confined to groups concerned with the
production of joint, immanent goods for internal consumption” (Hechter).
• The lower limit of the extensiveness of members’ obligations to a group is
determined by the cost of producing the joint good. The upper limit is determined
by their dependence on the group for producing the good. Dependence is affected
by environmental factors including the supply of close substitutes, lack of
information about alternatives, costs of moving, and the strength of personal ties.
• The probably of members’ compliance with their obligations to a group is
determined by the group’s “control capacity.” The extent of a group’s control
capacity is determined by two factors. First, the group must have the ability to
sanction members for their compliance or noncompliance with obligations.
Second, the group must have the ability to monitor members’ compliance.
• “The theory proposes that hte prospects for solidarity will be maximal in
situations where individuals face limited sources of benefit, where their
opportunities for multiple group affiliation are minimal, and where their social
isolation is extreme. But even in these most favorable of circumstances, solidarity
can be achieved only when groups have the capacity to monitor members’
behavior so that sanctions can be dispensed to promote compliance” (Hechter).
• This theory of groups solidarity “allows us to interpret some of the massive
changes in family structure that have occurred in the course of industrialization”
(Hechter). It used to be that women and children were dependent on men for
support. However, women have been integrated into the workforce, and, also, the
welfare state has replaced the necessity of dependence on men. Also, “the
separation of workplace and residence, coupled with high levels of female labor
force participation, have sharply reduced the family’s control capacity. In
consequence, family solidarity has reached a nadir: high rates of divorce are one
outcome of these changes” (Hechter).

Adler & Adler: Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in

Preadolescent Cliques
A critical structural form organizing the social arrangement of children’s lives is the
clique. This primary group colors the character of children’s preadolescent years and
shapes their socialization to adult life.

 This piece forms conclusions and observations on data through participant observation
and interviews with students in both public and private schools ranging from grade 4 to
grade 6
  Did so through taking on various roles: Parent, friend, counselor, coach,
volunteer, and carpooler

Techniques of Inclusion

Cliques maintain exclusivity through careful membership screening. Cliques are not
concrete—very dynamic. They evolve as individuals either move away or are ejected
from the groups. Also, others may join.

Recruitment
 Those at the center of clique leadership control this process
 They define which potential members are acceptable or unacceptable
 Potential new members can also be brought to the group by current
established group members but they are subject to review by leaders
 Timing is crucial—beginning of the school year is when cliques face
reconfiguration the most
 Some view invitation to join a popular clique as irresistible

Application
 Another way of joining a clique is through actively seeking entry
 Successful membership applicants often experience immediate popularity because
their entry required approval from clique leaders—associational status

Realignment of Friendships
 Those who remained more closely tied to the leaders were more popular.
 Members constantly striving to increase status.
 This hierarchal structure of cliques resulted in shifts in position and relationships—
results in friendships being less reliable
 Membership in these social circles was very dynamic as relationships are
constantly being formed and broken to become more popular
 This realignment suggests to other clique members that an individual is gaining more
popularity and status
 Leaders maintain power by incorporating lesser group members into their
activities thus diminishing other members’ threats to their popularity
 Leaders may also try to cut out their rivals’ independent base of support from
other friends
 Clique members abandoned previous friendships or destroyed existing ones in order to
assert themselves as part of relationships with those in central positions

Ingratiation

 Children often attempted entry into groups through low risk tactics
  First try to become accepted by more peripheral members rather than leader
- One way of doing this is through imitating the group leaders’ style and
interests
 In contrast, leaders also acted similarly to their followers in or to hold their members
adulation and loyalty
 Leaders often employed manipulation to hold clique members’ attention and loyalty
 Many popular members strove to ingratiate themselves with people less popular to
ensure that their dominance and adulation extended beyond their own boundaries

Techniques of Exlclusion

Individuals enhanced their own and others’ status by maneuvering into more central and
more powerful positions and/or recruiting others into such positions

Subjugation of the Out-Group

 Clique members were often mean to outsiders to try to keep them from straying to far
out of their influence.
 Some students say they made fun of outsiders simply because it was fun
 Clique leaders would convince other clique members to treat outsiders badly
 Making fun of outsiders instilled fear and inferior status

Subjugation within the In-Group

 High-level insiders would pick on low-level insiders in order to maintain hierarchy

Compliance

 When leaders would initiate such negative and wounding power dynamics, others
followed, participating either actively or passively in the decision
 Actively: Telephone prank calling
 Passively: Watching a prank unfold
 Members relished the opportunity to go along with such an exclusive activity—
welcome feelings of privilege, power, and inclusion.

Stigmatization

 Clique individuals were often made the focus of stigmatization for longer periods
 When people became the focus of stigmatization, all their friends rejected
them
Expulsion

 Could happen to anyone within the clique more likely to happen to people with lower
status
 Being a cast out could result from a severely irritating infraction or from
individuals standing up for their rights against the leaders
 Sometimes occurred as a result of breakups between friends or realignments
in friendship leading to membership challenges
 When clique leaders are kicked out of the group, they leave an established circle of
friends and often seek to make new ones.
 Some people find it much more difficult to form new friendships as they feel
rejected, stigmatized, and cut off from their formal social circle and status

Conclusion

 Clique dynamics teach children to reproduce society’s strong feelings of

differentiation between in-groups and out-groups.
 Children develop feelings of intolerance toward individuals who are not privileged to
be accepted as members.
These clique dynamics teacher young people the fundamental values of conflict and
prejudice.
 They may form the basis for the social reproduction of racism, anti-Semitism,
sexism, and other forms of bigotry and discrimination

Moss Kanter
Coleman Norms
Asche

Reed- Wayward Cops

Wayward Cops: three intra-occupational deviant social types are examined
-Groups need deviant behavior in the same way that they induce other group qualities like
leadership, fellowship, and etc. (pg. 1)
-Uses of the socially marginal and usually powerless by the powerful
--Parents and children
-Uses of socially marginal leaders by their more conventional subordinates
-Uses of marginal social types by rank and file members within social groups or
organizations
-Intra-occupational deviance: offends work group norms, but may not involve violation
of community standards
-“Blue-coat crime”
-Inside deviance illuminates tensions, conflicts, and beliefs, which infuse these groups
Three social types of intra-occupational deviant: Doormen, Mouth man, and Wheel man
Doormen: displays of individualism challenge a strong collective code, which
emphasizes the need for mutual protection and loyalty.
-“Brash polishing” being obsequious to higher-ups leads to short term benefits (shift
change) = ass kisser
-Ppl in the middle of the doormen and the higher-ups cannot do much if chief accepts ass
kissers efforts ->puts ass kissing doormen in b/t lower and higher ranks->got to try to still
be accepted by peers
--Peers use doormen as a “messenger” to the chief
-Plays the role of scapegoat (pg. 569)
Mouth man: labeled as a gossip
-Violate code of secrecy
-Not motivated by ambition (unlike doormen)
-Communicate as a way to win acceptance from peers and supervisors
-Not considered malicious (though still feared and despised)
-Punished with silent treatment
-Once branded as “mouth man” normal extensions of trust are denied, become chastised
member of the group, superiors are unsympathetic, sometimes needed to spread
information (too much risk, will be carried out by mouth man)
-Most officers see there is clear personal advantage in upholding secrecy code
Wheel man: fascination with cars and high-speed chases
-Does not suffer social rejection but is an object of hostility and fear
-Damage group squad cares
-Diversionary character
-Relief from boredom, not of lot of money in it for wheel men (thus less control over
them)
-Social rejection and isolation
-Dangerous role but ppl can sometimes be grateful someone else is taking it on

Conclusion
-Normative boundaries provide a basis for group identity
-Deviants make it possible for others to maintain a personal and collective image of
moral righteousness in spite of the normative limitations and obligations, which they face
-Groups often need their deviants

