Studies of the Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities Author(S): Harold Garfinkel Source: Social Problems, Vol

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Studies of the Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities Author(s): Harold Garfinkel Source: Social Problems, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Winter, 1964), pp. 225-250 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/798722 Accessed: 05-01-2017 21:37 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Social Problems of the Sociologist 225 sources, the traps of the post civiliza- to increase in intensity as the dis- tion period. 3) We must accept with cipline moves along its uneven course equanimity the varied roles of teacher, in becoming a profession and as it at- researcher, consultant, administrator, tempts to use wisely its new power and others yet to emerge, utilizing andall to meet its concomitant obligations of these opportunities to advance the and expectations. The new-found pow- growth of the discipline, its work sys- er will confound, confuse, and mislead tem, and its professional collectivities, some of us. There are two old sayings: and to promote a more just society thatas one can swell with power or grow well. Finally, we must recognize that with power, and that a dying fish be- norm inconsistencies are peculiar to ginsall to swell in the head. I believe social systems. Ambivalence and am- that sociologists will choose to grow biguity for the sociologist will continue with power.

STUDIES OF THE ROUTINE GROUNDS OF EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES

HAROLD GARFINKEL University of California, Los Angeles

THE PROBLEM treated by members as the "natural For Kant the moral order "within" facts of life," are massive facts of the was an awesome mystery; for sociolo- members' daily existence both as a real gists the moral order "without" is aworld and as the product of activities technical mystery. From the point of in a real world. They furnish the view of sociological theory the moral "fix," the "this is it" to which the order consists of the rule governed ac- waking state returns one, and are the tivities of everyday life. A society's points of departure and return for members encounter and know the every modification of the world of moral order as perceivedly normal daily life that is achieved in play, courses of action-familiar scenes of dreaming, trance, theatre, scientific everyday affairs, the world of daily theorizing, or high ceremony. life known in common with others In every discipline, humanistic or and with others taken for granted. scientific, the familiar common sense They refer to this world as the world of everyday life is a matter of "natural facts of life" which, for mem- abiding interest. In the social sciences, bers, are through and through moral and in sociology particularly, it is a facts of life. For members not onlymatter of essential preoccupation. It are matters so about familiar scenes, makes up sociology's problematic sub- but they are so because it is morally ject matter, enters the very constitu- right or wrong that they are so. Fa-tion of the sociological attitude, and miliar scenes of everyday activities, exercises an odd and obstinate sov- ereignty over sociologists' claims to This investigation was supported by a Senior Research Fellowship, SF-81 from the adequate explanation. U. S. Public Health Service. I am indebted Despite the topic's centrality, an to Egon Bittner, Craig MacAndrew, Ed- immense literature contains little data ward Rose, Harvey Sacks, and Eleanor Shel- and few methods with which the es- don for their many criticisms and sug- gestions. sential features of socially recognized

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"familiar scenes" himmay about them be he hasdetected little or noth- and related to dimensions ing to say. of social organization. Although Forsociologists these background expectancies take socially structured scenes to come into viewof oneeveryday must either be life as a point of departure a stranger tothey the "life rarelyas usual" char- see1 as a task of sociological acter of everyday inquiry scenes, or become in es- its own right the general tranged from question them. As Alfred Schutzof how any such common pointed sense out, a "special world motive" is re- pos- sible. Instead, the quired possibility to make them problematic. of In the everyday world theis sociologist's either case this settled "special mo- by theoretical representation tive" consists in theor programmatic merely task as- sumed. As a topic of treatingand a methodologicalsocietal member's practical ground for sociological circumstances, whichinquiries, include from the the definition of the common sense world member's point of view the morally of everyday life, though it is ap- necessary character of many of its propriately a project of sociological in- background features, as matters of the- quiry, has been neglected. My purposes oretic interest. The seen but unnoticed in this paper are to demonstrate the backgrounds of everyday activities essential relevance to the program of are made visible and are described sociological inquires of a concern for from a perspective in which persons common sense activities as a topic of live out the lives they do, have the inquiry in its own right and, by re- children they do, feel the feelings, porting a series of studies, to urge its think the thoughts, enter the relation- "rediscovery." ships they do, all in order to permit the sociologist to solve his theoretical MAKING COMMONPLACE SCENES problems. VISIBLE Almost alone among sociological In accounting for the stable features theorists, the late Alfred Schutz, in a of everyday activities sociologists com- series of classical studies2 of the con- monly select familiar settings such as familial households or work places and 2 Schutz, Alfred, Der Sinnhafte Aufbau ask for the variables that contribute Der Sozialen Welt, Wein: Verlag von to their stable features. Just as com- Julius Springer, 1932; "The Problem of Rationality in the Social World," Econ- monly, one set of considerations are omica, 10 (May, 1943), pp. 130-149; unexamined: the socially standardized "Some Leading Concepts in Phenomenol- and standardizing, "seen but unnotic- ogy," Social Research, 12 (1945), pp. 77- ed", expected, background features of 97; "On Multiple Realities," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 4 (June, everyday scenes. The member of the 1945), pp. 533-575; "Choosing Among society uses background expectancies Projects of Action," Philosophy and Phe- as a scheme of interpretation. In their nomenological Research, 12 (December, terms, actual appearances are for him 1951), pp. 161-184; "Common Sense and Scientific Interpretation of Human Action," recognizable and intelligible as the Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, appearances of familiar events. Dem- 14 (September, 1953), pp.1-37; "Concept onstrably he is responsive to this and Theory Formation in the Social Sci- background. At the same time he is at ences," American Journal of Philosophy, 51 (April, 1954), pp. 257-274; "Symbol, a loss to tell us what specifically the Reality and Society," Symbols and Society, expectancies consist of. When we ask Fourteenth Symposium of the Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion, edited 1 The work of Alfred Schutz, cited in by Lyman Bryson and others, New York: footnote 2, is a magnificent exception. Read- Harper and Brothers, 1955, pp. 135-202; ers who are acquainted with his writings Collected Papers: I. The Problem of Social will recognize how heavily this paper is Reality, edited by Maurice Natanson, The indebted to him. Hague; Martinus Nijhoff, 1962.

