The Cloak of Incompetence: A Neglected Concept in the Sociology of Everyday Life

McLuhan, Arthur; Pawluch, Dorothy; Shaffir, William; Haas, J. Eugene

doi:10.1007/s12108-014-9240-y

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The cloak of incompetence is not a new idea. We see examples of feigning less than fully able selves across many substantive research domains, and there have been prior efforts to develop the cloak of incompetence as a generic conceptual framework (McLuhan et al 2014). The contribution of this article is avowedly incrementalist in nature, lying not in the shift of any particular paradigm but in blazing an array of analytic paths forward for manifold areas of sociological work, furnishing and ramifying leads to pursue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…McLuhan et al (2014) called on sociologists to attend to the cloak of incompetence as a generic phenomenon. Viewing competence and incompetence as two ends of a continuum on which social actors try to position themselves in everyday encounters, they used a variety of empirical cases to identify when—in what circumstances and for what purposes—people presented themselves as less capable than they know or believe themselves to be.…”

Section: Feigning Incompetencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To adopt a cloak of competence is to conceal limitations and exaggerate abilities (Edgerton 1967). In this article I examine the conceptual converse, that is, the “cloak of incompetence” (McLuhan et al 2014), or the various ways people deliberately disregard, disguise, downplay, or diminish their personal abilities in social interaction for strategic and moral purposes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Adopting a Cloak of Incompetence: Impression Management Techniques for Feigning Lesser Selves

McLuhan

2020

Sociological Theory

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The “cloak of competence” concept captures attempts to disguise limitations and exaggerate abilities. The author examines the conceptual converse: the “cloak of incompetence,” or the various ways people deliberately disregard, disguise, downplay, or diminish their personal abilities. Drawing on a comparative analysis of manifold empirical cases, the author identifies three generic competence-concealing techniques—avoidance, performance, and neutralization—and considers some of the interactional contingencies that can enhance or reduce their effectiveness. Avoidance and performance techniques are used to manage creditable competence. Neutralization techniques are used to manage credited competence. Each strategy obstructs the appearance and attribution of competence in a particular way: avoidance techniques prevent the dramatic realization of competence, performance techniques dramatically realize incompetence, and neutralization techniques discount, downplay, distance, or otherwise explain away evident but undesirable competent performances. The author concludes by discussing some implications for sociologies of persons, culture, and structure.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Feigning Incompetencementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Adopting a Cloak of Incompetence: Impression Management Techniques for Feigning Lesser Selves

McLuhan

2020

Sociological Theory

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this way, whether intentionally created, an artful “cloak of incompetence” (McLuhan et al. ) can be helpful for the women to feel more at ease, and a shared “strategic nonknowledge” (Gross and Horta ) of the tool world seems to help the group be more comfortable with each other.…”

Section: Findings: Tool Parties As Gendered Ritualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the representative helped to bridge the boundary between ignorance about tools, which several of the women felt, and being all-knowing, which could have come off as intimidating, the very feeling they were trying to mute by excluding men. In this way, whether intentionally created, an artful "cloak of incompetence" (McLuhan et al 2014) can be helpful for the women to feel more at ease, and a shared "strategic nonknowledge" (Gross and Horta 2017) of the tool world seems to help the group be more comfortable with each other.…”

Section: Findings: Tool Parties As Gendered Rituals "Fun" Gender Normentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Artifacts, and Ritual Encounters: The Case of Tomboy Tools Sales Parties

Collins-Nelsen

Puddephatt

2018

Canadian Review of Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tomboy Tools is a company that markets tools and home‐repair techniques to women, using a home party sales model. This provides an interesting case to consider how traditional gendered domains can be transcended, and how they are reshaped to allow this to happen. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with consumers, salespeople, and executives of Tomboy Tools, this paper draws on Collins’ (2004) theory of interaction ritual chains to explore the microstructures and ritual dynamics of these home parties. Our analysis reveals how both new and more traditional feminine practices and scripts are idealized and reinforced within the collective effervescence that is generated through the shared ritual experience. We examine how women critically interpret the tensions and contradictions that arise in the symbolic representations that seem to support both female empowerment and traditional feminine stereotypes. This leads to varying meanings among the women with respect to the artifacts and sales rituals presented, for their implications on gender identity and politics.

show abstract

Dorothy Pawluch: Outstanding Supervisor, Mentor, and Significant other of the Highest Order

Low

2021

Am Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Cloak of Incompetence: A Neglected Concept in the Sociology of Everyday Life

Cited by 17 publications

References 58 publications

Adopting a Cloak of Incompetence: Impression Management Techniques for Feigning Lesser Selves

Adopting a Cloak of Incompetence: Impression Management Techniques for Feigning Lesser Selves

Gender, Artifacts, and Ritual Encounters: The Case of Tomboy Tools Sales Parties

Dorothy Pawluch: Outstanding Supervisor, Mentor, and Significant other of the Highest Order

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About