Scott and Lyman- Accounts

Scott and Lyman- Accounts

Big Picture: Accounts are used to explain why an actor committed a deviant act in order
to bring the view of the actor back to normal. There are a variety of styles (intimate,
causal, consultative, formal, frozen) and methods of giving an account (excuses and
justifications), and the account may be accepted, or may not if it is illegitimate or
unreasonable.
Key Definitions/Concepts:
 Account: a linguistic device employed whenever an action is subjected to
valuative inquiry.
o Prevent conflicts from arising by verbally bridging the gap between action
and expectation
o Situated according to interactants statuses, and standardized across culture
 Two types of accounts: excuses & justifications
 Excuses: one admits that the act in question is bad, wrong, or inappropriate, but
denies full responsibility Ex. Soldier admits killing is wrong, but claims his act
was done under orders
o Appeal to accidents: accepted only as long as act is infrequent Ex. Late
due to traffic, not usually clumsy
o Defeasibility: claim to not be fully informed or misinformed; claim lack of
intent (I didn’t know it would make her cry) Ex. Intoxication, insanity
o Biological Drives: Ex. “Men are like that”, thinking adolescents are less in
control, inability to control sexual desires
o Scapegoating: individual alleges their behavior is truly due to the behavior
of another
 Justifications: one accepts responsibility for act in question, but denies pejorative
quality of act Ex. Soldier admits killing enemy, but doesn’t think it is wrong
because it was during war
o Techniques of neutralization:
o Denial of injury: particular act was permissible because no one was
injured by it (no one in the community, or final consequences were trifling
o Denial of the victim: action was permissible since the victim deserved the
injury.
 People perceived of as deserving injury:
• proximate foes (directly injured actor)
• normatively discrepant roles (Ex. Homosexuals, whores,
pimps)
• tribal stigmas (racial and ethnic minorities)
• distant foes (roles help to be dubious or hurtful Ex. Whitey,
politicians)
 Objects deserving of injury are owned by above list of people
o Condemnation of the condemners: actor admits performing act, but is
irrelevant because other commits worse acts and aren’t punished
o Appeal to loyalties: action is permissible since it served interests of
another to who he owes an unbreakable allegiance
o Sad tales: arrangement of facts to highlight dismal past and explain ind
present state
o Self-fulfillment: I’m engaging in the act because it makes me happy
 Account is honored: efficacious and equilibrium was restored
 o Ex. Little slip-up, actor makes small excuse, return to status-quo
o A single account can stand in for a variety of actions
o Accounts need to be situationally appropriate (Ex. Wife comforting
husband who’s fav team lost, but not her boss)
o Can be discredited by appearance (Ex. Girl with hickey insisting she
didn’t see her boyfriend)
 Account is not honored= illegitimate or unreasonable
o Illegitimate=gravity of event exceeds account offered
o Unreasonable= action can’t be normalized in terms of background
expectancies of what everybody knows
 Values of sociability and information may override account
 Style of account:
o Intimate: used between people who have deep, intimate relationship.
Often uses single sounds or words and jargon
o Casual used among peers, group members, insiders. Uses ellipses and
slang. Background info is taken for granted
o Consultative: information of interactants is unknown or problematic.
Background info is supplied, listener displays that they understand
o Formal: large group. Listeners wait to respond
o Frozen: extreme form of formal. Used by people who are required to
interact but remain strangers. Ex. Pilots over air scanners. Speech is
scripted
 Hierarchies can eliminate some need for accounts (Ex. Bosses don’t give accounts
to employees
 Strategies for avoiding accounts:
o Mystification: “There’s a reason for my actions, but I’m not going to tell
you, it’s a long story”
o Referral: “I’m not meeting your expectations, but you should really talk to
my boss”
o Identity Switching:
 Every account is a manifestation of the underlying negotiation of identities

With the Boys

Chapter 7: Preadolescent Subculture

-Western society is not homogeneous; rather, is divided by ethnicity, religion, race, age,
etc. Each of these segments are termed subsocieties - each has shared knowledge known
as subculture.

-Fine asks: How is subculture transferred? Why is it uniform among groups with little to
no contact? What do this transfer tell us about social structures?
-Fine examines preadolescent language as an indicator of the presence of subculture.

Common Content

-The presence of cultural traditions in several groups simultaneously indicates contact

among them. Common jokes, pranks, and slang among preadolescents in different
geographical areas, then, indicates contact.

-Fine defines uses vertical and horizontal to describe the knowledge of terms: horizontal
referring to the geographical area in which the term is known, vertical refers to the extent
to which terms have permeated a society, defined structurally rather than geographically.

-Traditional speech is horizontally and vertically diffuse; regional vocabularies are

vertically diffuse but not horizontally; group slang is neither vertically nor horizontally
diffuse; subcultural slang is not vertically diverse, but is horizontally - the slang terms are
known by a small subset of society, but in many different geographic areas.

Diffusion

Methods of diffusion include:

1.

Multiple Group Membership: when boys from different little league teams and
neighborhoods converge. Fine notes that the “migrating boy,” a preadolescent who
moves often because of a parent’s job, is a primary carrier of regional knowledge.
2.

Weak Ties: weak ties exist between different boys, and the strength of certain
information’s importance of notability defines how quickly and widely it will spread.
However, when Fine was doing his research, he didn’t include technology like telephones
(or even more so, email & instant messaging) because at the time preadolescents didn’t
often use the telephone without a parent present. Examples: an out-of-town relative, an
older brother.
3.

Structural Roles: Individuals outside of the subsociety - Fine provides the example of
a camp counselor - may communicate a certain piece of culture; example given is a the
telling of stories about pranks and practical jokes from previous camp years.
4.

Media Diffusion: the mass media provides further material, however only a small
amount of the culture exposed to preadolescents ever enters the subculture. In Fine’s
study, the film Bad News Bears had recently been released; he noted, however, that the
type of references becoming a part of the subculture pertained very much to the group
appropriated in it (in this case anal references, “Stick it where the sun doesn’t shine,”
which presumably adults wouldn’t allow to enter their subculture).

Identification

Fine acknowledges that identification with the subculture influences the transfer;
preadolescents are in a stage of transition, moving from identification with the family unit
to that of the social peer group.

How an individual preadolescent identifies him/herself also influences how they

encounter subculture, and whether they choose to communicate information (ex. obscene
terms in a Christian setting).

Goffman- Interaction Order

THE INTERACTION ORDER – GOFFMAN

Disclaimer: This article is pretty dense. I tried to pull out the most important points, so
that we don’t get slogged down in details. Let me know if you want more detail, though!

Key Points (by section):

II—DEFINING INTERACTION
• Definition of social interaction: “that which uniquely transpires in social situations,
that is, environments in which two or more individuals are physically in one another’s
response presence” (2)
• Goffman wants to promote the “face-to-face domain” as worthy of study—this
domain is called the interaction order
• “It is a fact of our human condition that, for most of us, our daily life is spent in the
immediate presence of others; in other words, that whatever they are, our doing are
likely to be, in the narrow sense, socially situated” (2)
• “It is not only that our appearance and manner prove evidence of our statuses and
relationships. It is also that the line of our visual regard, the intensity of our
involvement, and the shape of our initial actions, allow others to glean our immediate
intent and purpose” (3)
• “The gleaned character of these observations is itself facilitated and complicated by a
central process yet to be systematically studied—social ritualization—that is, the
standardization of bodily and vocal behavior through socialization, affording such
behavior…a specialized communicative function in the stream of behavior” (3)
• There are two forms of identification (3)
o Categoric—“placing that other in one or more social categories”
o Individual—“locked up to a uniquely distinguishing identity”
• “The regulations and expectations that apply to a particular social situation are hardly
 likely to be generated at the moment there…quite similar understandings will apply to
a whole class of widely dispersed settings” (4)
• “It is plain that each participant enters a social situation carrying an already
established biography of prior dealings with the other participants—or at least with
participants of their kind; and enters also with a vast array of cultural assumptions
presumed to be shared” (4)

III—DEFINING ORDER
• First definition of order: “domain of activity” (5)
• Second definition: “orderly”
• Goffman knocks down two explanations for order before promoting socialization
o Social contract
 Problem: why would disadvantaged people agree to the hierarchical
structure of the IO?
o Normative explanation
 Problem: people do deviate from the order and the order can withstand
this deviation
• “Although it is certainly proper to point to the unequal distribution of rights in the
IO…and the unequal distribution of risk…the central theme remains of a traffic of
use…to accept the conventions and norms as given is, in effect, to put trust in those
about one” (6)

IV—DEFINING BASIC SUBSTANTIVE UNITS

• People can either be “singles” or “withs”; also can have “files” and “queues”
• Defining contact: “any occasion when an individual comes into an other’s response
presence”
• Types of interactions
o People coming together to do a “interdependent undertaking” (7)
o Platform format: “activity set before an audience”
o Celebrative social occasion

V—LOOKING AT THE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE IO AND SOCIAL

ORGANIZATION (IO influencing the social structure)
• Goffman looks at “the direct impact of situational effects upon social structures” in
organizations (8)
• Organizations do face-to-face work
• There are “people processing encounters, encounters in which the ‘impression
subjects make during the interaction affects their life chances’” (8)
• “It is in these processing encounters, then, that the quiet sorting can occur which…
reproduces the social structure” (8)
• “What is situational, then, about processing encounters is the evidence they so fully
provide of a participant’s real or apparent attributes while at the same time allowing
life chances to be determined through an inaccessible weighting of this complex of
 evidence” (8)
• “I claim merely that forms of face-to-face life are worn smooth by constant repetition
on the part of participants who are heterogeneous in many ways and yet must quickly
reach a working understanding” (9)

VII—THE LOOSE COUPLING BETWEEN IO AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• Goffman is contrasting ceremonial rituals with “contact rituals”—“perfunctory, brief
expressions occurring incidental to everyday interaction” (10)
o IO does take status into account—based on culture
• Goffman’s question: How is the IO linked into social structures?
o “Minor social ritual is not an expression of structural arrangements in
any simple sense; at best it is an expression advanced in regard to these
arrangements. Social structures don’t ‘determine’ culturally standard
displays, merely help select from the available repertoire of them” (11)
o “What one finds, in modern societies at least, is a nonexclusive linkage—a
‘loose coupling’—between interactional practices and social structures”
(11)
• “A quite central issue in all face-to-face interaction is the cognitive relation of the
participants, that is, what it is each can effectively assume the other knows” (12)

VIII
• “Of all the social structures that interface with the interaction order, the ones that
seem to do so most intimately are social relationships” (13)

IX—A LOOK AT MASTER TRAITS

• “Diffuse social statuses...or master status-determined traits” (14)
o “Age-grade, gender, class, and race” (14)
• “Whether we can be individually identified or not in a particular social situation, we
can almost always be categorically identified in these four ways on entrance” (14)
• Able to quickly identify people on these four planes because of socialization:
“socialization, in subtle ways, insures that our placement in these regards will be
more evident than might otherwise be” (14)
• Goffman then goes into a long discussion about “equitable service relations” which I
think is probably not important; basically, he is saying that, while we think we are
being treated equitably by servers, we are not (socialization makes us think that we
are)