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 227 stitutive phenomenology of the world tell us something about how the struc- of everyday life, described many of tures of everyday activities are ordi- these seen but unnoticed background narily and routinely produced and expectancies. He called them the "at- maintained.3 titude of daily life." He referred to A word of reservation. Despite their their scenic attributions as the "world procedural emphasis, my studies are known in common and taken for not properly speaking experimental. granted." Schutz' fundamental They work are demonstrations, designed, in makes it possible to pursue further Herbert the Spiegelberg's phrase, as "aids tasks of clarifying their nature and to op-a sluggish imagination." I have eration, of relating them to the foundproc- that they produce reflections esses of concerted actions, and assign-through which the strangeness of an ing them their place in an empirically obstinately familiar world can be de- imaginable society. tected.

The studies reported in this paper SOME ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF attempt to detect some expectancies COMMON UNDERSTANDINGS that lend commonplace scenes their familiar, life-as-usual character, and Various to considerations dictate that relate these to the stable social struc- common understandings cannot pos- tures of everyday activities. Procedur- sibly consist of a measured amount of ally it is my preference to start with shared agreement among persons on familiar scenes and ask what can be certain topics. Even if the topics are done to make trouble. The operations limited in number or scope and every that one would have to perform inpractical difficulty of assessment is order to multiply the senseless features forgiven, the notion that we are deal- of perceived environments; to produce ing with an amount of shared agree- and sustain bewilderment, consterna- ment remains essentially incorrect. tion, and confusion; to produce the This may be demonstrated as follows. socially structured affects of anxiety, Students were asked to report com- shame, guilt, and indignation; and to mon conversations by writing on the produce disorganized interaction should left side of a sheet what the parties actually said and on the right side 3 Obversely, a knowledge of how the struc- what they and their partners under- tures of everyday activities are routinely pro- stood that they were talking about. A duced should permit us to tell how we might proceed for the effective production student reported the following col- of desired disturbances. loquy between himself and his wife.

Husband: Dana succeeded in putting a This afternoon as I was bringing Dana, our penny in a parking meter today four year old son, home from the nursery without being picked up. school, he succeeded in reaching high enough to put a penny in a parking meter when we parked in a meter parking zone, whereas before he has always had to be picked up to reach that high. Wife: Did you take him to the record Since he put a penny in a meter that store? means that you stopped while he was with you. I know that you stopped at the record store either on the way to get him or on the way back. Was it on the way back, so that he was with you or did you stop there on the way to get him and some- where else on the way back?

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Husband: No, to the No, shoeI stopped at therepair record store onshop. the way to get him and stopped at the shoe repair shop on the way home when he was with me.

Wife: What for? I know of one reason why you might have stopped at the shoe repair shop. Why did you in fact? Husband: I got some new shoe laces As you for will remember I broke a shoe lace my shoes. on one of my brown oxfords the other day so I stopped to get some new laces. Wife: Your loafers need new heels Something else you could have gotten that badly. I was thinking of. You could have taken in your black loafers which need heels badly. You'd better get them taken care of pretty soon.

An examination of the colloquy present interactionre- which each used veals the following. (a) There and attributed were to the other as a com- many matters that the partners mon scheme under- of interpretation and ex- stood they were talking about pression. that they (f) Each waited for some- did not mention. (b) Many thing matters more to be said in order to hear that the partners understood what were had previouslyun- been talked about, derstood on the basis not only and eachof what seemed willing to wait. was actually said but what Commonwas left understandings would con- unspoken. (c) Many matters sist were of a measured un- amount of shared derstood through a process agreement of attend- if the common understand- to the temporal series of ingsutterances consisted of events coordinated as documentary evidences with of the a successivede- positions of the veloping conversation rather hands than of theas clock,a i.e., of events in string of terms. (d) Matters standard that time.the The foregoing results, two understood in common were un- because they deal with the exchanges derstood only in and through a course of the colloquy as events-in-a-conversa- of understanding work that consisted tion, urge that one more time para- of treating an actual linguistic event meter, at least, is required: the role as "the document of," as "pointing to," of time as it is constitutive of "the as standing on behalf of an underlying matter talked about" as a developing pattern of matters that each already and developed event over the course supposed to be the matters that the of action that produced it, as both the person, by his speaking, could be tell- process and product were known from ing the other about. The underlying within this development by both pattern was not only derived from a 4 Karl Mannheim, in his essay "On the course of individual documentary evi- Interpretation of Weltanschauung," Essays dences but the documentary evidences on the Sociology of Knowledge, translated in their turn were interpreted on the and edited by Paul Kecskemeti, New York: basis of "what was known" and antici- Oxford University Press, 1952, pp. 33-83, referred to this work as the "documentary patorily knowable about the underly- method of interpretation." Its features are ing patterns.4 Each was used to elabo- detailed in my article, "Common Sense rate the other. (e) In attending to Knowledge of Social Structures: the Docu- the utterances as events-in-the-conver- mentary Method of Interpretation," in To- wards a Definition of Mind, edited by Jor- sation each party made reference to dan M. Scher, Glencoe: The Free Press, the biography and prospects of the 1962, pp. 689-712.

