Interaction Ritual Chains (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology)

Collins pulls together many of the themes of his earlier works to produce a general theory of social interaction. Basically, humans engage in interaction rituals to attain emotional energy. Some of these interaction rituals are more successful than others. Nearly all have some exclusionary features, and some people are more central to the rituals than others (for example, the athletes on the field versus the fans in the stands, or the fans at home). Those more central build more emotional energy, and often find themselves in chains of high emotional energy rituals, thus developing a higher sense of emotional energy--that mysterious, intimidating quality one finds around celebrities in practically any field. This theory is certainly a welcome alternative to the crackpot ideas of socio-biology and rational choice theory, which are much more widely circulated. At the same time, like all such theories, it threatens to explain so much that it explains nothing much. So it is fortunate that after 200 pages of theory (perhaps 75 pages too long) Collins shifts his focus to three concrete examples of employing interaction rituals to understand the world--sex, social hierarchy, and the decline of smoking. The chapter on sex is the most successful. Collins argues that sex is an interaction ritual which builds emotional energy. Its exclusionary context in a typical marriage makes it a sacred ritual of the marriage relationship. Just as the religious go to church once a week to reaffirm their faith, so married couples have sex once a week to reaffirm their bond. On the other hand, for the promiscuous, the achievement of sex is symbolic of their participation in this culture, rather than of a bond with their temporary partners. The emotional energy found in sex makes it alluring, and the pervasiveness of pornography and other erotic material makes this particular form of emotional energy particularly enticing. Thus, rather than civilization surpressing the erotic urge (a la Freud) Collins suggests our society instead fosters it. Much less successful is the chapter on social hierarchy. Collins claims that while the gap between rich and poor has expanded in the last thirty years, face-to-face deferrence has declined. His image is that wealthy people cannot use their wealth to command much respect in many circumstances. He draws on descriptions of street cultures where the strongest young men may be the most intimidating, and the wealthy just have to keep their heads down like everyone else. Completely ignored are the many private or semi-private spaces (homes, office workspaces, malls, universities, etc) where wealthier people spend nearly all of their time, secure in the belief that conspicuous and discreet surveillance will patrol the grounds and keep undesirables out. This chapter also lapses into the classic American sociology flaw of describing something apparently resembling US middle class culture as 'society'; immigrants with limited legal rights, for example, do not figure in his broad stroke portrait, nor does the way power stretches across national borders. His chapter on smoking is also stimulating, if tendentious, but this review is getting a little long, so we will wrap it up here.

The book was thought provoking and wide-ranging. It provided new insights into both individual and group dynamics that may help in current projects.

A rare book that manages both to be sound theory and useful in a practical context.

Prompt delivery, nice goods. Thanks.

Drawing on the theoretical insights of Emile Durkheim and Erving Goffman, Randall Collins sets out a detailed account of what it is that micro interactions accomplish and the structure of those interactions. In the first portion of the book, Collins lays out his theoretical contribution, presenting a compelling logic of micro interactions. The rest of the book involves applications of that logic.Successful interactions, for Collins, are ones that produce a number of important outcomes: collective symbols with meaning for those involved, a sense of boundaries uniting those participating in a given interaction and bounding-out those that aren't, developing a sense of norms, and, most importantly, providing what Collins calls "emotional energy". This understanding provides a very specific meaning/purpose to the interactions people have and why they are driven to have them and have them in certain ways.Collin lays out specific components of a successful interaction. Mutual entrainment is perhaps the most important - that participants are focused on some common locus of attention. In addition, Collins sees embodiment - the actual physical presence to one another in an interaction - as another necessary prerequisite for successful interactions.While I quibble over some of the requirements that Collins delineates (particularly the need for co-presence for an interaction to be successful) and the elevation of emotional energy to the position of the chief motivation for interaction, the theory itself is of immense utility - both as a synthesis of Durkheimian and Goffmanian lineages of thought and as a more complete formulation of a theory of micro-interactions.

Its a five stars book, and that is becouse its an honest book that deliver.Its a book that is very important. The book is without the scale of the structural perspective and try to explain social life mainly at the steering throu situatations only with the help of emotions.Yes it is a nice and important try, but not sucessful I am afraid. But the model explains the emotions and how the emotions can guide us if the structure isnt counted with.And that is the main point you cant look at the emotions without seeing allso the structure. But if you read Structural litteratur before or after you will make your own syntese of emotions and structure.

Cet ouvrage de Randall Collins s'est imposé comme un grand classique. Il fait revivre la sociologie de Durkheim et celle de Goffman qui en est inspirée, pour en faire un outil d'analyse indispensable. La première partie théorique est absolument nécessaire à qui veut avoir des bases solides en micro-sociologie. Aucun manuel n'a pu atteindre ce degré de précision et de pertinence. La seconde partie, appliquée, semble un peu surannée aujourd'hui, ce qui montre bien au second degré que la micro-sociologie est profondément ancrée dans son contexte historique. Une vraie science sociale quoi.

Uma abordagem ímpar que desmistifica a sociologia das situações e traz ao leitor elementos cabais para a compreensão dos micro ambientes, seus rituais e sua micro interações.

I'm no sociologist, but this is a fascinating book that covers sex, smoking and much more. A few sub-headings from the book may give an idea of its breadth and originality:The creation of solidarity symbols in 9/11The stratification of emotional energyWhen are individuals most materially self-interested?Non-intellectual thinkingSeven types of introversionDon't be put off by the title.