Nelson- Everytime
Introduction
There are five characteristics of the church service: (1) God is among the
congregation, interacting in a personal, “face-to-face” manner; (2) when God is present,
He will tell the congregation what to do, encouraging specific behaviors; (3) God will
“touch and transform” the congregation, healing or saving individuals; (4) there is an
understanding within the congregation that this service is an appropriate time to express
gratitude for God’s love; and (5) some members of the congregation are not truly children
of God and these individuals interfere with the religious experience of others.
The Presence of God
While God is always present in the lives of the congregation, He is particularly
accessible during a church service. The church is a sacred space and is associated with
this increased accessibility. The concept of the church as a sanctuary is evident in
various behaviors of the congregation: the “purification” rituals upon entering, members
proceeding to their seats without speaking to those around them, a general attitude of
solemnity, etc.
Making an effort to regularly attend church and to appropriately participate in the
service demonstrates religious commitment and is a reflection of one’s religious attitude.
Thus, service attendance is viewed as an obligation. Absence and tardiness are
considered acts of “anti-devotion.” However, simply “showing up” is not sufficient.
Attendees must expend physical and emotional energy during the service to show their
devotion.
The Word
“The word” refers to any sort of communication from God, including the Bible
and sermons. The congregation expects to receive such communication. This
expectation stems from the belief that God is present in the church and in the service.
When God communicates and “unleashes” His power, He facilitates revelations, healing
of physical and emotional ailments, prophesying, etc.
Revelation
There are deeper mysteries contained in the Bible that cannot be unlocked by the
human mind; God gives individuals insight into these meanings through revelations.
These revelations can occur at any time though they are most common during a church
service due to God’s amplified presence. It is through revelations that preachers arrive at
their sermon topics. The subsequent sermon is an exploration of the deeper religious
meanings associated with that revelation. The preacher effectively communicates these
revelations to the congregation by applying the religious concept to his listeners and their
lives, and through translation or “code-switching” (putting the concept into layman’s
terms or slang).
Bringing It Home
The preacher’s sermon is not based entirely on his preparations. At some point in
the sermon the preacher is “anointed” by God, meaning that God begins to speak through
him. There are clear verbal and physical signs that a preacher in being anointed. These
include changes in his speaking pattern and sound, as well as jerking, bobbing, and
pacing. When this occurs, the congregation understands that the words spoken are not
those of the preacher, but those of God.
Prophecy
Sometimes God sends His word through prophecies, though these are much less
common than revelations. Example: Reverend Wright predicted that one of the ministers
would die.
Transformation
God’s word has the ability to transform individuals’ lives. The Word is
considered a “physical entity” that causes a reaction representative of the audience’s
religious state or attitude. Those who have been saved will be brought closer to God
through the Word. Only a preacher who has become anointed can speak the Word.
Inspired by God, a preacher is able to affect change in the lives of his congregation. This
change can be physical or emotional, healing addiction, illness, heartbreak, etc. Simply
being in the presence of an anointed minister can cause these transformations.
Attending church services helps the congregation overcome the various “yokes”
that prevent them from living a good and proper life. Hearing the Word works gradually
to break these yokes and facilitate better living. Sometimes an individual or group may
experience a “deliverance” or a “breakthrough.” In this case, the power of the Word is
condensed, and the transformation occurs in a single, powerful experience.
The Role of Emotion
There are five expected emotions in a worship service: adoration, love, hope, joy,
and gratitude. These emotional expectations, or “feeling rules,” pressure the members of
the congregation to display and genuinely experience these appropriate emotions while
suppressing inappropriate ones. “Feeling reminders” encourage specific emotions and
include hymns, readings and proclamations, prayers, etc. Preachers not only remind the
congregation how to feel, but also evoke the desired emotions. For example, to evoke
gratitude, the preacher will remind his congregation of all God has done for them.
The People of God
“People of God” are those who have gone through the “salvation experience.”
The worship service assumes that all those present have been saved, though this is
frequently not the case. Many church members bring unsaved friends or family in the
hopes of bringing them to salvation, while others incorrectly believe they have been
saved. It is believed by many members of the congregation that these unsaved souls
inhibit the presence of God and the sharing of the Word during the service. In order to
prove their sincerity, individuals make overt displays of devotion, such as exhortations,
testimonies, and denunciations of others’ lack of spirituality.

Davis- Sensual Slide

• Most essential feature of sexual experience is its development
• Sexual reality is different from other non-ordinary realities because the transition
from everyday to erotic reality is characterized by an undetectable “drift”
• Sensual slide: the stages of sexual progressive movement and the factors affecting
its progress at each stage
o First-time experiences are more like a skid while experienced people
smooth move into each progressive stage
• First sexual encounters with new partners are more interesting than later ones
• “The last time” refers to the last time two partners engage in intercourse---last
timers may not realize that are last timers, discovering it only in retrospect
• “One night stand” having sex for both the first and last time partners make feel
freer to experiment sexually with routes of progression because they may never
 see each other again; conversely may feel less free in fear that their temporary
connectedness may become more permanent.
• The slide into erotic reality is self-sustaining but certain external factors may
facilitate or hinder its beginning by weakening or strengthening the hold of
everyday reality.
o Factors that often anchor people in everyday reality (as opposed to erotic
reality): daytime, living rooms, plain social types, neuter personalities,
commonly observed body parts, work and illness.
o Factors that weaken grip on everyday reality and lead to sensual slide:
nighttime, bedrooms, attractive social types, sexy personalities,
uncommonly observed body parts, psychoactive drugs (marijuana,
cocaine, alcohol)
• First Movement: upon entering erotic reality, potential sex partners begin to
interact as “embodied wholes”
o Erotic reality renews self-confidence in social interaction
o Many people fear that sexual interaction may pollute their psychological
morals partner must take steps to overcome other partners’ resistance
• Seduction techniques: verbal, visual or tactile
o Visual and verbal techniques are designed to shorten the interaction
distance to allow the seducer to bring into play more powerful tactile
factors.
o Women often begin with visual (wearing sexy clothing)
o Men often begin with verbal (assuring woman he is serious about
relationship) and moves directly to tactile
• Second Movement: middle stages of the sensual slide. The self appears to be
defused into breast, chest, butt, thighs, before it reaches genitals.
o Visual phase: a person sees his sex partner differently when she is (1)
clothed, (2) partially naked, (3) completely naked.
o Clothing retards the fall into erotic reality. Although “sexy clothing” is
sometimes more arousing than nudity.
o Tactile Phase: touching will accelerate sensual slide more rapidly than
visual ones.
o Female adolescents adopt ground rules for how far tactile foreplay may
go; male adolescents try to stretch these rules as far as possible.
• Third Movement: genital touching- concrete embodiment of sensual slide
• When one partner is resisting or is unwilling or unable to advance his/her
rhythmic progression to its climax, a partner might want to shift into rhythmic
override and gets into the submissive partner’s muscle tension/release cycle
• Both partners begin to vibrate together, changing the tempo, and compelling the
submissive partner to follow
• Difficulty of rhythmic synchronization is more difficult with more people
• Masturbation may be considered preferable because rhythmic coordination can be
so difficult – with masturbation, the person can go to his own preferable rhythm
 without worry of synchronization
• Two person sex used to be easier to coordinate because the only objective was
pleasing the male – female pleasure was not a priority
• the trend towards equal sexual satisfaction might actually decrease both partners’
satisfaction because coordinating two participants’ pleasure is more difficult than
just one
• three or more people face even more complications harmonizing their behavior
• often a partner can be too intense and the choppy rhythm of intercourse might
actually uproot the penis from the vagina – the ultimate disruption of erotic reality
until genitals replanted
• too little response from a partner might also take consciousness out of erotic
reality – unless the first partner catches and returns the second partner’s every
push
o latter might also push too far, losing balance and breaking tempo
• some people find synchronization of rhythm easy because they are naturally
compatible
• sexually compatible people usually synchronize their behavior silently
• sexual incompatibility occurs when one partner wants to do what the other does
not – must distinguish the activities that the person 1) will eventually be desirable
2) will eventually find tolerable and 3) will continue to find repulsive
• Sexually “carnivorous “women complain “herbivorous” men race through
intercourse much too fast
• Sexually – most women prefer men who beat around the bush rather than coming
straight to the point
• Avoid sexual tension that increases too rapidly – this blasts one partner out of
erotic reality long before the other is ready to let go
• However, sexual tension that increases to slowly leads to postmature orgasm –
one partner is still in erotic reality long after the other one is finished with it
• Sometimes people try to synchronize climaxes by controlling accumulation of
sexual tension with artificial devices or by controlling what they are fantasizing
about
• Most precise control over timing of orgasm results from alternating artificial
techniques of speeding up and slowing down – difficult skill to perfect
• Extreme forms of sex (bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism,
transvestism and fetishism_ present unique difficulties in sustaining a sense of
erotic reality
o Require more cooperation and equipment than commonplace sex –
increasing probability that something will go wrong (equipment
malfunctions)
o Problems with props and need to rearrange people continually interrupts
progression of erotic rhythm
FINALE
• During orgasm – barrier enclosing one’s self falls away, merges with self of one’s
sex partner
o “it felt like an earthquake” – natural environment undergoing upheaval
serves as only comparison
• Softening of self in erotic reality makes a person extremely vulnerable
• fear of ontological contamination may restrain one from letting oneself go – long
after physical resistance to embodying the self has been overcome, psychological
resistance to merging it with another’s self at orgasm may remain
• those well versed in sex can overcome all of their partner’s resistance to self
merger – sex therapists recommend extreme tenderness
• process of orgasmic merger of selves sets off the extreme emotional and religious
reaction that has colored our view of sex for last several thousand years