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 229 parties, each for himself as well as on ed their temporally constituted char- behalf of the other. acter and treated them instead as pre- The colloquy reveals additional fea- coded entries on a memory drum, to be consulted as a definite set of al- tures. (1) Many of its expressions are such that their sense cannot be decided ternative meanings from among which by an auditor unless he knows or as- one was to select, under pre-decided sumes something about the biography conditions that specified in which of and the purposes of the speaker, the some set of alternative ways one was circumstances of the utterance, the to understand the situation upon the previous course of the conversation, or occasion that the necessity for a de- the particular relationship of actual cision arose. The latter properties are those of strict rational discourse as or potential interaction that exists be- these are idealized in the rules that tween user and auditor. The expressions do not have a sense that remains define an adequate logical proof. identical through the changing occas- For the purposes of conducting their ions of their use. (2) The events that everyday affairs persons refuse to per- were talked about were specifically mit each other to understand "what vague. Not only do they not frame they are really talking about" in this a clearly restricted set of possible de- way. The anticipation that persons will terminations but the depicted events understand, the occasionality of ex- include as their essentially intended pressions, the specific vagueness of ref- and sanctioned features an accompany- erences, the retrospective-prospective ing "fringe" of determinations that are sense of a present occurrence, waiting open with respect to internal relation- for something later in order to see ships, relationships to other events, and what was meant before, are sanctioned relationships to retrospective and pros- properties of common discourse. They pective possibilities. (3) For the sensible furnish a background of seen but un- character of an expression, upon its oc- noticed features of common discourse currence each of the conversationalists whereby actual utterances are recog- as auditor of his own as well as the nized as events of common, reasonable, other's productions had to assume as understandable, plain talk. Persons re- of any present accomplished point quire these properties of discourse as in the exchange that by waiting for conditions under which they are them- what he or the other person might selves entitled and entitle others to have said at a later time the present claim that they know what they are significance of what had already been talking about, and that what they are said would have been clarified. Thus saying is understandable and ought many expressions had the property of to be understood. In short, their seen being progressively realized and realiz- but unnoticed presence is used to en- able through the further course of the title persons to conduct their common conversation. (4) It hardly needs to be conversational affairs without inter- pointed out that the sense of the ex- ference. Departures from such usages pressions depended upon where the call forth immediate attempts to re- expression occurred in serial order, the store a right state of affairs. expressive character of the terms that The sanctioned character of these comprised it, and the importance toproperties is demonstrable as follows. the conversationalists of the events de- Students were instructed to engage picted. an acquaintance or a friend in an These properties of common under- ordinary conversation and, without standings stand in contrast to the fea- indicating that what the expermenter tures they would have if we disregard- was asking was in any way unusual,

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 230 SOCIAL PROBLEMS to insist that the scene person and what will heclarify see in it if we the sense of his commonplace require of him that heremarks. do no more Twenty-three students than look reported at it as something twenty- that for five instances of such encounters. The him it "obviously" and "really" is not. following are typical excerpts from Undergraduate students were as- their accounts. signed the task of spending from fifteen minutes to an hour in their homes Case 1. viewing its activities while assuming (S) Hi, Ray. How is your girl friend that they were boarders in the house- feeling? (E) What do you mean, how is she feel- hold. They were instructed not to act ing? Do you mean physical or out the assumption. Thirty-three stu- mental? dents reported their experiences. (S) I mean how is she feeling? What's In their written reports students "be- the matter with you? (He looked haviorized" the household scenes. Here peeved.) (E) Nothing. Just explain a little clear- is an excerpt from one account to il- er what do you mean? lustrate my meaning. (S) Skip it. How are your Med School applications coming? A short, stout man entered the house, (E) What do you mean, 'How are they?' kissed me on the cheek and asked, "How (S) You know what I mean. was school?" I answered politely. He (E) I really don't. walked into the kitchen, kissed the (S) What's the matter with you? Are younger of two women, and said hello you sick? to the other. The younger woman asked me "What do you want for dinner, Case 2. honey?" I answered, "Nothing." She On Friday night my husband and I were shrugged her shoulders and said no more. watching television. My husband remarked The older woman shuffled around the that he was tired. I asked, "How are you kitchen muttering. The man washed his tired? Physically, mentally, or just bored? hands, sat down at the table, and picked (S) I don't know, I guess physically, up the paper. He read until the two mainly. women had finished putting the food on (E) You mean that your muscles ache, the table. The three sat down. They ex- or your bones? changed idle chatter about the day's (S) I guess so. Don't be so technical. events. The older woman said something (After more watching) in a foreign language which made the (S) All these old movies have the same others laugh. kind of old iron bedstead in them. (E) What do you mean? Do you mean Persons, relationships, and activities all old movies, or some of them, or were described without respect for just the ones you have seen? (S) What's the matter with you? You their history, for the place of the scene know what I mean. in a set of developing life circum- (E) I wish you would be more specific. stances, or for the scenes as texture of (S) You know what I mean! Drop dead! relevant events for the parties themselves. References to motives, pro- BACKGROUND UNDERSTANDINGS AND priety, subjectivity generally, and the "ADEQUATE" RECOGNITION OF socially standardized character of the COMMONPLACE EVENTS events were omitted. Descriptions might be thought of as those of a key- What kinds of expectancies make hole observer who puts aside much of up a "seen but unnoticed" background what he knows in common with sub- of common understandings, and how jects about the scenes he is looking at, are they related to persons' recognition as if the writer had witnessed the of and stable courses of interpersonal scenes under a mild amnesia for com- transactions? Some information can be mon sense knowledge of social struc- obtained if we first ask how a person tures. will look at an ordinary and familiar Students were surprised to see the

