Civil inattention—On the sources of relational segregation

Arminen, Ilkka A. T.; Heino, Anna S. M.

doi:10.3389/fsoc.2023.1212090

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…With global mobility and intense urbanization bringing more and more strangers into ever closer proximity, interactions between strangers are the most ubiquitous form of interaction on earth [see Arminen and Heino (2023) ]. While large in number, strangers’ public interactions differ qualitatively from interactions in other settings, from interactions between persons known to one another, and between persons in defined roles.…”

Section: Interaction: Ritual and Breachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral landscapes and morally meaningful encounters: how interaction ritual connects conversation analysis and cultural sociology

Horgan

2024

Front. Sociol.

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This article presents a theoretical argument for examining the previously unexamined interface between the strong program in cultural sociology ethnomethodology/conversation analysis (EMCA). While these two approaches have radically different theoretical and empirical commitments, they nonetheless share a common root in Durkheim’s sociology, specifically with regard to the centrality of solidarity, ritual, and morality to collective life. Similarly rooted in Durkheim, Goffman’s theory of interaction ritual provides an analytic pivot between EMCA and the strong program. The broader theoretical argument is illustrated using data from interviews with adults about their most recent encounter with a rude strangers in public space, which are here treated a breaches of the interaction ritual of civil inattention. Members readily draw on the specifics of a particular stranger interaction gone awry to reflect on the nature of life in public and to expound on their understandings of the ethics of face-to-face interaction and everyday morality more generally. Where EMCA focuses on the discoverability of the organizational features of everyday interaction, the position developed here is concerned with the organization of members’ interpretations of everyday interaction. While centered on specific kinds of interactional breaches, by finding common ground between EMCA and cultural sociology, the argument advances a potentially more broadly applicable approach that treats everyday encounters as morally meaningful and everyday lifeworlds as moral landscapes. Developing a comprehensive understanding of copresent interaction as a basic building block of society requires attention to both the organizational dynamics of copresent encounters and to the interpretive resources that ordinary members use to account for and justify their own and others’ conduct.

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Section: Interaction: Ritual and Breachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral landscapes and morally meaningful encounters: how interaction ritual connects conversation analysis and cultural sociology

Horgan

2024

Front. Sociol.

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Psychological needs related to civil inattention: A qualitative and quantitative view on public encounters

Diefenbach,

Riehle,

Jannott

et al. 2024

British J Social Psychol

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As described by early sociological research (Goffman, 1963, Behavior in public places: Notes on the social organization of gatherings), a typical behavioural pattern in public encounters between strangers is so‐called Civil Inattention (CI). CI describes a ritual of politely communicating having noticed the other while assuring non‐communication intentions. A typical example of showing CI is initially looking at the other person but then quickly averting the gaze. As argued earlier, CI fulfils a central role in the smooth functioning of a society. Also, CI gains new relevance in the digital era, in particular regarding privacy needs. Still, previous research on CI often remained on a theoretical or descriptive level, and its psychological functions have not been explored systematically. As an advancement, our study provides a deeper understanding of CI, exploring individual narratives, relevant psychological needs, and contextual factors. We conducted a qualitative interview study (N = 25) followed by an experimental online study (N = 353) with a 2 (presence of CI) × 2 (physical distance) mixed design. It shows that CI adds to well‐being and specifically addresses needs for relatedness, security, and autonomy. However, though Study 1 suggested physical distance as a relevant contextual factor, the present experimental manipulation in Study 2 did not show significant effects.

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Civil inattention—On the sources of relational segregation

Cited by 2 publications

References 62 publications

Moral landscapes and morally meaningful encounters: how interaction ritual connects conversation analysis and cultural sociology

Moral landscapes and morally meaningful encounters: how interaction ritual connects conversation analysis and cultural sociology

Psychological needs related to civil inattention: A qualitative and quantitative view on public encounters

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