POSTLUDE

• crack between everyday reality and erotic reality – opens subtly, widens
gradually, and then orgasm snaps it shut again – consciousness is once again back
in everyday reality
• as individual descends into everyday reality – world appears to undergo rapid
transformation
• everyday reality does not look quite the same after orgasm – maintains a certain
coloring conferred by the erotic reality
• period immediately following orgasm acts as a temporal decompression chamber
• many people go to sleep after sex because sleep provides most regular or rapid
transit from other realities to everyday reality
• a person must reorient himself to the erotic reality he has just left – revisiting it
immediately is appealing psychologically, though physiology may delay the
return trip
• must maintain appearance so as not to look “freshly fucked” when returning to
reality
• one can retain status of a full participant in everyday reality only by giving
nonsexual associates no cause to suspect that one takes off for other realms as
soon as they are out of sight
• washing after sex implies an attempt to remove all of the material traces of
relationship
• straightening up implies a reorientation of concern away from it and towards other
significant relationships
• even those who go to sleep immediately after making love may discover this
discrepancy when waking up the next morning by finding that they cannot now
stand their bedmates – b/c such repulsion is possible, couples often find
themselves needing to affirm their affection for each other the next morning
• each copulator’s task is to reassure the other that the latter’s image in erotic reality
 has been favorable integrated with the latter’s image in everyday reality –
restoring the relationship

CONCLUSION
• during journey of consciousness form everyday to erotic reality and back again,
consciousness travels through a series of stages, experiencing each one differently
from the others
• progress is sporadic because the mind’s advance from one stage to the next
encounters, and must stop to overcome, resistance
• sensual slide is directional – everyday reality seems to go nowhere, erotic reality
has a definite direction: thrust toward finality of orgasm
• on one hand, erotic reality is more pleasurable than everyday reality
phenomenologically because of its freedom from ordinary constraints
• on the other hand, sexual arousal is less pleasurable than unarousal
physiologically because of its “itch” of sexual tension
• a person therefore wants to prolong this state and to terminate it
• sensual slide is also accelerating
• acceleration of the sensual slide accounts for the extreme displeasure one feels
should it suddenly be brought to a halt
• coitus interruptus is so shocking because it abruptly collapses one’s entire
conception of reality
• “reality blowouts” in order of increasing intensity
o behaviors regarded as having low status in everyday reality
 generally
 idiosyncratically
o prop failures – copulator’s may fall of their pedestal
o intrusion of others
 via the telephone
 in person, perhaps an authority figure
o intrusion of the environment – earthquakes, explosions, etc
o sudden transformation of one of the copulator’s themselves
 from a disabling biological breakdown
 from a violent psychological mania
• all these unexpected events suddenly jolt the sexually aroused back to everyday
reality
• after one’s sensual slide has been derailed by any of these sudden and serious
smashups, it is almost impossible to recover enough to resume one’s journey into
erotic reality
• attempts to avoid obstacles can actually put off the descent into erotic reality
because act of doing so hinders the formation of very reality it is supposed to
facilitate
• not easy to find partners willing to remain at home mentally while one wanders
 off to other realities
• rapist compels a partner to go through physical motions of sex while remaining in
everyday reality
• economic persuasion or prostitution is a more effective way to procure partners
less likely to flee when one’s back is turned
o however, sexual activity becomes a dull, repetitious, mechanical tasks –
lessens the enthusiasm necessary to give a god tour of erotic reality
• most effective way to procure partners willin gto satisfy one sexually at all costs
is through psychological persuasion, or charisma – charm is even more certain
than money
• all sexual fantasies either minimize the technical problems involved in an erotic
journey or provide imaginary partners selflessly willing to resolve them
• it is very peculiar that a person can be knocked out of erotic reality by the actual
activities of sex itself because we realize sex can have many technical difficulties
that continually return one to everyday reality

Lofland- Privatizing Public Space

The reading deals with what people do to reduce the complexities of living in a world of
strangers. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which people transform a public space
into a semiprivate space. There are 3 methods for performing such a transformation:
• I. The creation of home territories
• II. The creation of urban villages
• III. The creation of temporary mobile homes by means of the travelling pack
Below I will outline the key concepts underlying each of these phenomena.

I. Home Territories
• Definition: small piece of public space which is taken over and turned into a
“home away from home”
• There are 3 variations to how this can be done:
• 1. Casual knowledge and Customers
o Casual knowledge is the least complete form of knowledge of a public
space
o It is limited in the general conception of the physical layout of the public
space in question
o The customer has established the minimum relationship required to
exchange pleasantries with other regular users of the space
o Result is that the customer does not have to seek assistance from strangers
when in this space
• 2. Familiar knowledge and Patrons
o Patron has better knowledge of the space on account of their regular usage
of the space
o Patron knows some of the people who he shares the space with (e.g. long
term patron of a coffee shop knows employees and other regular
 customers)
o Patron relationship provides relief to from the challenging anonymity of
much of urban public space
o Patron is able to gain acquiescence in using the public space for purposes
other than those for which the space is overtly intended (e.g. patron can
receive phone calls at the coffee shop)
• 3. Intimate knowledge and Residents
o Resident has high level of knowledge about the physical space and also
about those that use the space
o This increases his ability to use the space for his own private purposes
o Process of learning about the space and its users and keeping abreast of
any changes is time consuming
o All residents exhibit some combination of these 3 types of behavior:
 They use the locale for their private purposes
 They indulge in what Goffman calls ‘backstage language of
behavior’
 They hold an attitude of proprietary rights towards the setting
o Two forms of residents: employees and colonizers
o Employees are restricted in their pursuit of private purposes in the public
space because they are ‘on the clock’
o Colonizers however, devote the major part of their time to the pursuit of
private purposes
o The discovery of colonization often leads to its elimination (e.g. signs with
“no loitering” appear in spaces that have been colonized)
o Proprietary rights are put forward as a reason why employees may steal
from their employers; they feel that the property in question is their own
o Proprietary attitudes contribute to the maintenance of public safety;
residents are vigilant in their surveillance of the space which they consider
to be in some way their own property
• Paradox concerning development of home territories
o On one hand it contributes to greater segregation of persons
o On the other hand, it can work against the spatial order and add more
complexity to the environment (e.g. coffee shop, no longer coffee shop but
now a space for private business)

II. Urban Villages

• An urban village is a home territory writ large -- a person’s entire round of life
may be encompassed within its limits
• Two types of urban villages: spatially concentrated neighborhood and territorially
dispersed village
• Concentrated neighborhood
o In its ‘ideal’ form would be a small settlement in the middle of a large city
o It does not need nor require the intrusion of outside organizations
 o Best imitations appear in the form of ethnic neighborhoods
• Territorially dispersed village
o Key concept underlying this is the automobile
o Allows persons to move through very public sectors, encased in their own
private space

III. Mobile Homes: The Travelling Pack

• A group sufficiently large so that it provides members with mutual protection and
self-confirmation
• Persons take their privacy along with them when moving in a travelling pack
• Members of travelling packs are usually unconcerned about the responses their
behavior elicits from surrounding strangers
Travelling packs express proprietary attitudes of the space they inhabit, similar

Doormen
Peter Bearman Doormen – “Serving Time” (pg 64-101)

This chapter is concerned with the daily experience of tenants and doormen as they
negotiate the seemingly minor interactions they have during the course of a day.
Doormen struggle with the fact that clients arrive sporadically and with heterogeneous
needs, creating moments of intense activity and long periods of boredom. In addition,
doorman’s clients appear and reappear constantly, causing preferences for services and
interactions to be integrated into the doormen’s professional status.

1. What Tasks do Doormen Actually Do?

• most of their time spent is typically idle
• tasks do not seem to vary by shift structure

2. Neighborhood Effects?
• tasks do vary by neighborhood, although rarely significantly
• sides of town make less difference in tenants-doorman interaction than social
class distance

3. Boredom, Stress, and Queues and Congestion

• operations research concerned with congestion, queuing, and waiting
• within reasonable bounds, servers are designed to efficiently handle mean client
flow over some period of time
• but actually observed flow will vary
• therefore, systems designed for mean flow will at some points be naturally
swamped, while at other times naturally idle
• variability in arrival time: The chance that an event will arrive is the same across
all remaining moments in time. When arrivals bunch up, congestion occurs. When
congestion occurs, doormen are stressed out.
 • clients come with different needs that take different amounts of time and energy
to meet
• waiting is the first consequence of dynamic service systems
• dissatisfaction is an obvious second-level consequence

4. Priority of Service and Queue Discipline in the Lobby

• congestion generates dilemmas and decisions
• “queue discipline” – the method by which a customer is selected for service out of
those who are waiting
• doormen must enact priority schemes based on client and need (ex- deliveries,
especially food, are usually a priority)
• for doormen, one line of argument insists that all clients are equal
• others enact the high-end clerk model, which states that some clients have queue
priority
• some tenants appear to the doorman to be either more demanding or more
important than other tenants
• arrivals arrive without respect to queues, so they are as likely to arrive when the
doorman is busy as when he is free
• the experience of managing the competing demands of clients induces stress
• while they have to enforce queue discipline, doormen cannot easily commit to the
specific priority of the scheme they adopt  the schemes are constantly changing
in relation to the specific tenants who need service

5. The Guest Problem

• a doorman’s first priority is security
• doormen must learn to screen guests, causing them to be naturally suspicious
• they need to read the signals that the visitor emits very quickly, in terms of the
specific person he or she is claiming to visit
• an irony is that working to rule, by sacrificing their claim to professional status,
generates formally fair treatment but yields substantively irrational outcomes
• guests are the least likely to be liked of all people whom doormen interact with
because the doorman does not have to interact with them constantly

6. Tenant Perceptions
• the problem that doormen have is that their clients will return, whether they burn
them or not
• doormen use “coping mechanisms” to shift tenant perceptions
• mechanisms are as simple as appearing attentive and striking up meaningless, but
friendly conversation
• the idle conversation of the lobby serves both as a depository, but more critically,
as a signaling device, operating on tenants to shift their perception from “doing
nothing” to “available for service”
7. Talk and Movement
• “special relationships” that doormen have with their tenants are not unique,
although they are experienced as unique by the tenants, who tend to believe that
their doormen are especially close to them
• service and talk are the simplest strategies that doormen employ to shift tenant
perceptions that they both do nothing and are unhelpful when needed
• the main “weapon” that doormen have to counter negative perceptions that arise
from a misreading of the nature of the server system they are embedded in is to
shape client preferences
• doormen commit to the professional norm to serve, but this commitment entails
inducing the differences among tenants so as to serve them better

8. Induction of Distinction from the Little Things

• doormen do not care which preferences their tenants have only that they have
preferences and they know what they are
• if tenants do not have preferences, doormen help them acquire them
• inducing tenants to have and communicate preferences provides a solution to
management time in the lobby

Peter Bearman Doormen - “Crossing the Line” (pg 102-138)

There is a dynamic process through which doormen help teach tenants how to be tenants,
while at the same time tenants help teach doormen how to be doormen for them. It is the
presence of a role structure – a set of understandings governing interaction – that
provides for people in interaction boundaries for the interactions they are experiencing,
and hence a frame from which to share the same interpretation of the meaning of an
event. This chapter considers both the formal and informal boundaries that emerge
between tenants and clients.