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 231 ways in which members' treatments of hour was up and I could return to the each other were personal. The business real me." of one was treated as the business of Students were convinced that the the others. A person being criticized view from the boarder's attitude was was unable to stand on dignity and was not their real home environment. The prevented by the others from taking boarder's attitude produced appear- offense. One student reported her sur- ances which they discounted as inter- prise at how freely she had the run of esting incongruities of little and mis- the house. Displays of conduct and leading practical import. How had the feeling occurred without apparent con- familiar ways of looking at their home cern for the management of impres- environments been altered? How did sions. Table manners were bad, and their looking differ from usual? family members showed each other lit- Several contrasts to the "usual" and tle politeness. An early casualty in the "required" way of looking are de- scene was the family news of the day tectable from their accounts. (1) In which turned into trivial talk. looking at their home scenes as board- Students reported that this way of ers they replaced the mutually recog- looking was difficult to sustain. Fa- nized texture of events with a rule of miliar objects-persons obviously, but interpretation which required that this furniture and room arrangements as mutual texture be temporarily disre- well-resisted students' efforts to think garded. (2) The mutually recognized of themselves as strangers. Many be- texture was brought under the jurisdic- came uncomfortably aware of how tion of the new attitude as a definition habitual movements were being made: of the essential structures of this text- of how one was handling the silver- ure. (3) This was done by engaging ware, or how one opened a door or in interaction with others with an at- greeted another member. Many report- titude whose nature and purpose only ed that the attitude was difficult to the user knew about, that remained un- sustain because with it quarreling, disclosed, that could be either adopted bickering, and hostile motivations be- or put aside at a time of the user's own came discomfitingly visible. Frequent- choosing, and was a matter of willful ly an account that recited newly vis- election. (4) The attitude as an inten- ible troubles was accompanied by the tion was sustained as a matter of per- student's assertion that his account of sonal and willed compliance with an family problems was not a "true" pic- explicit and single rule, (5) in which, ture; the family was really a very happy like a game, the goal of the intention one. Several students reported a mildly was identical with looking at things oppressive feeling of "conforming to a under the auspices of the single rule part." Several students attempted to itself. (6) Above all, looking was not formulate the "real me" as activities bound by any necessity for gearing governed by rules of conduct but gave one's interests within the attitude to it up as a bad job. They found it more the actions of others. These were the convincing to think of themselves in matters that students found strange. "usual" circumstances as "being one's When students used these back- real self." Nevertheless one student was ground expectancies not only as ways intrigued with how deliberately and of looking at familial scenes but as successfully he could predict the others' grounds for acting in them, the scenes responses to his actions. He was not exploded with the bewilderment and troubled by this feeling. anger of family members. Many accounts reported a variation Students were required to spend on the theme: "I was glad when the from fifteen minutes to an hour in

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their homes imagining What's gotten that into you?"they One weremother, boarders and acting infuriated out this when assumption.her daughter spoke They were instructed to her toonly conductwhen she was spokenthem- to, selves in a circumspect began to shriekand inpolite angry denunciation fashion. They were to ofavoid the daughter getting for her disrespect per- and sonal, to use formal insubordination address, and refused to tospeak be only when spoken calmed to. by the student's sister. A father berated his daughter for being insuf- In nine of forty-nine cases students ficiently concerned for the welfare of either refused to do the assignment others and of acting like a spoiled (five cases) or the child.try was "unsuccess- ful" (four cases). Four of the "no try" students said they were Occasionally afraidfamily members to would do it; a fifth said she preferred first treat the student's to action avoid as a cue the risk of exciting her for a jointmother comedy routine who which was had a heart condition. In soontwo replaced of by irritationthe and"unsuc- exas- cessful" cases the family perated anger at thetreated student for not it as a joke from the beginning knowing when enough and was enough.refused despite the continuing Family members actions mocked the "polite- of the student to change. ness'A of third the students--Certainly, family Mr. took the view that something Herzberg!"-or charged undisclosed the student was the matter, but with acting what like a wise it guy andmight gen- be was of no concern to them. In the erally reproved the 'politeness" with fourth family the father and mother sarcasm. remarked that the daughter was being Explanations were sought in previ- "extra nice" and undoubtedly wanted ous, understandable motives of the stu- something that she would shortly re- dent: the student was working too hard veal. in school; the student was ill; there In the remaining four-fifths of the had been "another fight" with a fiancee. cases family members were stupified. When offered explanations by family They vigorously sought to make the members went unacknowledged, there strange actions intelligible and to re- followed withdrawal by the offended store the situation to normal appear- member, attempted isolation of the cul- ances. Reports were filled with accounts prit, retaliation, and denunciation. of astonishment, bewilderment, shock, "Don't bother with him, he's in one of anxiety, embarrassment, and anger and his moods again"; "Pay no attention with charges by various family mem- but just wait until he asks me for bers that the student was mean, incon- something"; "You're cutting me, okay siderate, selfish, nasty, or impolite. I'll cut you and then some"; "Why Family members demanded explana- must you always create friction in our tions: What's the matter? What's got- family harmony?" Many accounts re- ten into you? Did you get fired? Are ported versions of the following con- you sick? What are you being so su- frontation. A father followed his son perior about? Why are you mad? Are into the bedroom. "Your mother is you out of your mind or are you just right. You don't look well and you're stupid? One student acutely embar- not talking sense. You had better get rassed his mother in front of her another job that doesn't require such friends by asking if she minded if latehe hours." To this the student replied had a snack from the refrigerator. that he appreciated the consideration, "Mind if you have a little snack? but that he felt fine and only wanted You've been eating little snacks around a little privacy. The father responded here for years without asking me.in a high rage, "I don't want any more

