Introduc)on to Sociology
Discussion Ques)on #6 - Due 10/13
Macionis Chapters 9
Instruc)ons: In 300-350 words, though.ully:
• Answer one of the Discussion Ques9ons below.
• Use relevant concepts and/or terminology from the readings to provide facts, make
your case or support your asser9on; cite sources when appropriate.
• Unless otherwise stated, provide at least three examples when appropriate.
1. Erving Goffman said we “read” other people through social interac9on to get a sense of their
class status. What sort of clues can tell you about a person’s social class within thirty seconds of
mee9ng that person? How much of these social clues do you aOribute to your upbringing?
Discuss how these clues may differ when mee9ng in person versus through social media.
Within 30 seconds, I think you can tell fairly well the class status of that par9cular person. Based
purely upon looks and physical appearance, you can most commonly tell the class of the person
because the average person would not to like appear physically “cheap” or appear lower than
their worth. This thinking is based on socie9es views in regards to clothing and puTng value of
the clothes people wear and the way people look. Moving on from the standard physical
appearance, the way in which dialect is exchanged can show the social class status as well.
Being the wealthy have more access to schools and beOer educa9on, it is more common as you
climb up the social ladder to see higher level of vocabulary and increased levels of conversa9on
and conversa9on topics. These clues and these social “tells” contribute to my upbringing
because my mom was always on a quest to fulfill these for her children. Being a young, black
man in America, my mother perceived that I was already going to life at a disadvantage. To
compensate for this, she made sure I was very educated and always did my best in school. She
didn’t allow me to slack or to “bs” my way through school because she need me to be
“eloquent” or “well-spoken” in the real world. This would put me in an equal playing field with
the white people who were able to afford a good equa9on from the start of their life and were
already seen as professional. These clues differ from in person through social media because on
social media, anybody can create any image of themselves. They can be as professional as they
want to appear and can essen9ally “fake it 9ll they make it” while in real life, this is not an
op9on.