1. All Visitors Must Be Announced

• standard enforcement is that all visitors must be announced, but this does not
always happen
• doormen simply cannot always ask tenants if the people they are with are friends
or not because it would be too intrusive and because it would signal that they do
not know their tenants
• the presence of the doorman shapes the behavior of hosts and guests
• it is not uncommon to find that tenants often try to “sneak” guests past their
doormen
• for each tenant, doormen develop elaborate theoretical schemes that allocate
 classes of people as legitimate visitors

2. Calling Ahead
• doormen make decisions regarding visitors on the basis of the two homophily
principles at their disposal
• first is that the tenant’s friends are like the tenants
• second, doormen are much more likely to announce minorities than any others

3. Security
• although security is a top priority, only a few doormen can ever recall a single
event at their building
• doormen aid in the production of disorder in the building by training many tenants
to prefer to have their visitors pass through unannounced
• once the doormen recognize regular guests, they often suggest to tenants that they
could just “send them up right away” – opportunity for “special service”
• doormen are often well aware of tenants whose activities put them on the wrong
side of the lay or normative behavior, creating dilemmas for the doormen
• doormen’s knowledge of tenants’ behaviors means that they could not accurately
announce visitors without implicating themselves in the operation

4. Line Crossing
• the presence of an intimate doormen-tenant relationship would destroy
equivalence and create the possibility of playing favorites
• special relationships with one tenant threaten the doormen’s capacity for
discretion
• discretion is about the capacity to segregate domains
• the social class distance between tenants and doormen allows tenants the social
space to be intrusive
• tenants are interdependent and try to use their doormen as information fonts to
find out information about other tenants

5. (Super)vision
• the role of the super in the building significantly impacts doorman-tenant
interactions
• by insisting on total control, supers create strong incentives for doormen and
tenants to develop competing service relationships
• supers try to influence the nature of the tenant-doorman interactions, breaking up
relationships that seem too close on some dimension or another
• doormen often feel that they have to walk a fine line between being open to
tenants and at the same time casting an image of distance or disinterest
• supers recognize that the relationship that doormen develop with their tenants, and
vice versa, plays a central role in defining the feel of the building, and thus shapes
tenant satisfaction (or dissatisfaction)
Anderson- Black Male in Public

• The situation/phenomenon: many black men of “the Village” are law abiding, and
yet because of stigma attached to their skin color, gender, age, appearance and style
of self-presentation, they are unable to convince white people, who ascribe
criminality, incivility, toughness and street smartness to the anonymous black male.
The black male must thus work unusually hard to make others trust him.
• Sociological importance of these effects:
- This situation encapsulates the stigmatizing effect of ‘negative’ status-
determining characteristics (here: gender and race), especially in brief
encounters with strangers on streets
- For the Village, one of the biggest concerns is the presence of young black
men using public spaces, which has an effect on etiquette among the people
who live there.
• Anonymous black male exercises hegemony over public spaces in the area between
Northton and the Village, especially at night or when there are 2 or more together. In
encounters with these black males on the streets:
- Women tend to clutch on to their purses; people will cross to the other side of
the street if see one at a distance >> rely on stereotypes based on color and
gender
- The young black males will gaze at people longer than considered
‘appropriate’ for the etiquette of ‘strangers on the streets’
- Older black men/people familiar with the situation: tend to watch out for
‘certain’ young black males- ‘jitterbugs’, people belonging to ‘wolf packs’
that rob and accost people
• Two sociological factors underlie the situation:
- 1. ‘Master status-determining characteristic’ of race: basically, some statuses
overrides all other statuses and have certain priority, like race, which labels
the person as deviant; this has certain properties of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
People in the village conclude that a young black male is deviant, and act
accordingly.
- 2. Social Definition: as described by Goffman, when entering in the presence
of strangers, one seeks to acquire as much information as possible of that
stranger. This gives rise to behavioral cues and signs that make up vocabulary
of public interaction (clothing, jewelry, movements, time of day of activity).
 Children pass inspection fastest, then whites, then black men and
women, then black male teens.
 Young black males, especially in ‘urban uniform’ are assumed as
troublemakers and criminals: they are the ‘predator’
- >for the Village, the fact that Northton is so nearby creates another source of
mistrust – symbol of poverty and imminent danger
• Greetings:
- Greetings were an important norm in black communities to establish
solidarity. Was brought from the south during times of racial segregation, but
the tradition has persisted as it allows them to cope with the stereotypes
against them. With strangers on the street, it allows blacks to gauge intent and
the safety of a situation.
- Allows young black males to establish themselves as nonthreatening when
negotiating the situation. When the stranger responds to the greeting,
everyone can relax.
- No more interaction is required; further interaction may actually make the
situation more uncomfortable.
- ‘Getting ignorant’: members of the black community feel that they have
special empathy with young black males and develop special aggressive
tactics to deal with the anonymous young black male, including ‘getting
ignorant.’ This means to get down to the level of a street-oriented person and
adopting their behavior, which makes them feel less nervous in these public
situations.
• Claiming turf rights:
- The streets may be one of the only places were young black males can feel
like they are taken seriously, so they adopt a very confident attitude, play their
loud music, etc, while others defer to them.
- In the Village, there doesn’t really exist a ‘defending force’ to ‘intercept’ their
behavior.
- Public talk: even law-abiding young black males will adopt very harsh,
profane language that puts everyone else on the defensive.
- Some blacks, even law-abiding ones, will also exploit the fear of others and
taunt and tease them, such as the case of the white woman walking quickly to
her house as the young black male laughed at her
- ‘gritting’: to look hard, to convey that one is capable of defending one’s
interests. Tactic used by black youths when walking the streets.
- Cultural catch-22: to appear harmless to others might make him seem weak to
those he feels he needs to impress; law-abiding black youths must adopt the
urban uniform and behavior of the more ‘criminal’ young blacks to avoid
being victimized, but this is done at the cost of alienating other law-abiding
whites and blacks.
- Interactions between whites and blacks are complicated because of their
communication gap; this is especially difficult with white newcomers.
 ‘social monoliths’: white and black communities just become these
general groups, like stereotypes, to each other. Place all whites or
blacks into one group. This may cause blacks to taunt and tease
whites, because they have ‘nothing to lose’
• Public disavowal:
- Stigma is so strong that even attempts by black males to neutralize situations
or to act civilly with members of the community, like asking for the time, are
 rarely allowed.
- Symbolic racism: even if whites see themselves as racially tolerant, having
black friends, they do feel contempt towards criminals, of which blacks make
up a large proportion
- Blacks feel somewhat responsible for the criminal/antagonistic behavior of
some young black males, and must spend considerable energy trying to
change it and act contrary to expectations.
 In interactions with strangers, black has upper hand and will try very
hard to make a good impression. It creates this ‘informal public
relations campaign’ in which blacks treat whites extremely well,
sometimes better than to other fellow blacks, who are not the targets of
the campaign.
- Goffman’s ‘with’: depending on who/what the black man is with can define
his role and how he is perceived.
 Emblems of civility: suit and tie, books for university student.
- But even with these symbols of civility, he is still not a ‘full person’ but
judged relative to his ‘ghetto’ counterparts – that he must ‘prove’ himself
shows how his identity is precarious and that he is discreditable.
- Very delicate balance for black males as they are victimized from two sides –
prove that they are worthy of respect for their common decency, but they must
protect from predatory youths by showing they can handle the streets.
 Young black youths thus feel that they are not born ‘winners’

Brooks Gardner
Coleman- Collective Behavior
James S. Coleman’s Collective Behavior:
- the intellectual disarray stemming from sociological theory of collective behavior
can shed light on bureaucratic authority and phenomenon such as rioting, mobs,
panics, and crowd behavior

- ideal bureaucracy: a single purposive actor with a hierarchal structure of people

below, each acting together as a machine

o Weber’s theory: these employees’ own interests do not matter, each

represent the larger whole and act as an agent--- like robots.

o yet these agents or robots employed by the bureaucracy also are subject to
the hypnotic effects of the crowd in collective behavior and can be
irrational, unpredictable, and spontaneous.

o Social theory tends to take the easy path of creating what an ideal systemic
behavior is of a bureaucracy – instead of the spontaneous and emotional
outbursts of a crowd.

o The correct path for social theory: is to maintain a single conception of

 what individuals are like by generating the varying systemic functioning
from different structures of relations within the structure each individual
finds himself.