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 233 of that out of you and if you can't BACKGROUND UNDERSTANDINGS AND treat your mother decently you'd bet- SOCIAL AFFECTS ter move out!" There were no cases in which the Despite the interest in social affects situation was not restorable upon thethat prevails in the social sciences, and student's explanation. Nevertheless, despitefor the extensive concern that the most part family members were clinical psychiatry pays them, surpris- not amused and only rarely did they ingly little has been written on the so- find the experience instructive as ciallythe structured conditions for their student argued that it was supposed production, to while the role that a back- have been. After hearing the explana- ground of common understandings tion a sister replied coldly on behalf plays in their production, control, and of a family of four, "Please, no more recognition is almost terra incognita. of these experiments. We're not rats, This lack of attention from experi- you know." Occasionally an explana- mental investigators is all the more re- tion was accepted but still it added markableof- if one considers that it is pre- fense. In several cases students reported cisely this relationship that persons are concerned with in their common that the explanation left them, their families, or both wondering how much sense portrayals of how to conduct of what the student had said was "in one's daily affairs so as to solicit en- character" and how much the student thusiasm and friendliness or avoid really meant." anxiety, guilt, shame, or boredom. The relationship between the common un- Students found the assignment dif- derstandings and social affects may be ficult to complete. But in contrast with on-lookers' accounts students illustrated by thinking of the acting out student-boarders' procedure as one were likely to report that difficulties that involved the production of bewil- consisted in not being treated as if derment and anger by treating an im- they were in the role that they were portant state of affairs as something attempting to play, and of being con- fronted with situations but not know- that it "obviously," "naturally," and "really" is not. ing how a boarder would respond. The existence of a definite and There were several entirely unex- strong relationship between common pected findings. (1) Although many understandings and social affects can students reported extensive rehearsals be demonstrated and some of its fea- in imagination, very few mentioned tures explored by the deliberate dis- anticipatory fears or embarrassment. play of distrust, a procedure that for (2) On the other hand, although un- us produced highly standardized ef- anticipated and nasty developments fre- fects. The rationale was as follows. quently occurred, in only one case did One of the background expectancies a student report serious regrets. (3) Schutz described concerns the sanc- Very few students reported heartfelt tioned use of doubt as a constituent relief when the hour was over. They feature of a world that is being un- were much more likely to report partial derstood in common. Schutz proposed relief. They frequently reported that that for the conduct of his everyday in response to the anger of others affairs the person assumes, assumes the they became angry in return and other person assumes as well, and as- slipped easily into subjectively recog- sumes that as he assumes it of the nizable feelings and actions. other person the other person assumes In contrast to the reports of the it of him that a relationship of un- on-looking "boarders" very few reports doubted correspondence is the sanc- "behaviorized" the scene. tioned relationship between the actual

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 234 SOCIAL PROBLEMS appearances of an not object claim. and the intended object that Likeappears Santayana's clock, in this a formula- par- ticular way. For the tion person was neither rightconducting nor wrong. Al- his everyday affairs, though objects, the procedure producedfor him what as he expects for others, we anticipated, are it alsoas furnished they us ap-and pear to be. To treat the thisexperimenters relationship with more than we under a rule of doubt had bargained requires for. that the necessity and motivation Students were instructedfor suchto engage a rule be justified. someone in conversation and to im- We anticipated that agine andbecause act on the assumptionof the that differing relationship what the ofother an person exhibited was saying was rule of doubt (distrust)5 that the other directed by hidden motives which were person was as he appeared his real ones. toThey be were to to assumethe legitimate texture thatof the common other person wasexpec- trying to tancies, there should trick be them different or mislead them. affec- tive states for the doubter and the In only two of thirty-five accounts doubted. On the part of the person distrusted there should be the demand did students attempt the assignment with strangers. Most students were for justification and when it was not afraid that such a situation would get forthcoming, as "anyone could see" out of hand so they selected friends, it could not be, anger. For the ex- roommates, siblings, and family mem- perimenter we expected embarrassment bers. Even so they reported consider- to result from the disparity that the able rehearsal in imagination, much re- distrusting procedure would create be- view of possible consequences, and de- tween the lesser thing that the experi- liberate selections among eligible per- menter's challenges of "what anyone sons. could see" made him out to be under The attitude was difficult to sustain the gaze of his victim, and the competent person he with others knew and carry through. Students reported himself "after all" to be but which acute awareness of being "in an arti- the procedure required that he could ficial game," of being unable "to live the part," and of frequently being "at 5 The concepts of "trust" and "distrust" a loss as to what to do next." In the are elaborated in my paper, "A Conception course of listening to the other person of and Experiments with 'Trust' as a Con- experimenters would lose sight of the dition of Stable Concerted Actions," assignment. One student spoke for in Motivation and Social Interaction, edited by O. J. Harvey, New York: The Ronald several when she said she was unable Press, 1963, pp. 187-238. The term "trust" to get any results because so much of is used there to refer to a person's compli- her effort was directed to maintaining ance with the expectancies of the attitude ofan attitude of distrust that she was daily life as a morality. Acting in accordance with a rule of doubt directed to the unable to follow the conversation. She correspondence between appearances and thesaid she was unable to imagine how objects that appearances are appearances herof fellow conversationalists might be is only one way of specifying "distrust." Modifications of each of the other expec- deceiving her because they were talk- tancies that make up the attitude of every- ing about such inconsequential matters. day life, as well as their various sub-sets, With many students the assumption furnish variations on the central theme of treating a world that one is required to that the other person was not what he know in common and take for granted as appeared to be and was to be distrusted a problematic matter. See footnote 2 for was the same as the attribution that the references to Schutz' discussions of the at- other person was angry with them and titude of daily life. The attitude's constituent expectancies are briefly enumerated be- hated them. On the other hand many low, pp. 237-238. victims, although they complained that

