Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings

Critical Analysis

Chapter 1: The Problem

In this chapter, the author established the goal for the text, which is to investigate the nature of situations that include multiple people in public spaces.

The rules of conduct in various locations, and the behavior and workings of regular life, tell us about the way society is structured and the “patterning” of ordinary social interactions. Some activities are approved, and some are considered improper. Properness is judged by a specific social group, and “even within the confines of the smallest and warmest of groups there is likely to be some dissensus and doubt.” The group approves or disapproves of types of behavior, and the author describes that that approval spreads across various variables. One is the strength of approval for upholding a given behavioral rule, and another is the consequence of failing to uphold that rule. Consequences have various extremes. Within the framework, there is a freedom of choice; the framework’s boundaries differ based on situations.

There are several common ways of creating conceptual models of a group. One is as a closed, natural system, where a group has a sense of internal equilibrium that is self-correcting. Another is as a game, where interactions are orderly and logical. Another, that the author subscribes to, is that of a social order. A social order is “the consequence of any set of moral norms that regulates the way in which persons pursue objectives.” This commonly refers to face-to-face interactions in places that a community feels are freely accessible to members of that community.

Private places are “soundproof regions where only members or invitees gather,” and so do social settings, where only people of certain status may enter. Some are articulated and well-defined, while others are not; “it is plain that the individual’s mere presence, regardless of his conduct while present, communicates either that he possesses the entrance qualifications or that he is behaving improperly.”

Proper behavior means that one should not attract “undue attention,” either by being too present or too withdrawn. This is related to the idea of “fitting in”, which indicate that “what is proper in one situation may certainly not be proper in another.” This can be thought of as “situational determinism.”

Chapter 2: Introductory Definitions

In this chapter, the author presents the various terms applied to behaviors, focusing on types of situations, activities, and interactions, and the ways of acting that are considered normal in these experiences.

People provide information to others based on the words the say, the things they do, the clothing they wear, and all sorts of other presentations of self. Information presented can be embodied, as when the person is sending information during a current bodily activity, or disembodied, as when they are not physically present in a situation. While in an embodied condition, “any message that an individual sends is likely to be qualified and modified by much additional information that others glean from him simultaneously, often unbeknownst to him.” This happens bidirectionally, and so in a face-to-face interaction, “each giver is himself a receiver, and each receiver is a giver.” Sight is important, as one can be seen, and can see, and can be seen seeing; this may encourage sympathy, and change the richness of information flow and way that one responds.

The author offers different words for presence. A gathering is when two or more people “are at the moment in one another’s immediate presence.” A situation is the environment in which this occurs, and this serves to delineate presence. In a social occasion one enters presence of another, and is “bounded in regard to place and time and typically facilitated by fixed equipment.” These occasions generate a “standing behavior pattern” of appropriate conduct. There is a differentiation between the person who controls the beginning and end of the occasion from those who are participants or onlookers, and there is an “involvement contour” that can show the “rise and fall of general engrossment in the occasion’s main activity.”

An occasion often is considered and planned in advance, and so it has management assigned, an understanding of sanctions, and preestablished phases and climaxes. Other occasions may be unserious or recreational; an occasion has unique qualities, and “the regulations of conduct characteristic in situations and their gatherings are largely traceable to the social occasion in which they occur.”

A given situation may have “multiple social realities,” as occasions may overlap, each bringing their own qualities. Situatedness describes events occurring within a situation, and “the second person upon a scene transforms everything done by himself and by the ones already there into situated activity.”

Situational properties describe the codes used within a situation. Unfocused interaction is “the kind of communication that occurs when one gleans information about another person present by glancing at him” while a focused interaction “occurs when persons gather closely together and openly cooperate to sustain a single focus of attention, typically by taking turns at talking.” In any given situation, people are expected to control not only their language, but also to show discipline about their body. This means that they must “come into play” and stay that way while in the situation; this is an “interaction tonus” and is displayed primarily through a “personal front”—the physical clues they offer to others. The “obligation is not merely to possess the equipment but also to exert the kind of sustained control that will keep it properly arranged.” If someone fails to do these things, they are showing disregard and cultural distance.

Chapter 3: Involvement

In this chapter, the author describes the nature of typical behavior in groups. He separates the use of the body and physical presence from that of methods of showing or abstaining from involvement.

Non-verbal communication is institutionalized. People understand that there are acceptable forms of engaging and being present in public, and change their behavior appropriately. Body symbolism is a way in which someone presents themselves visually and through gestures; these are signs of “unfocused interaction” and implies that body idioms are conventionalized discourses, similar to spoken language. The difference is that one cannot stop “talking” through their use of their body.

Occasioned activities are those that require engrossment. Situated involvement is sustained engrossment within a situation, compared to situational involvement, which is to be involved in a situation. This is a form of involvement idiom. Involvement can only be inferred, as simple presence does not indicate engrossment. If someone is unable to be appropriately engrossed, they can leave a situation. If engrossment must be interrupted—“if an individual must be given bad news… the giver may wait for a suitable moment when the recipient is off by himself, and there is not likely to be an immediate call for his situational presence.” This is a form of involvement shield, where someone can then do things they would not normally do in public.

The author concludes the brief chapter by noting the importance of these involvement shields; these indicate a “very characteristic attribute of situated conduct… we deal not so much with a network of rules that must be followed as with rules that must be taken into consideration.” We can choose to be uninvolved.

Chapter 3: Some Rules About the Allocation of Involvement

In this chapter, the author describes the nature of being involved in a situation, or appearing to be involved, and the various signals this sends to others nearby.

The author describes “involvement” as “the capacity of an individual to give, or withhold from giving, his concerted attention to some activity at hand… it implies a certain admitted closeness between the individual and the object of involvement, a certain overt engrossment on the part of who is involved.” There are primary elements of attention and involvement, and also side involvements; typically, a primary focus is a dominant involvement, as compared to a subordinate involvement.

Subordinate involvement may not be permitted in a social gathering, although sometimes, it is tolerated; this is based on how much self-attention is considered appropriate. Sometimes it is explicitly prohibited.

People may experience discomfort when they are confronted with a dominant necessity for involvement, but they lack the skills to perform; this “may arise not only because he has caused [others] an inconvenience and is demonstrating incompetence, but also because he must act involved in his task… those around him may say that he is ‘overinvolved in the situation.’” This form of exposure can be mitigated by facing away from a given situation, appearing as if they are not entirely there and only on the edges or fringes. Overinvolvement is signified to others through a “shaky” voice.

Someone may also “apparently feel too anxious and excited to participate properly.” And others may require formal rules to be urged to “get to work,” such as in the case of a job.

Research Value

The value of this work in informing my own research is that it:

• Begins to connect deviant behavior with context of social gatherings or groups
• Introduces language of social order and situational determinism
• Describes the qualities present in a studio event, like a critique, a desk one-on-one, casual behavior after hours, and other situations that occur continually
• Shows the importance of having a “game face” during high-stakes experiences, or with people in authority roles
• Notes that bad news can be shielded in public contexts, but the purpose of critique is to deliver bad news in a public situation