General Properties of Collective behavior: Collective behavior has several elements in

common:
1. involve a number of people carrying out the same or similar actions at the same
time

2. behavior exhibited is transient or continually changing not in equilibrium state

3. there is some kind of dependency on actions; individuals are not acting

independently.

- diverse phenomena also have little in common, some crowds spontaneous acts
and other premeditated, one time, or recurring, different emotions…. But all
based on similar processes.

- They normally go beyond stability and are unpredictable and can lead to
explosive results..

- Many times during periods of social change, there is also a mark of collective
behavior (revolution of some sort)

** the individual action on which systems of trust and relations of trust are based is
unilateral transfer of control over actions and it is that transfer which constitutes the
micro starting explanation of collective behavior.
--- the micro level can be seen in one which the actor begins with control over one event ,
but to change from individual to collective behavior his control over his own actions
needs to be transferred to others.

What Does an Individual do in Collective Behavior:

- persons in all cases of collective behavior must influence one another. and a
homogeneity of thought in action

- the collective behavior is generally seen as irrational and in no case is the crowd
behavior explained in terms of meaningful or purposive.

- The difference between a group that has a potential for extreme collective
behavior such as panic or a riot and one that does not is the difference between the
group in which the members have transferred large amounts of control over their
action to one another AND another group where the members haven’t done so.

- **ALSO NOTE: the widespread transfer of control to others in a group doesn’t

necessarily mean a result of panic and mod, it can also be compatible with an
orderly dispersal depending on the initial actions before the transfer of control.
 -Unilateral transfer & Disequilibrium
- in exchange of private goods rational actors maximize utility by giving up some goods
they hold in order to get other goods in which they have greater interest ----but with
collective behavior each actor is not giving up something to get something in
competition with others… here each is attempting to maximize utility by making a
unilateral transfer of control over his own actions.. since the individuals action of
maximizing utility does not balance goods among a scarce supply like normal, is does not
necessarily lead to system equilibration… it is an action of unilateral transfer of control.
Escape Panics
- Mintz model

o was modeled by an experiment by Mintz.. unstable reward structure since

there was always a jamming of the cones inside of his narrow necked
bottle. ( participants had to try to get out cones with an attached string
before they got wet flowing in from bottom)…

o jamming occurred less when planning before happened, then all didn’t get
wet.

- Prisoners Dilemma Game:

o Person whose decision is problematic may be considered A and the others

all together as the second B. Each can either rush to exit prison or take
turns…

o Since all usually decide to rush to get the instant gratification with hopes
of escaping, their chances are of reward are less for everyone, but all could
expect to receive medium award if all took turns together.

 Each could monitor what others were doing a react to their actions,
each can transfer partial control of actions to others then in this
case?? Is that right??

 If all others actions are contingent upon the one actors then a
dictated fixed order of escape should be said, cause if not all will
try to escape at once following his actions, leading to a jam like in
Mintz model, or a large killing in the prison.

 But if there is partial control to each member of the group then he

may feel not all is contingent on him and he can independtenly act.
All depends on the amount of control transfer of others on him..
but they all would have to do same thing for control to all be
partially transferred…

• ONLY RATIONAL TO MONITOR EACHOTHERS

 ACTIONS WHEN: if others actions are contingent upon
ones own and that independently trying to rapidly escape
will only be a disadvantage then shared control to figure
out situation

 If shared partial control, people may not follow each other, and try
to act independently since they know others actions on contingent
upon their own, breaking the partial control transfer

• this makes the game one of trust if the person will continue
to be under everyone’s partial control or note. (acting
independently or transferring control to others)

o -Behavioral interdependence: mutual contingency of action in which

actors action has consequences for him not only directly but also through
the effect t has on the action taken by others…a central feature of
situations where there is behavioral interdependence is that a rational
strategy cannot be defined in the absence of knowledge about strategies of
the actor one confronts.

- difficulty of being able to tell who will follow and who wont…

o 1. in a crowd it appears tat each member sees himself as not affected

individuality by other members by the crowd… a something more than a
set of separate individuals… --- this appears reasonable.

o 2. Individuals continue to asses how they will act rather than how the a
crowd as an entity will act… but that they see other individuals actions not
only possibly contingent on their own but on others as well.. – this means
the individual would follow…

o 3. Factors like sanctions imposed also factor in to if orderly exit would

work for all to follow… fire drill ex.

PAIRS:
o In the prisoners game, sequences of play for the matches generally
appeared similar to the sequence of actions found in the escape points:
some showed cooperation,orderly exit, Cooperation into defection--
->panic difficulty, and others – never were pairs first defection then
cooperation.

o Asymmetry is a characteristic of panic

 deviation from a cooperating equilibrium, or orderly pair, bring an

immediate benefit to the deviant changing his payoff from medium
to high, and
  the deviation from a defecting equilibrium brings an immediate
loss to the deviant.

• Incentive to stay with the defective equilibrium (unstable,

or non self policing)

• and an incentive to defect forms the cooperating one.

(stable , self policing)

 When the contingency of others running based on his running

makes the expected costs of running higher… then better to walk,
all if contingent on his actions.

o Cost to delaying the decision between choosing one of the above:

 It increases the incentive to retransfer control of ones actions to

others and both increases the potential for an orderly exit and
increases the instability of the outcome.

 Orderly exit is a lot of times an unstable outcome and can give way
to panic since some will choose to do independent stuff still.

o Heterogeneity in Power (in situations that can lead to escape panics) (if
fire in building)

 The greater the heterogeneity in the distribution of attention or

power in a crowd the more likely it is that control will be
transferred in a way that makes it to someone’s advantage not to
run- more likely an orderly exit will need to be followed

 The more homogenous the crowd or equal transfer of control, then

the more that escape panic might occur (to transfer control to one
person) to create an orderly outcome is needed.

o Bank and Stock Market Panics

 Reward structure is somewhat different leading to differences in

systematic behavior

 For a bank panic the two actions are to withdraw deposits

(running) or leave them .

 Unlike the physical panic, in a bank situation there is no reason for

the individual to transfer control to others’ actions – if the bank is
unsound he will always be better off if he withdraws his funds-
whatever others do.

 Others actions are looked upon to see if the bank is sound, but if
 they hear a rumor they will normally independently go to the bank
and withdraw funds just in case.

• They are not acting in response to others actions except as

those provide additional info about the banks soundness.

• A single action in the bank panic versus continuous

sequence of actions in the physical one.

o With the continuous sequence, more dependent on

others original actions which means might make
more sense for a force to take decisive action first
for order

o With the bank not necessary

Acquisitive Crazes
- one sort of overexpansion of crazes that reduces stability is the dependence of the
probability of gain which depends on the actions of all

- others need to continue to buy so that the subjective probability is high to trust the
seller of the craze.

- A system of positive feedback is created when a cognitively homogenous social

environment takes the same action in a craze and each persons is using others
actions as evidence about the probability of a gain (from the craze)

Contagious Beliefs
- a transfer of control over beliefs, like aliens, ghosts, and strange but widely
accepted phenomena

- these beliefs might arise in a circumstance in which there is instability in the

structure of authority and in the usually stable structure of transfer or belief or
trust in judgment…

o cults arrive in bad times of the society.

Hostile and Expressive Crowds

- crowd, which engages in hostile, destructive, or expressive, acts never alone.

o Looting or raping mobs after a destruction or violent protests

- One element present in all: a group engages in an action together that no member
would have engaged in alone… the behavior violates the norms and ignores
established authority…

- When people are in a group rather then alone, where more likely to be punished,
then their interests are heard more in group—transfer of control to the crowd as a
 corporate actor or those leaders of it.

- Rights need to be established in order for the collectivity to transfer them

- Collective action is required in order to revoke authority… - consequences for an

individual are higher.

o Collective action starts when individuals assess the contingencies of

others’ actions.. (if I take the first step who will follow)

- As the number of peoples in this type of crowd increases each persons feels less
controlled b the pre-existing norms which governed his behavior and feels
increasingly that the new behavior is normal.. and his being punished decreases

- **whether or not others actions are contingent on his he wants to make his action
contingent on others in this type of crowd, - he has an incentive to cause others to
act VS physical escape panics where that matters and doesn’t have incentive to
cause others to act.

- Two different processes take place in the case of hostile crowds or mobs:

o A release due to the crowds providing a new consensus from the authority
or the normative control that had existed by virtue of the stable or
institutionalized transfer of control over their actions that persons had
made

o And an action by one or more persons that leads members of the crowd to
transfer control to those persons

 Sometimes these are carried out by the same persons or by two

different sets.

- Why does heterogeneity have opposite effects for expressive crowds and escape
panics?

o Heterogeneity of an expressive crowd or distribution of attention more

likely to lead to action then egalitarian or homogenous control – a hostile
crowd with leaders is more likely to interrupt into action then a leaderless,
but in the panic escape group those with leaders are less likely to erupt
into a panic

o (escape panic is more like when there is a leaderless hostile crowd.. all
hell breaks loose… but at least a common goal the other way.

o ROLES GENERATED IN SOCIAL SYSTEM BY VARIOUS

COMBINATIONS OF TRANSFER CONTROL:
  Amplifiers: transfer control to others and allow others to transfer
control on them

 Independents: don’t allow the transfer of control to others or onto

themselves

 Leader: allow the transfer of control onto themselves but don’t

transfer control onto others

 Follower: they transfer control onto others but don’t onto their
selves

- The potential costs of not transferring control lie in the amount of time and effort
required to remain knowledgeable in certain areas…

o Or may include disapproval of others because ones behavior is different..

and this uncertainty is a serious cost.