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 235 the student had no reason to be angry sarcastically, "You seem to be uneasy with them, offered unsolicited attempts about something. Do you know what at explanation and conciliation. When it might be? This conversation would this was of no avail there followed no doubt make more sense if I knew frank displays of anger and "disgust." too." She accused him of deliberately Anticipated and acute embarrass- avoiding the subject, although the sub- ment swiftly materialized for the two ject had not been mentioned. He in- students who attempted the procedure sisted that she tell him what the subject with strangers. After badgering a bus was. When she did not say, he asked driver for assurances that the bus directly, "Okay, what's the joke?" In- would pass the street that she wanted stead of replying "I gave him a long hurt and receiving several assurances in re- look." He became visibly upset, became turn that indeed the bus did pass the very solicitous, gentle, and persuasive. street, the exasperated bus driver shout- In response she acknowledged the ex- ed so that all passengers overheard, periment. He stalked off obviously un- "Look lady, I told you once, didn't I? happy and for the remainder of the How many times do I have to tell evening was sullen and suspicious. She, you!" She reported, "I shrank to the in the meanwhile, remained at the back of the bus to sink as low as I table piqued and unsettled about the could in the seat. I had gotten a good remarks that her statements had drawn case of cold feet, a flaming face, and forth about his not being bored at a strong dislike for my assignment." work "with all the insinuations it There were very few reports of might or could mean," particularly the shame or embarrassment from students insinuation that he was not bored at work but he was bored with her and who tried it with friends and family. Instead they were surprised, and soat home. She wrote, "I was actually bothered by his remarks ... I felt more were we, to find as one student reported that "once I started acting the role upset and worried than he did through- of a hated person I actually came toout the experiment . . . about how imperturbable he seemed to be." feel somewhat hated and by the time Neither one attempted nor wanted to I left the table I was quite angry." discuss the matter further. The follow- Even more surprising to us, many re- ing day the husband confessed that he ported that they found the procedure enjoyable and this included the real had been considerably disturbed and had the following reactions in this or- anger not only of others but their own. der: determination to remain calm; Although students' explanations shock at his wife's "suspicious nature"; easily restored most situations, some surprise to find that cheating on her episodes "turned serious" and left wasa liable to be hard; a determination residue of disturbance for one or both to make her figure out her own an- parties that offered explanation did swers to her questions without any not resolve. This can be illustrated in denial or help from him; extreme re- the report of a student housewife who lief when the encounter was revealed to at the conclusion of dinner, and with have been experimentally contrived; some trepidation, questioned her hus- but finally a residue of uneasy feelings band about his having worked late the which he characterized as "his shaken night before and raised a question ideas of my (the wife's) nature which about his actually having played poker remained for the rest of the evening." as he claimed on an evening of the week before. Without asking him what BACKGROUND UNDERSTANDINGS he had actually done she indicated an AND BEWILDERMENT explanation was called for. He replied Earlier the argument was made that

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 236 SOCIAL PROBLEMS the possibility of common play, i.e., as something understand- other than the ing does not consist one knownin demonstrated according to the attitude measures of shared of knowledgeeveryday life as a matter of of enforce- so- cial structure but consists able morality andinstead action, (b) andmaking entirely in the enforceable it necessary that character he reconstruct ofthe actions in compliance "natural with facts" but the giving expec-him insuf- tancies of everyday ficient life time as to managea morality. the reconstruc- Common sense knowledge tion with respect of to requiredthe factsmastery of social life for the of practical members circumstances of for thewhich society is institutionalized he must call upon knowledge his knowledge of of the real world. theNot "natural only facts," doesand (c) requiring common sense knowledge that he manage portray the reconstruction a real of society for members the natural but facts in by himselfthe andman- with- ner of a self fulfilling out consensual prophecy validation. the features of the real society are produced by persons' Presumablymotivated he should havecom- no al- pliance with these ternative background but to try to normalize ex- the pectancies. Hence resultant the incongruities stability within the order of concerted actions that occur under of events of everyday life. Under the the auspices of this compliance as developing effort itself, events should well as the extent and severity lose their perceivedly normal char- of disturbances in concerted actions acter. The member should be unable should vary directly with whatsoever to recognize an event's status as typi- are the real conditions of social organ- cal. Judgments of likelihood should ization that guarantee persons' moti- fail him. He should be unable to as- vated compliance with this background sign present occurrences to similar orders of events he has known in the texture of relevances as a legitimate order of beliefs about life in society seen past. He should be unable to assign, "from within" the society. Seen from let alone to "see at a glance," the con- the person's point of view, his com- ditions under which the events can be mitments to motivated compliance con- reproduced. He should be unable to order these events to means-ends rela- sist of his grasp of and subscription to the "natural facts of life in society." tionships. The conviction should be undermined that the moral authority Such considerations suggest that the of the familiar society compels their firmer a societal member's grasp of occurrence. Stable and "realistic" What Anyone Like Us Necessarily matchings of intentions and objects Knows, the more severe should be his should dissolve, by which I mean that disturbance when "natural facts of life" the ways, otherwise familiar to him, are impugned for him as a depiction in which the objective perceived en- of his real circumstances. To test this vironment serves as both the motivat- suggestion a procedure would need to ing grounds of feelings and is moti- modify the objective structure of the vated by feelings directed to it, should familiar, known-in-common environ- become obscure. In short, the mem- ment by rendering the background ex- bers' real perceived environment on pectancies inoperative. Specifically, losing its known in common back- this modification would consist of sub- ground should become "specifically jecting a person to a breach of the senseless."6 Ideally speaking, behaviors background expectancies of everyday directed to such a senseless environ- life while (a) making it difficult for ment should be those of bewilderment, the person to interpret his situation as uncertainty, internal conflict, psycho- a game, an experiment, a deception, a social isolation, acute and nameless

