Most days nobody greeted each other at the beginning of the day, no “Good morning” or “How’s it going?” We would pile into the crew truck with our bags and lunch containers and arrange ourselves in silence. Nobody said goodbye at the end of the day either, as though the time between one workday and the next were a scene change in an ongoing play. [ Read more... ]
Belonging is a central human aspiration, one that has drawn attention from sociologists and social psychologists alike. Who is likely to realize this aspiration? This paper addresses that question by examining how “we-feeling” is distributed within small groups. It proposes that a “high-status penalty” diminishes we-feeling for... [ Read more... ]
A person’s social worth is subject to evaluation in any interaction, with stakes rising the more onlookers there are. Interaction rituals often protect a person’s face, but at times face-work takes a competitive, zero-sum turn when one participant attempts to “score points” at the expense of others. This article uses a public embarrassment spectacle to isolate the role of conversational mechanics in face-work.... [ Read more... ]
How a North Dakota prairie became the home of America’s first mosque.
There is no marker at 87th Ave NW aside from a green street sign where the paved road turns to gravel. There is no billboard, no placard with an arrow directing a traveler to a place of interest. No crescent moon or other subtle indicator. [ Read more... ]
