Social Situations and the Impact of Things: The Example of Catholic Liturgy

Abstract

Today, the insight that material objects are an important part of social life is widely recognized in the social and cultural sciences. But how exactly do things affect the microlevel of social interaction? And by which methodological means can their significance for it be explored? Based on a study of Catholic liturgy, an ethnographic approach is developed that allows for systematic investigations into the role material objects play in social situations. Using Erving Goffman's frame analysis as a theoretical tool, it assumes that things are constitutive of social situations while in turn helping participants make sense of these situations. Conversely, the impact of things is considered closely tied to their particular situational involvement. In order to explore the connections between materiality, meaning, and use, I suggest investigating a number of closely related aspects: the contribution of things to the specifics of the situation in question; the bodily practices in which they are involved; the physical environment in which they are embedded; the physical qualities they possess; and the social definitions tied to them.

Smartphones and online search: shifting frames in the everyday life of young people

“…Cress (2015) argues that “a limitation of the ambiguity of things takes place through their involvement into situational contexts” (p. 394). In the classroom, the ambiguity of the smartphone is limited when it is used, for example, as a calculator.…”

“…Cress (2015) argues that the physical nature of objects gives people an indication of how they may be used and the roles they may play in different situations. As such, “a frame is inherent in the physical nature of an object” (Cress, 2015, p. 385). It is possible to identify an overlap between Cress’s perspective, as I understand it, and the concept of affordance, as brought forth in relation to sociomaterial theory (Erofeeva, 2019; Leonardi, 2017).…”

“…In the analysis, I draw on developments of frame analysis that bring objects and sociomateriality into focus (Cress, 2015; Hafermalz et al , 2016). Cress (2015) applies frame analysis to an object-oriented ethnography and identifies several aspects that take part in framing objects. An important starting point for this perspective is that “things do not have stable meanings once and for all.…”

Praxistheorie

“…In Bezug auf die Sozial-und Kulturwissenschaften, die eine Verbindung von Ding-und Praxissoziologie anstreben, bedeutet dies erstens, eine dingliche Rahmung zu thematisieren, durch die menschliche Interaktionen in den verschiedensten Zusammenhängen kanalisiert, gefiltert und möglich werden. Es bedeutet aber auch, die größeren Zusammenhänge ausfindig zu machen, in die diese sozio-dingliche Praxis eingebettet ist (Cress 2015). Es bedeutet zweitens, sowohl die Verwicklung der sozialen Akteure in und durch die Objekte als auch die Verwicklung der Dinge in ihrem Gebrauch empirisch und theoretisch auszuloten.…”

Performing search

“…A certain frame will lead to a specific interpretation but also specific actions. Finally, Andersson adds a sociomaterial reading of Goffman from the work of Cress (2015) and Hafermalz, Riemer and Boell (2016), making us attentive to the role of materiality in young people's online search and applied framings. Digital devices like laptops and smartphones are understood and framed also by their physical properties.…”