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 237 anxiety along with various symptoms tionship between the-presented-appear- of acute depersonalization. Structures ance-of-the-object and the-intended-ob- of interaction should be correspond- ject-that-presents-itself-in-the - perspec- ingly disorganized. tive-of-the-particular-appearance. This is expecting quite a lot of a 3. That the event that is known in breach of the background expectancies. the manner that it is known can ac- Obviously we would settle for less if tually and potentially affect the wit- the results of a procedure for their ness and can be affected by his action. breach was at all encouraging about 4. That the meanings of events are this formulation. As it happens, the products of a socially standardized procedure produced convincing and process of naming, reification, and easily detected bewilderment and anx- idealization of the user's stream of iety. experience, i.e., are the products of a To begin with, it is necessary to language. specify just what expectancies we are 5. That present determinations of an dealing with. Schutz reported that the event, whatsoever these may be, are feature of a scene, "known in com- determinations that were intended on mon with others," was compound and previous occasions and that may be consisted of several constituents. Be- again intended in identical fashion on cause they have been discussed else- an indefinite number of future occas- where' I shall restrict discussion to ions. brief enumeration. 6. That the intended event is re- According to Schutz, the person as- tained as the temporally identical event sumes, assumes that the other person throughout the stream of experience. assumes as well, and assumes that as 7. That the event has as its context he assumes it of the other person the of interpretation: (a) a commonly en- other person assumes the same for him: tertained scheme of interpretation con- 1. That the determinations assigned sisting of a standardized system of sig- to an event by the witness are required nals and coding rules, and (b) "What matters that hold on grounds that spe- anyone knows," i.e., a preestablished cifically disregard personal opinion corpusor of socially warranted knowl- socially structured circumstances edge.of particular witnesses, i.e., that the de- 8. That the actual determinations terminations are required as matters that the event exhibits for the witness of "objective necessity" or "facts ofare the potential determinations that nature." it would exhibit for the other person 2. That a relationship of undoubted were they to exchange positions. correspondence is the sanctioned rela- 9. That to each event there corre- 6 The term is borrowed from Max Web- sponds its determinations that origi- er's essay, "The Social Psychology of nate the in the witness's and in the other World Religions," in From Max Weber: person's particular biography. From Essays in Sociology, translated by H. H. the witness's point of view such de- Gerth and C. Wright Mills, New York: terminations are irrelevant for the Oxford University Press, 1946, pp. 267- 301. I have adapted its meaning. purposes at hand of either and both 70 p. cit., Schutz, "On Multiple Reali- he and the other have selected and in- ties," and "Common Sense and Scientific terpreted the actual and potential de- Interpretation of Human Action." Op. cit., terminations of events in an im- Garfinkel, "A Conception of and Experi- ments with 'Trust' . .. . " and "Common pirically identical manner that is suf- Sense Knowledge of Social Structures," ficient for all their practical purposes. Transactions of the Fourth World Congress 10. That there is a characteristic dis- of Sociology, Milan, 1959, Vol. 4, pp. 51- 65. parity between the publicly acknowl-

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edged determinations Since eachand of thethe expectancies personal, that withheld determinations make up the attitudeof events,of daily life as- and this private knowledge signs an expected is heldfeature toin the ac-re- serve, i.e., that the tor's eventenvironment, means it should be forpos- both the witness and the other more sible to breach these expectancies by than the witness can say. deliberately modifying scenic events so 11. That alterations of this char- as to disappoint these attributions. By acteristic disparity remain within the definition, surprise is possible with witness' autonomous control. respect to each of these expected features. The nastiness of surprise should It is not the case that what an event exhibits as a distinctive determination vary directly with the extent to which the person as a matter of moral neces- is a condition of its membership in a known-in-the - manner - of - common- sity complies with their use as a sense-environment. Instead the condi- scheme for assigning witnessed appearances their status as events in a tions of its membership are the at- perceivedly normal environment. In tributions that its determinations, short, the realistic grasp by a collec- whatever they might substantively con- tivity member of the natural facts of sist of, could be seen by the other per- life, and his commitment to a knowl- son if their positions were exchanged, edge of them as a condition of self- or that its features are not assigned as esteem as a bona-fide and competent matters of personal preference but are collectivity member,s is the condition to be seen by anyone, i.e., the previous- that we require in order to maximize ly enumerated features. These and only his confusion upon the occasion that these enumerated features irrespective the grounds of this grasp are made a of any other determinations of an source of irreducible incongruity. event define the common sense character of an event. Whatever other de- I designed a procedure to breach these expectancies while satisfying the terminations an event of everyday life three conditions under which their may exhibit-whether its determina- breach would presumably produce con- tions are those of persons' motives, fusion, i.e., that the person could not their life histories, the distributions of income in the population, kinship obligations, the organization of an in- 8 use the term "competence" to mean dustry, or what ghosts do when night the claim that a collectivity member is en- falls-if and only if the event has for titled to exercise that he is capable of managing his everyday affairs without inter- the witness the enumerated determina- ference. That members can take such claims tions is it an event in an environment for granted I refer to by speaking of a per- "known in common with others." son as a "bona-fide" collectivity member. More extensive discussion of the relation- Such attributions are features of wit- ships between "competence" and "common nessed events that are seen without sense knowledge of social structures" will being noticed. They are demonstrably be found in the Ph.D. dissertation by relevant to the common sense that Egon Bittner, "Popular Interests in Psy- chiatric Remedies: A Study in Social Con- the actor makes of what is going trol,"on University of California, Los An- about him. They inform the witness geles, 1961. about any particular appearance of anThe concepts of "collectivity" and "collectivity membership" are intended in strict interpersonal environment. They accordin- with Talcott Parsons' usage in The form the witness as to the real objects Social System, Glencoe: The Free Press, that actual appearances are the appear- 1951, and in the general introduction to ances of, but without these attributed Theories of Society, by Talcott Parsons, Edward Shils, Kaspar D. Naegele, and Jesse features necessarily being recognized R. Pitts, New York: The Free Press of in a deliberate or conscious fashion. Glencoe, 1961.

