StatuS, Power and ritual interaction “Yours is not to complete the work, nor are you free to desist from it.” Ethics of the Fathers Status, Power and ritual interaction a relational reading of durkheim, Goffman and collins theodore d. KemPer St. John’s University, New York, USA © theodore d. Kemper 2011 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. theodore d. Kemper has asserted his right under the copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company wey court east Suite 420 union road 101 cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, Gu9 7Pt Vt 05401-4405 england uSa www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Kemper, theodore d., 1926- Status, power and ritual interaction : a relational reading of durkheim, Goffman and collins. 1. Power (Social sciences) 2. Social status--Psychological aspects. 3. Social psychology--Philosophy. 4. Social interaction--Philosophy. 5. durkheim, emile, 1858-1917-- Knowledge--Social psychology. 6. Goffman, erving-- Knowledge--Social psychology. 7. collins, randall, 1941- --Knowledge--Social psychology. i. title 302'.01-dc22 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kemper, theodore d., 1926- Status, power and ritual interaction : a relational reading of durkheim, Goffman, and collins / by theodore d. Kemper. p. cm. includes bibliographical references and index. iSBn 978-1-4094-2736-0 (hardback) -- iSBn 978-1-4094-2737-7 (ebook) 1. Power (Social sciences) 2. Social status. 3. Prestige. 4. ritual. i. title. hn49.P6K457 2011 303.3'701--dc23 2011022889 iSBn 9781409427360 (hbk) iSBn 9781409427377 (ebk) V Contents List of Figures and Table vii Preface ix Acknowledgments xv 1 Introduction 1 2 Status and Power 11 3 Derivations from Status-Power Theory 33 4 Status-Power and Collective Effervescence: I 65 5 Status-Power and Collective Effervescence: II 81 6 Ritual: Goffman’s Big Idea 99 7 Situation, Occasion, Gathering, Encounter and Social Relations 119 8 Reading Goffman in Status-Power Terms 131 9 Collins’s Interaction Ritual 147 10 Collins’s Power and Status Rituals 175 11 Talking, Talks, Thinking and Thought 197 12 Entrainment, Mutual Entrainment and Self-Entrainment 223 13 Emotions: Status-Power vs. Interaction Ritual Theory 235 14 Sex and Love 255 vi Status, Power and Ritual Interaction 15 Prediction and Postdiction 271 Appendix: Sacred Symbols 283 Bibliography 287 Index 301 List of Figures and Table Figures 2.1 A Status-Power Relationship 26 14.1 Seven Types of Love Relationship 262 Table 13.1 Anticipatory Emotions 237 This page has been left blank intentionally Preface This book is about the status-power theory of social relations and I want it to change your way of doing sociology (or social psychology, behavioral economics, political science, anthropology—the gamut of social and behavioral sciences). I want to persuade you of the cogency and utility of the status-power theory to such a degree that you will take it up and use it. I aspire to this because I believe the theory will be scientifically productive for you as well as making the social sciences more analytically cogent and empirically veridical. But my conviction about this is not untainted. In addition to any ideal motives related to Science (capital S), in status-power theory parlance my object also is to gain status, that is, your—and not only your—attention, praise, respect and admiration both for making a compelling scientific argument and for introducing you to a fruitful method of gaining insight into social life. In effect, you will be indebted to me because I helped to make you more productive, ergo status-worthy. Though this may be too much candor, it is where status-power theory leads. But if this dark underbelly of motivation seems overly self-interested, status-power theory has a corrective for that. The theory leads to the conclusion that the self—so much discussed in psychology and sociology—is a superfluous concept. Rather, in place of the self there are reference groups, that is, persons or groups, whether living, dead or fictive, that govern our conduct by means of the status they can accord us (as well as the status we desire to accord them) and the power with which they can punish us if we fail to do as they bid us. As I will argue here, it is they we are really referring to when we speak of the self. Their interests, voices, plans and intentions are what make up the self. Once we come to this understanding, we are empowered but also humbled. The self is a vaporous, insubstantial notion. But those others who make us their mouthpiece are the ones actively pushing and pulling us this way and that according to their script. All this makes writing a book a tour de force of relational art beyond any ideational substance it may contain. But that is precisely the point. Much of what we do in social life—close to all—is relational: the getting and giving of status and the amassing of power and avoiding the power of others, regardless of what glossy and idealized cover may show on the outside. Paraphrasing the winning political slogan of the 1992 U.S. presidential election, “It’s status and power, stupid!” The content of this book is intended to reveal this relational truth and how it works. I do not claim that reading situations and behavior in status-power relational terms is either natural or easy at first. It takes practice with the concepts and