This week our class is reading Spencer Cahill's chapter on Goffman in
Charon's text, The Intro to Frame Analysis by Goffman,
Mary Chayko's Reframing Frame Analysis, and The intro to the
Sociology of the Absurd. Quite a bit, I know. Here are some things to
ponder:
1) Does a theater metaphor really work for describing social reality?
Is Goffman's sociology "empirical"?
2) What is a "frame"? Goffman claims that Frame Analysis
is an attempt to provide a grammer of the social. What does this mean?
3) Goffman claims that the Thomas Theorem is "True as written,
but false as taken." How does he explain himself. Why is this satement
important to the remainder of his Introduction?
4) Does virtual reality follow the same framework as
actual reality? What rules do these realities share, and what rules do
they not have in common?
5) Lyman and Scott claim that "All systems of belief are arbitrary, including
that of the conventional sociologist." IF this is the case, is it possible to
make an arguement for any sociology including that of the absurd?
What criterea would one need to make this kind of assesment?
Have a ball!
Jon
http://www.wfu.edu/Academic-departments/Sociology/SOC-385/syl.html
Jonathon S. Epstein
Department of Sociology "Poiyt!"
Wake Forest University Pinky
Winston Salem, N.C. 27109
(910)-759-5447 "Even a Jellyfish
epstein@wfu.edu would agree
to that."
Jimi