- FADS ARISE WHEN: many amplifiers in the system. Within a group of high
closure.

Influence Processes in Purchasing Decisions, Voting, and Public Opinions:

- border of collective behavior is that of individual decision making in unstructured
settings, which contain other actors making similar decisions… consumers..
voting…

o there may be the same benefits of transferring control like earlier when
making choices in a limited span of time… placing trust in others
decisions giving them partial control over his decision

Specific Predictions about Collective Behavior

- based on micro level can make predictions about the macro level

o in a physical escape panic the greater the focus of attention on one or a

few persons (greater heterogeneity) the less likely a panic will occur..
more orderly planning

o in a bank panic there is no such effect, a single state of action

o a hostile crowd the greater the focus of attention on one or a few persons
the more likely it is that the cord will take action expressively but it will
be organized to a common goal- greater the heterogeneity

o training persons to exit in an orderly fashion to direct attention to a

designated leader will be valuable for preventing escape panics

o the more prominent an individuals position in an escape panic the more

 likely he will be to exhibit orderly behavior

o the larger a crowd is in absolute members the more likely it is to break out
into hostile or expressive action

o not hold for bank panics

o physical escape panics or sequence of actions should show greater

variability in outcome when circumstances are similar than is true for bank
panics

o contagious beliefs should arise at times of extensive social change when

rights of control have been withdrawn form institutions that have power.

Collins
Ethnographic Notes
• Collins opens with an example of incompetent violence
• Somerville, MA, two guys against one, loud noises, dies down, no punches
landed.
• “A fight between Boston tough guys that doesn’t come to much”

Brave, Competent an Evenly Matched?

• In entertainment, sports and fictionalized confrontations the fighters are brave,
competent and evenly matched.
• In reality, fighters are mostly fearful and incompetent, and violence successful
when the strong attack the weak.
• Example of the tribal warfare in the ethnographic film Dead Birds where fighting
is in waves with little violence that completely ends when one person is killed.
• Reason for inaccurate image of fighters: need to satisfy stereotypes, Staging of
drama in conversation to get attention.
• Cites need for direct evidence on how humans behave in conflict situations
because we cannot rely on verbal accounts.

The Central Reality: Confrontational Tension

• Fighters enter a state of fear or high tension as confrontation reaches violence.
• Calls this state tension/fear, a collective interactional mood that characterizes the
violent encounter on all sides, and that shapes the behavior of all its participants
in several typical ways.
• Shows images of tension/fear emotional state: Palestinian policemen firing back
at Israelis near Gaza in Oct. 2000 and Palestinian gunmen battling Israeli soldiers
in 2002.

Tension/Fear and Non-performance in Military Combat

 • Evidence on fear and its effects: S.L.A. Marshall (1947) US Army in Central
Pacific combat historian interviewed troops immediately after battle.
• SLAM effect: typically only 15 percent of frontline troops fired their guns in
combat.
• Firing rate increased if officer directly beside an infantryman demanding he fire.
• Small portion of troops firing, others: yelling “shoot him”, running away, losing
control of sphincters, urinating, sitting one’s pants, burrowing into ground.
• SLAM result controversial due to criticism of methodology- biased responses
from different military vantage points, issue that those at highest ranks have less
accurate information about what going on at lowest level of practical action.
• However, detailed descriptions of particular combat events confirm SLAM results
• Gives some of these characterizations of “incompetent performance”: French
army 1960s, need for battle police to keep soldiers from running away
• Not a huge difference between behavior of “green” troops and “seasoned vets”
• “Hardened troops” still mutiny.
• Social science finding been used as a basis of social change… Outlines how
military controls fear through organization during combat, training, recruitment:
social cohesion within units, conditioning to fire, volunteer soldiers.
• Effects of change in methods seen in Vietnam combat veterans: decreased non-
firing rates as suggested by surveys.
• Again, photo analysis more believably confirms conclusions.
• Devices to deal with tension/fear: massed formations acting in concert –
• Example of ancient Mediterranean phalanxes, mid-nineteenth century European
close-order drill formations, parade-ground formations, dispersing effect of high-
aggregate firing rifles and machine-guns.
• Insightful point: devices not very successful in preventing non-firing; they were to
a greater extent a ritual of peacetime discipline.

Conditions that result in a higher firing ratio:

1. Group-operated weapons teams – groups of soldiers operating machine
guns, rocket launchers, or bazookas together, with some soldiers firing and
some soldiers performing other helpful tasks. This facilitates group solidarity
and a collective rhythm that encourages even the most fearful of soldiers.
2. Long-rang fighting – snipers and artillery have a higher firing ratio than
close-range infantry and soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. The farther soldiers
are from their enemy, the less fearful they are.
3. A stronger command hierarchy – officers who can make their troops fire.
This is especially effective in reestablishing lost focus, but it is difficult to
achieve a strong command hierarchy in modern, dispersed combat conditions.
4. Psychologically realistic training – combat simulations prepare soldiers to
react in combat situations more realistically than standing target practice or
parade drills.
Even across these conditions, a minority of soldiers still do most of the fighting.

Low Fighting Competence

• A high firing ratio does not mean a high number of hits, because most soldiers are
still incompetent with their weapons.
o In the musket age, troops hit about 5% of their targets at most, due partly
to the inaccuracy of the weapons
o Prussia had high accuracy in target practice, but in actual battle their
troops were down to 3% (lack of psychologically realistic training)
o Most battles resulted in high casualties because of the sheer length of time,
not because of any efficiency of killing
o Breech-loading rifles are technically better weapons, but all they really did
for battle was increase the number of rounds that could be fired, not the
accuracy of shots.
 World War I – 27 bullets fired per enemy killed with rifles
 Vietnam War – fifty thousand (!) bullets per enemy killed with
automatic weapon
• Artillery has always counted for a high percentage of war casualties
o In musket times, cannons counted for fifty percent of deaths
o By World War II, artillery was 75%
• Artillery soldiers are far from the enemy, so they don’t have to see the people
they’re killing, and they also often work as part of teams, manning weapons
together. Together, both of these reduce the SLAM effect.
• Still, artillery isn’t very accurate either.

Friendly Fire
o Soldiers have always caused casualties on their own side, often because they get
panicked and fire weapons without taking aim, often when they’re too far from
the enemy to actually be effective
o Collective mood of soldiers as they enter battlefield is symbolic of combat –
blustering gesture of men far from their enemy but still not competent at fighting
o As many as 15-25% of casualties in war caused by friendly fire. In Iraq, from
2003-2005, 19% of American casualties were friendly fire.
o Today, the use of mechanized force (planes, tanks, trucks) adds to the number of
“friendly fire” casualties
o Police also have high incidents of friendly fire, a ratio of about 11%

Drive-by Shootings & Bystanders

o Gang-related drive-by shootings often involve just a single shot or round fired
from a moving car, and accuracy is not very high
o Because these are vendetta-related, hitting an actual gang member is not as
important as hitting someone valued by the gang
 o This combination of inaccuracy and disregard for civilians leads to a large
number of civilian deaths, including many children
o Fight scene resembles a disaster scene, and in disaster scenes, the most
likely to survive are young males, while the most likely to die are the
elderly and children

Close Hand-to-Hand Combat & Bystanders

o hand-to-hand fights often involve wild swinging and injuries to bystanders
o Combatants often sweat, have fast heart-beats, and other indicators of battle fear.

Military Combat & Bystanders

o Yep, common here as well too, especially in urban warfare environments where
civilians cannot easily escape.
o Because warfare is a combination trying to find enemies and enemies trying it
disguise themselves or elude soldiers, it’s not surprising that soldiers often hit
civilians.
o As combat casualties go down, especially in today’s hi-tech combat environment,
the proportion of civilian casualties goes up.

Friendly fire and bystander casualties are both the result of tension/fear and
resulting incompetence

The Joy of Fighting

o Some authors say that men enjoy fighting, due to a combination of “macho”
culture and genetics. Some even say that killing is a sexually pleasurable drive
o Pre-Battle Elation is one type of fighting joy
o Troops before battles get roused up, are excited to finally be in battle
o In today’s militaries, many soldiers have jobs that put them in no position
to actually fire weapons, yet they’re given guns anyway. The soldiers
furthest from the frontlines often express the most hatred for the enemy.
o Combat soldiers treat captured enemy well, while soldiers far from the
frontlines often treat them rudely and brutally.
o Civilians at home are likely to express even more hatred for the enemy
than any soldiers
o What about joy in actual combat? This is rare indeed. Some joy is tied to firing
weapons, but this is different from actually hitting an enemy
o Those who kill enemies and report joy are usually either reporting pride or
relief in a successful performance

The Continuum of Tension/Fear and Combat Performance

o All soldiers experience tension/fear and the resulting combat incompetence in
varying degrees.
o At one end is complete paralysis or burrowing into the ground to hide
 o Then is panic retreat
o Next is pissing and shitting one’s pants, lagging back, finding excuses to
do other things besides shooting – at this level, soldiers can go through the
motions of fighting it without actually doing it.
o Then there’s competent and accurate fighting
o On the extreme, there’s even those who express joy in fighting
o 30% of soldiers exhibit fear in photos, 32% in middle ground of tension and
concentration, 26% calm and neutral
o Joy in photos is nearly impossible to find.
o Surprisingly, anger is very rare as well, and it usually only accompanies physical
exertion or the use of strong force – intense effort
o In other words, there’s no connection between anger and combat
competence
o Anger comes out when there’s no confrontational fear, in controlled
situations where the opponent is contained or in symbolic situations where
there’s not actually danger
o There’s probably more anger in civilian life than in war
o Nobody is basically fearful, or angry, or loves to kill. Rather, situational dynamics
determine how people will act. Someone on the super-competent killing end of
the spectrum one minute will be helping the captured enemy the next. The next
minute, they could be frozen with fear.
o Not violent individuals, but violent positions; not fearful individuals, but fearful
situations

