Every society seems to develop its own conception of what is "essential" to, and characteristic of, the two sex classes, this conception embracing both praised and dispraised attributes. Here are ideals of masculinity and feminini- ty, understandings about ultimate human nature which provide grounds (at least in Western society) for identifying the whole of the person, and provide also a source of accounts that can be drawn on in a million ways to excuse, justify, explain, or disapprove the behavior of an individual or the arrange- ment under which he lives, these accounts being given both by the individual who is accounted for and by such others as have found reason to account for him.

This nurse seemed to take initiative, although she appeared to be shy and with- drawn, unlike the head nurses on the medi- cal wards who happened to have a more outgoing personality.

Schools hav e to dea l wit h a particularly critical audience.Accordingly, on e Ž nds numerous an d often very inventive ‘opting-out’ strategies ineducational interactions—tha t all mak e use of perception, and of the perception ofperception. Pupils ar e continually engaged in reading the behaviour of their teacher.Observing whether one is bein g observed or is temporary ou t of the teacher’s sight ,hiding behind another one ’s back , pretending that one listens attentively, looking as ifeverything what is said is understood, etc.

The ‘groundwork’ for classroom interaction is lai d outside the classroom, an d outsidethe school

The working consensus orients toward a particular definition of the situation, which includes status and roles. But for different settings there will be different definitions of the situation, some of which include status and some not. In my classroom, for instance, I can effectively maintain my social superiority by successfully performing as a teacher. Goffman is careful to point out, however, that I can do so only through the cooperation of others. When I go home on the trolley, however, the definition of the situation does not include any particular sta

In all these instances people are mobilized totake their places—important or minor, casual orregular, voluntary or involuntary—in a collectiveenterprise carried on in a somewhat establishedand expected way

Each field presupposes, and generates by its very functioning, the belief in the value of the stakes it offers

As a space of potential and active forces, the field is also a field of struggles aimed at preserving or transforming the configuration of these forces. Concretely, the field as a structure of objective relations of force between positions undergirds and guides the strategies whereby the occupants of these positions seek, individually or collectively to safeguard or improve their position, and to impose the principle of hierarchization most favorable to their own products. The strategies of agents depend on their position in the field, that is, in the distribution of the specific capital

Secondly, one must map out the objective structure of the relations between the positions occupied by the agents or institutions who compete for the legitimate form of specific authority of which this field in the site. And, thirdly, one must analyze the hab

the external determinations that bear on agents situated in a given field (intellectuals, artists, politicians, or construction com- panies), never apply on them directly, but only through the specific mediation of the specific forms and forces of the field, after having undergone a re-structuring that is all the more important the more auto- nomous the field, that is, the more it is capable of imposing its specific logic, the cumulative product of its specific history.

Second, within the field in question one must construct a ‘social topology’ or map of the ‘objective structure’ of the positions which make up the field, and the relationships between them in the competition for the field’s specific form of capital

politics and structure of the field shape and channel the manner in which ‘external determinations’ affect what goes on within the field, making them appear a part of the ongoing history and operation of the field itself. The more important and autonomous the field in the context of the array of fields which together constitute a ‘society’, the more this metamorphosis effect operates.

defines the situation

Positions stand in relationships of domination, subordination or equivalence (homology) to each other by virtue of the access they afford to the goods or resources (capital) which are at stake in the field.

field, in Bourdieu’s sense, is a social arena within which struggles or manoeuvres take place over specific resources or stakes and access to them. Fields are defined by the stakes which are at stake—cultural goods (life-style), housing, intellectual distinction (education), employment, land, power (politics), social class, prestige or whatever

ame commanding, aggressive, cultural capi tal that offended the teachers appealed to the LSC. With deference in the eyes of the LSC, Mrs. Kox had the symbolic power to redefine the LSCs method of principal evaluation in a way that protected her from the teachers' attacks

when individuals are in one another's immedi- ate presence are well designed to serve as micro-ecological metaphors, summaries and iconic symbols of structural arrangements- whether wanted or not

the direct impact of situational effects upon social structure

Perhaps behind a willingness to accept the way things are ordered is the brutal fact of one's place in the social structure and the real or imagined cost of allowing oneself to be singled out as a malcontent

convention contract in general (whatever it happens to be), nor personal belief in the ulti- mate value of the particular norms that are involved. Individuals go along with current in- teraction arrangements for a wide variety of reason

