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I would like to relate Goffman’s interaction order to my theoretical background in semiotics. With the culmination of his career in his presidential address to the American Sociological Association, Goffman itemized several kinds of interaction arrangements that may be taken on when we are in each other’s presence. These interaction arrangements are useful for two reasons. First, these groupings form semiotic units which become indexable social organizations in public places. Secondly, these groupings are the units in which we package our own spoken uses of language as it occurs in the world. It is also important to remember that Goffman wrote from the point of view of the dominant ethnic majority of North America and these ideas about the interaction order remain to be more clearly and contrastively elaborated for other sociocultural groups.
I would like to relate Goffman’s interaction order to my theoretical background in semiotics. With the culmination of his career in his presidential address to the American Sociological Association, Goffman itemized several kinds of interaction arrangements that may be taken on when we are in each other’s presence. These interaction arrangements are useful for two reasons. First, these groupings form semiotic units which become indexable social organizations in public places. Secondly, these groupings are the units in which we package our own spoken uses of language as it occurs in the world. It is also important to remember that Goffman wrote from the point of view of the dominant ethnic majority of North America and these ideas about the interaction order remain to be more clearly and contrastively elaborated for other sociocultural groups.
Goffman’s article also reminds me of an
article I have recently read from The
Atlantic: Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation? It is reported that
the arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers’
lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health and
that these changes have affected young people in every corner of the nation and
in every type of household (I have to add that this happens not only in “the
nation”, but in most nations as well). With their smartphones, teenagers are
more likely to stay indoors, compared with Gen Xers, less likely to hang out with
friends, to date, and have sex. And they are less enthusiastic about learning
to drive. This is not surprising given how much time we, as adults, have
devoted to staring at our beloved smart devices. I have also noticed that while
chatting through the social media, I need to be more cautious because there are
no paralinguistic clues as in a regular interaction order to help us
communicate the subtleties. I have to appeal to emojis constantly to show, say,
my smiles, sadness, or the tongue-in-cheek playfulness. So here comes the
question. Can we incorporate these mediated social interactions into what
Goffman defines as interaction order since the great technological advances
have rendered it possible for people to interact without being present to each
other?
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