SOCI 2150A
Final Take-home
Examination
Winston Ly 100800592
SOCI 2150A Dr. George Pollard TA: Alexandra Sociology is about examining the collections of human social interaction in order toconsequences between the social formation of individual identity and social groups. This draws
us to the important starting concept of situation. A situation is defined as two or more co-presents
occupying the same time and space, and are able to use their naked senses to engage in mutual
surveillance or noticing. A situation can be split up into three categories, including situated
activity, gathering, and occasion. A situated activity is the most basic type of situation.
Co-presents are mingling, usually without comingling with some acknowledgement. A gathering is
situated activity with more intention, triggered by some perfunctory greeting, followed by a
response, which leads to acquaintanceship. A gathering may be spontaneous, such as striking up
a conversation or making a comment. An occasion usually evolves from a gathering in which the
co-presents are more than acquaintances. Occasions may arise from specific purposes such as
work, meetings, or leisure and are usually more formal and have some sort of leadership
involved. An example of an occasion would be a business meeting.
Besides situation, sociation is another key element that was covered throughout this
course. Sociation is defined as the degree of interaction between individuals in a group. In other
words, sociation are the decisions that one makes leading to appropriate actions. A distinct
feature of sociation is that it is an exercise of authority. We discussed in class that authority
differs from power because it seeks the greater good for the group as a whole, not to just benefit
an individual(s). For example, in my essay on The Cocktail Waitress, there was a situation where
a waitress is grabbed by a male patron in the bar. Her sociative response to it was to remove his
hand and smile politely. She could have reacted negatively to it and start an argument, but doing
this instead maintained a friendly atmosphere in Brady’s bar. In order to produce the appropriate
Gender is often confused with the term ‘sex’, which is used to define the biological
features between males and females. Instead, gender a term that is socially constructed to define
the unequal division of responsibilities into masculine and feminine categories. Within the
context of situation, we could say that if one of the co-presents was a female, she would be
expected to act in certain ways and perform certain roles that confirm her femininity.
In my essay on The Cocktail Waitress, the situation that I had to analyze was deeply
influenced by gender. The situation consisted of a waitress who was serving beers to two men,
when one of them suddenly grabs her and tries to flirt with her. The waitress simply smiled and
removed his hand, continuing with her other duties around the bar as a waitress. The type of
situation that takes place here is a gathering. The customer’s action of grabbing and flirting with
the waitress is spontaneous and initiates a kind of acquaintanceship among the co-presents. The
customer behaved this way probably because he wanted to show off his masculine traits.
Aside from gender, the back region is also an important concept to consider when dealing
with situation and sociation. The back region is where one can take off their social ‘mask’ and
reveal their true feelings. This is because the back region takes place in the private realm (see
below for definition of private realm). For example, imagine a fry cook working at a fast food
restaurant and they are dealing with a difficult customer. The fry cook my get annoyed enough
that they would feel inclined to spit into the customer’s food! However, he or she would be
socialized to know that they should only do this in the back region. The fry cook also would not
express this plan while they are in the situation of talking to the customer.
A set of expectations and tasks that a person is expected to carry out in a specific setting
is called a role. People can have multiple roles such as a father, banker, student, prisoner, etc.
breaking. In a situation, role breaking may be done as a means to achieve something. For
example, a janitor’s role usually confines him cleaning buildings and keeping eating areas tidy.
However, he may become a town hero if he decides to break his role and save a little girl from
oncoming traffic. In this case, sociation is also present in role breaking because the janitor had to
make a decision leading to the action of saving the little girl.
The front region is considered the public stage where a role is enacted. Examples, as
mentioned in class, include streets, offices, schools, and pubs. It is here in the public realm where
people put on role ‘masks’ to hide their true self. For example, consider this situation: I once was
at a crowded bus stop at on Carleton University’s campus. While I am waiting for my bus, I may
be listening to some upbeat music on my iPod. However, because this is a public space and
therefore a front region, I would be socialized enough to know that it would be out of the cultural
norm to start and break out in song and dance. Instead, I put on the role mask of a serious student
to conceal my inner desires to dance, preventing myself from looking like a fool.