Confrontational in Policing and Non-Military Fighting

o The same trends that appear in military fighting are present in other types of
fighting, except for duels, boxing matches, and other formalized, “fair” types of
fighting.
o Again, police and drive-bys feature many people who don’t fire, and the few who
do fire are often wildly inaccurate
o In riots, the few at the front are the ones throwing the most stones, smashing the
most property, and being the most violent; while the ones behind them often show
great fear and run to safety at any sign of resistance
o In the momentum of situations like this, though, retreat and attack can get
confused.
o Most civilian fights are based around fear as well, with lots of blustering and little
action. What action there is usually consists of the strong attacking the weak.
o Drive-bys maybe seem to have a higher shot-to-hit ratio. Why?
o On the battlefield, soldiers hide, so the place looks empty, and it’s difficult
to find the enemy. On the street, the unsuspecting enemy is out in the
open.
o Marshall argues against this, showing patterns of non-firing that
correspond to this.
o Soldiers often suffer from fatigue, lack of food, emotional battering and
 loud sounds – this all affects ability to concentrate
o Civilians in non drive-by situations act the same way as soldiers in violent
situations, though
o The stress of a violent situation seems to be the cause for incompetent,
fearful behavior
o Fatigue doesn’t seem to be the main cause

People who are successfully violent

o There are some soldiers who exhibit great success as killers; there are some cops
that shoot and beat suspects unusually often, just as there are bullies in grade
school; but these people are uncommon.
o We must be careful with self-reports from anyone, because expressing a love for
violence or a lack of fear is part of the bluster that people like to put on. Still,
some are truly successful.
o By looking at the position of these people in violent situations, we can understand
how the situation of some enables them to turn the tension/fear and transform it
into violence against others.

Fear of What?
--People basically afraid of physical danger and personal injury, death
--instances where fighting is prolonged or is common occurs in sports with heavy
padding or among children who have a limited ability to severely injure

--one paradox is the ritualization of pain and injury

--like initiation rites, in which people willingly endure a great deal of physical pain and
discomfort
-- pain and violence can be ritualized when the physical pain can be made the focus of
attention and convey group membership
--the emphasis is on enduring rather than inflicting the pain
--apparently, it is easier to endure pain than to inflict it

--another paradox is that soldiers are sometimes more afraid of the things that are less
likely to actually hurt or kill them. They are relatively more afraid of bayonets and
knives than heavy artillery, although the latter poses a much more real threat.

--people are very averse to killing. The knowledge that one may have to do so is
psychologically painful, and thus, people in the position to inflict pain on others suffer
more than those who don’t
--medics on the ground, under siege, are as vulnerable to attack as the infantry mean, but
they suffer lower rates of combat fatigue.
--this is ostensibly because although they are subject to all the same threats, they do not
need to kill anyone
--there is a phenomenon of “non-firing” among soldiers, but not among medics
--medics basically always do their job

--even gunman who face little to no threat of injury feel high level of fight tension in a
confrontation—so tension arises not simply from fear of being killed, but from the fear of
having to kill
--this is seen cross-culturally
--do we have a primordial dislike of killing?

--many factors at play

--one’s willingness to kill depends on many things, like distance from victim
--bayonet killing is extremely rare
--stats show that people are generally pretty incompetent with close range weaponry
--evidence from medieval sword fights, etc
--under Nazi rule at the concentration camps, where soldiers were required to kill people
in close range, there were still misses in point-blank range, even though the victims were
almost completely incapable of defense or offense

--generally, people tend to avoid confrontation

--for instance, we are more likely to express negative verbal statements about someone
non-present

--in physical confrontation, we almost always try to avoid making eye contact
--possible purpose is to avoid seeing victim as human
--attempt to transcend our shared consciousness with others

--“the fog of combat” –kind of an emotional fog, or the feeling that one is in a sort of
dream
--might work as a defense mechanism to detach one from the situation
--basic issue with confrontation is that it requires us to act against our internal tendencies
--“non-solidarity entrainment”
--violence involves defying solidarity with others

Luckenbill- Criminal Homocide as Situated Transaction

• Homicide is a collective transaction: actors are offender, victim, and possibly

audience
o Note that these are labels that can either emerge during the transaction or
 are determined after the exchange is over
• Examines this specific type of transaction to see if these actors play the same role
every time or if there are patterns in the interaction
• Definition: criminal homicide is unlawful taking of person's life, with expressed
intention of killing, and not in course of some other criminal activity
o Only looks at this specific type of murder
o Also excludes:
 Felony murder (death occurs in commission of other felony
crimes)
 Contract murder (offender conspires with another to kill for
payment)
• Data
o 1963-1972
o Medium-sized (350,000) California county
o Size of dataset – seventy-one deaths, seventy transactions (one double
murder)
o Content analysis of police, probation, psychiatric, and witness reports,
offender interviews, victim statements, and grand jury and court testimony
 To figure out what happened – who said what, who did what, etc.
 Created one summary account of the transaction from this
• Some applicable ideas from Goffman:
o Joint contribution of the offender and victim result in escalation of
"character contest" (confrontation in which at least one, but usually both,
attempt to establish or save face at the other's expense by standing steady
in the face of adversity)
o "Social occasion" is social affair within which many situated transactions
(see next bullet) may form, dissolve, and re-form
o Murder is a "situated transaction" (chain of interaction that lasts the time
participants find themselves in one another's immediate physical presence)
• Features of transactions ending in murder:
o Occurred during non-work or leisure time
o Occurred in leisure settings (home, tavern, cruising in a car, etc)
o Informal – no strict rules of interaction like there are at work or at a
funeral. Lots of activities are permissible.
o Lots of close relationships involved – usually the offender & victim are
relatives/friends, & if not there are usually relatives/friends of either of
these actors present
• Lyman & Scott – talk about “face game” that is similar to murder transactions
o Stage I – victim offends the “face” (from Goffman, the image of self a
person claims during a particular interaction). Disrupts the social order of
the occasion and starts process of transforming it into a “character contest”
3 basic types:
 Victim makes some direct, verbal expression which the offender
 subsequently interprets as offensive
 Victim refuses to cooperate/comply with the requests of offender
which offender subsequently interprets as denial of ability/right to
command obedience
 Victim makes physical or nonverbal gesture which offender
subsequently defined as personally offensive
o Stage II – when the offender interprets the victim’s action as offensive
 Can learn the meaning of the victim's move from inquiries made of
victim or audience

• Offender makes assessment based on statements of interested

bystanders
Occurs in 21 % of the cases
Example (Case 20): “I wouldn’t let that guy fool around
with [her] if she was mine”

• Offender attributes meaning based on rehearsals in which the

victim had engaged a similar role (interpretive scheme for
immediately making sense of the present event)
Occurs in 40% of cases
Example (Case 35): Assumes his drunken spouse will
follow through on her threat to kill him because of “how
she gets when she’s drunk,” and so shoots her

Stage III – Offender’s opening move in salvaging face and honor. Situation is defined as
one in which violence is suitable

The apparent affront can evoke different responses : Offender could have fled the scene,
excused the violation. To demonstrate weakness by conceding would have been to lose
face (Goffman)

In all cases, offenders used a retaliatory move to restore face and demonstrate strong
character
In 86% of the cases, offender issued a verbal or physical challenge (verbal, physical non-
lethal moves)
o 43% verbal challenge, usually ultimatum
o name-calling
o physical violence short of real damage
In 14% of the cases, the offender physically retaliated, killing the victim

State IV – Victim’s responsive move in salvaging face and honor

Like, offender, victim could have fled or discontinued inappropriate conduct. Rather than
demonstrate weakness in this way, chose to affirm the situation as one suited to violence
– “working” agreement
41% of cases victim does not comply with challenge or command
In some cases, victim’s actions misinterpreted as agreement to violence
o Example: children’s noncompliance interpreted as challenge to authority instead
of child not understanding request
31% of the cases, victims physically retaliate (short of mortal injury)
Victims sometimes issues counter-challenges (verbal)
Unlike simple noncompliance, physical retaliation and issuance of counter-challenges
signify an acceptance of violence as appropriate way to save face
Audience can contribute to escalation towards violence: 70% cases performed in front of
audience who either intervened (57% encouraged use of violence) or remained neutral.
• Neutrality can be interpreted as a move favoring use of violence

Stage V. The Battle

Victim and offender must follow through because their characters are on the line,
resolution of the contest is situationally bound demanding immediacy of response
Weapon must be attained – either on hand or retrieved
54% of cases the victim is killed in one fell swoop

Stage VI. Victim’s death followed by one of three moves marking the termination of
transaction
58% of the cases offender flees
32% offender voluntarily remains
10% audience forces offender to stay on site
Responses determined by relationship between victim and offender (acquaintances,
enemies typically flee, intimates remain)
Audience also determines response
o Bystanders apprehend/detain the offender (35%) (usually supported victim or
were neutral pre-death)
o Audience suggest without force that police be called (usually intimates of
offender)
o Audience remains neutral/shocked (17%)
o Audience supports offender, lets him escape (typically supported offender pre-
death)

Conclusion:
Criminal homicide is not a one-sided event, with a passive victim. It is a dynamic
interchange between offender, victim and in many cases, bystanders in which one’s “face”
is at stake. A working agreement is developed that makes violence an appropriate means
of settling contest. In general, this pattern characterizes cases regardless of age, sex, race,
time and place, use of alcohol and motive.