Yet it appears to me that as an order of activity, the interaction one, more than any other perhaps, is in fact orderly, and that this orderliness is predicated on a large base of shared cognitive presuppositions, if not normative ones, and self-sustained restraint

a domain of activity-a particular kind of activity

world, and the information they have (or haven't) concerning the possession of this in- formation

Roger Barker reminded us with his notion of "behavioral setting," the regulations and expectations that apply to a particular social situation are hardly likely to be generated at the moment there. His phrase, "standing be- havior pattern," speaks to the fact, reasonably enough, that quite similar understandings will apply to a whole class of widely dispersed set- tings, as well as to particular locations across inactive phases. Further, although a particular behavioral setting may extend no further than any social situation which two or more partici- pants generate in its precincts-as in the case of a local bar, a small shop floor, or a domestic kitchen-other arrangements are frequent. Factories, airports, hospitals, and public thor- oughfares are behavioral settings that sustain an interaction order characteristically extend- ing in space and time beyond any single social situation occurring in them

our experience of the world has a confrontational characte

our ritual vulnerabilities are also our ritual re- sources

By definition, we can partici- pate in social situations only if we bring our bodies and their accoutrements along with us, and this equipment is vulnerable by virtue of the instrumentalities that others bring along with their bodies

Whatever is distinctive to face-to-face in- teraction is likely to be relatively cir- cumscribed in space and most certainly in time. Furthermore (as distinguished from so- cial roles in the traditional sense), very little by way of a dormant or latent phase is to be found; postponement of an interactional activity that has begun has a relatively massive effect on it, and cannot be much extended without deeply altering what had been happening interaction- ally. For always in the interaction order, the engrossment and involvement of the participants-if only their attention-is crit- ical, and these cognitive states cannot be sus- tained for extended periods of time or much survive forced lapses and interruption. Emo- tion, mood, cognition, bodily orientation, and muscular effort are intrinsically involved, in- troducing an inevitable psychobiological ele- ment. Ease and uneasiness, unselfconscious- ness and wariness are central. Observe, too, that the interaction order catches humans in just that angle of their existence that displays considerable overlap with the social life of other species. It is as unwise to discount the similarity between animal and human greetings as it is to look for the causes of war in genetic predisposition

main as an analytically viable one-a domain which might be titled, for want of any happy name, the interaction order-a domain whose pre- ferred method of study is microanalysi

tions, that is, environments in which two or more individuals are physically in one an- other's response presence

Drawing on the works of Ervin g Goffman an d Nikla s Luhmann, it is argued thatface-to-face interactions establish realitiessui generis. The y have a life on thei r own, and make demandson thei r own behalf. The y ar e abl e to constitute thei r own boundaries by mean s of an intricate interplayof processes of re ectiv e perception and communication.

For this reason, teachers (and princi- pals who abide by their expectations) carry on an essentially secretive relationship vis-a-vis parents and the community, try- ing to prevent any event which will give these groups a perma- nent place of authority in the school situation. The emphasis on never admitting mistakes of school personnel to parents is an attempt to prevent these outsiders (who would not be subject to teacher control) from getting any excuse which might justify their intrusion into and possible destruction of the existing authority system

o understand this struggle, we must con sider the context and audience for these inter actions. Even though Kox's commanding style fits accountability, it does not fit the order that the teachers had negotiated with the prior administrations. A

o receive deference, one must exhibit the appropriate demeanor towards others.