As mentioned before, a role mask is used to hide the true self, but masks are also liable to
leakages. What this means is that when someone decides to play a role, some parts of their social
self may be revealed whether it is by accident or on purpose. Many strong examples of this can
come from the hidden camera reality show Just for Laughs: Gags. Unsuspecting people on the
show are routinely surprised by various pranks pulled on them, usually in the front region (or
public sphere). These individuals can be expected to be socialized to be reserved and minding
their own business. However, when the prank is pulled, many people experience a ‘mask
leakage’ and their calm demeanour suddenly changes, revealing their surprise or fear.
Mask leakage also serves as an important point when dealing with situation and sociation.
coffee shop. One of them is quite clumsy and spills some of her latté on the floor, and some of
the other customers around them witness this. The other friend makes a joking remark about her
clumsiness and they both laugh nervously. This is something that happened in the public front
region, yet both of the friends allow some leakage of their masks, revealing embarrassment. This
is evident that both girls are competent at sociation because they both laughed loudly enough that
the other patrons would acknowledge their embarrassment and regret. If sociation is for
benefitting the group and reflects the relationship between group members, we can say that in
this situation, the two girls are actually quite close friends. If they were not good friends or
complete strangers, the other girl would have kept her social mask on and not react to the spill at
all.
The private realm is where group members are intimately tied to one another. People of
this group may include household family members, roommates, and the very closest of friends. If
a situation occurs in the private realm, the co-presents are usually very intimate and are more
likely to disclose personal information to one another. For instance, I once had a friend where she
and her brother caught their older sister kissing her boyfriend on a park bench. A private realm
exists in this situation because the older sister and the boyfriend were engaging in a very intimate
manner. Although they are in a public space, outsiders are not welcome into this private realm.
Sometimes, private realms are not absolutely perfect, and there is room for accidental disclosure.
In this case, the accidental disclosure happened when my friend and her brother caught their
sister kissing.
The next concept to consider is the public realm. A public realm is distinctly an open
space which is populated by strangers. In terms of situation, all co-presents are unknown, or are
public realm are expected to see and be seen by other people. In the case of my friend’s sister,
she tried to make a part of the public realm as a private realm. From this, we can conclude that
private realms and public realms can transition and separate from one another. In the public
realm, there are societal constructs and different norms by which all co-presents must abide by.
These rules are followed because of sociation; everyone has learned and knows how to behave in
a public realm to maintain order. For example, if a student were to walk in the halls of Carleton
University, he or she would not walk around in underwear for everyone to see.
The parochial realm, as discussed in class, lies somewhere in between the private and
public realm. It is a transitional phase from one point to the next. An example of this are places
of worship such as a church or a synagogue. Even though the co-presents are in a public space,
they are engaging in very private acts such as sharing personal testimonies or praying with one
another. Sociation is evident because through their social actions, a strong sense of community is
developed. Also, since church goers know each other and worship together, this is seen as not an
act of power but of authority, forging bonds amongst each other. Drawing back on the example
of my friend’s sister, the park can also become a parochial realm. Before they caught their sister
in the act of making out, they were in a public realm. As they were approaching their sister, they
soon realized that it had quickly transitioned into a private realm.
Spradley and Mann decided to study Brady’s bar because it presented a sizable and
reliable population. The focus of Cocktail Waitress was analyzing what it was like for a woman
working in a male dominated workplace setting. One of the authors, Brenda Mann, engaged in
ethnographic research by immersing herself into the culture of Brady’s bar.
They state that one of their main problems was a “lack of detachment and objectivity”.
they could relate to their subjects much more easily and therefore, there was greater social
pressure for the researcher to conform. As a result of this, objectivity would also be difficult to
obtain. Another area of difficulty would be that Mann would have to remember a lot of
information in between debriefing meetings with her colleagues. Also, because Brenda would be
engaged in the environment of Brady`s bar for so long, a lot of important details in her mind
would be become her own viewpoint. Finally, the people that she was studying were aware of her
role as a researcher. This may cause some bias and inaccuracy in the nature of the research.
There were not only difficulties that appeared in the study, but there were as well some
parts that made the study ultimately a success. The book explains that while Brenda was
studying, her fellow researcher, James Spradley would watch from a distance. This helped
counter the earlier issues of maintaining objectivity. Throughout the study there were multiple
waitresses that were interviewed and observed by Spradley and Mann. This proved to be an
invaluable source of data because it gave the researchers various perspectives concerning what it
would be like for a woman working in Brady’s bar. The debriefing sessions were also important
for gathering good, solid data because having both researchers present their findings on the same
subject would help eliminate any inconsistencies and biases. The last item that helped make the
stud a success was the ability to formulate categorical lists, charts, and diagrams. With these
kinds of visual aids, Spradley and Mann demonstrated that they had gathered a lot of rich data
and were able to present them in an organized manner. This makes their findings much more
easier to understand.
Roles are defined in this course as the various social expectations that come with a
particular social position. I learned throughout the course that roles come with various social
grabbed by a stranger used all of these tools in order to maintain decorum. I also understand that
many of the concepts taught in this course overlap with other concepts. For instance, there are
gender roles, in which gender dictates what roles a person should play. Roles can also mix with
socialization in which a person must learn (or be socialized) to perform different roles in
different social positions. Roles also enrich the understanding of how situation and sociation play
out in our everyday lives. With so many things happening in society such as conscription, drug
users, or arranged marriages, one must slow down and think of possibility that such roles can be
forced onto others as well. In every situation of our lives, roles can influence how people are
treated or looked upon. You could imagine the difference in how someone would treat the
President of the United States if he came over for dinner in comparison with one of your fellow
co-workers if they came over for dinner as well. Sociation and roles can also combine in with
one another if one considers that a person needs social knowledge and experience in order to
carry out their roles properly.
It was established earlier on in the course that gender was a socially constructed concept
that was used to describe the unequal distribution of responsibilities assigned to masculine or
feminine traits. This is not to be confused with sex, which describes the biological differences
between males and females. Gender in Western culture plays a huge effect on situation and
sociation. From reading the Cocktail Waitress, there were various examples in which the female
waitresses had little or no power in Brady’s bar. One hierarchical diagram in the book showed
that they were even lower in social status with the male patrons that they served. Derogatory
nicknames such as ‘chesty’ and ‘bitch’ would be used to refer to women in the bar. From this, we
also can understand that gender roles come with their own set of norms set by society. Calling
in Brady’s bar. From the obvious emphasis on gender in Cocktail Waitress, there also comes to
be a greater understanding of other major concepts in the course material such as socialization.
Socialization is the process by which we learn how to be functioning members in society
by internalizing norms and values. As mentioned before, though initially offended, it seems that
the waitresses had to be socialized in order to understand that those names that they were called
were indeed a value emphasis made by the sub-culture of Brady’s bar. Aside from Brady’s bar
there are other areas in which socialization explains the various themes presented in the course. A
frequent sub-topic that involves socialization is social disclosure. In class, we discussed how
social disclosure can be used as a ‘lubricant’ to make conversation flow more smoothly. One
must learn from social experience that giving bits and pieces about you helps keep the other
person interested. From this, social disclosure can serve as a glue to form social intimacy
between co-presents in a situation. From this, a relationship can start between different people,
taking them onto different stages of relationship. Relationship can also be an experience of
socialization because if the relationship becomes stagnant, people can come apart and no longer
have a bond between them. A person cannot know what this is like unless they themselves
experience it, hence socialization. In conclusion, these three major themes of roles, gender and
socialization helped me understand the value of social psychology. In our every day experiences
with situation and sociation, they help develop us individually on a micro level so that we can