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 239 turn the situation into a play, a joke, and an "applicant." The applicant was an experiment, a deception and the a boor, his language was ungram- like, or, in Lewinian terminology, that matical and filled with colloquialisms, he could not "leave the field"; that he he was evasive, he contradicted the in- have insufficient time to work through terviewer, he bragged, he ran down a redefinition of his real circumstances; other schools and professions, he in- and that he be deprived of consensual sisted on knowing how he had done in support for an alternative definition of the interview. Detailed assessments by social reality. the student of the recorded applicant Twenty-eight pre-medical students were obtained immediately after the were run individually through a three recording was finished. hour experimental interview. As part The student was then given infor- of the solicitation of subjects as well mation from the applicant's "official as at the beginning of the interview, record." Performance information, and the experimenter identified himself as characterological information was fur- a representative of an Eastern medical nished in that order. Performance in- school who was attempting to learn formation dealt with the applicant's why the medical school intake inter- activities, grades, family background, view was such a stressful situation. It courses, charity work and the like. was hoped that identifying the experi- Characterological information consist- menter as a person with medical school ed of character assessments by "Dr. ties would make it difficult for stu- Gardner, the medical school interview- dents to "leave the field" once the ex- er," "six psychiatrically trained mem- pectancy breaching procedure began. bers of the admissions committee who How the other two conditions of (a) had heard only the recorded interview," managing a redefinition in insufficient and "other students." time and (b) not being able to count The information was deliberately on consensual support for an alterna- contrived to contradict the principal tive definition of social reality were points in the student's assessment. For met will be apparent in the following example, if the student said that the description. applicant must have come from a During the first hour of the inter- lower class family, he was told that view the student furnished to the the applicant's father was vice presi- "medical school representative" the dent of a firm that manufactured medical interview facts-of-life by an-pneumatic doors for trains and buses. swering for the representative such Was the applicant ignorant? Then he questions as "what sources of informa- had excelled in courses like The tion about a candidate are available to Poetry of Milton and Dramas of medical schools?", "What kind of man Shakespeare. If the student said the are the medical schools looking for?", applicant did not know how to get "What should a good candidate do alongin with people, then the applicant the interview?", "What should he had worked as a voluntary solicitor for avoid?" With this much completed the Sydenham Hospital in New York City student was told that the representa- and had raised $32,000 from 30 "big tive's research interests had been satis- givers." That the applicant was stupid fied. The student was then asked if he and would not do well in a scientific would care to hear a recording of an field was met by citing A's in organic actual interview. All students wanted and physical chemistry and graduate very much to hear the recording. level performance in an undergraduate The recording was a faked one be- research course. tween a "medical school interviewer" Students wanted very much to know

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what "the others" thought one possible way-now of I themay be allap- wet plicant and had he but been this is the wayadmitted? I look at that. He probably suffered from an inferiority The student was told complex that and that'sthe an overapplicant compensation had been admitted andfor his inferioritywas living complex. His up great to the promise that marks-histhe medical good marks are aschool compensation for his failure-in social dealings interviewer and the "six psychiatrists" perhaps, I don't know." had found and expressed in a strong recommendation of Attempts the to resolve applicant's the incongruities characterological producedfitness by the characterwhich assessment was read to the student. As for the views of "Gardner" and "the other six judges" of other students, the student was told were very much less frequent than nor- (for example) that thirty other stu- malizing attempts with performance dents had been seen, that twenty-eight information. Open expressions of be- were in entire agreement with the wilderment and anxiety interspersed medical school interviewer's assess- with silent ruminations were character- ment, and the remaining two had been istic: slightly uncertain but at the first bit (Whistles.) I-I don't think he sound- of information had seen him just as ed well bred at all. That whole tone of the others had. voice!! -I- Perhaps you noticed Following this the student was in- though, when he said "You should have vited to listen to the record a second said in the first place," before he (the recorded medical school examiner) took time, after which he was asked to it with a smile. - But even so! No, no assess the applicant again. I can't see that. "You should have said Results. Twenty-five of the twenty- that before." Maybe he was being funny though. Exercising a - No! To me it eight students were taken in. The fol- sounded impertinent! lowing does not apply to the three who were convinced there was a deception. Soon after the performance data pro- Two of these are discussed at the con- duced its consternation, students oc- clusion of this section. casionally asked what the other stu- Students managed incongruities of dents made of him. Only after they performance data with vigorous at- were given "Dr. Gardner's" assessment, tempts to make it factually compatible and their responses to it had been with their original and very derogatory made, were the opinions of "the other assessments. For example, many said students" given. In some cases the that the applicant sounded like or was subject was told "Thirty-four out of a lower class person. When they were thirty-five before you agreed with Dr. told that his father was vice president Gardner," sometimes forty-three out of of a national corporation which manu- forty-five, nineteen out of twenty, fifty- factured pneumatic doors for trains one out of fifty-two. All the numbers and buses, they replied like this: were large. For eighteen of the twenty- five students the delivery hardly varied "That explains why he said he had to work. Probably his father made him from the following protocol: work. That would make a lot of his moans unjustified in the sense that things (36 out of 37) I would go back on were really not so bad." my former opinion but I wouldn't go back too far. I just don't see it. - Why When told he had a straight A aver- should I have these different standards? Were my opinions more or less in agree- age in physical science courses, stu-ment? (No.) That leads me to think.- dents began to acknowledge bewilder- That's funny. Unless you got thirty-six ment openly. unusual people. I can't understand it. Maybe it's my personality. (Does it "Well! I think you can analyze it make any difference?) It does make a this way. In psychological terms. See- difference if I assume they're correct.

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What I consider is proper, they don't. preciation of the way the medical ex- - It's my attitude - Still in all a man aminer had been listening. They saw, of that sort would alienate me, a wise guy type to be avoided. Of course you for example, that the examiner was can talk like that with other fellows- smiling when the applicant had forgot- but in an interview? ... Now I'm more ten to offer him a cigarette. confused than I was at the beginning of the entire interview. I think I ought to Three more subjects were convinced go home and look in the mirrow and that there was a deception and acted talk to myself. Do you have any ideas? (Why? Does it disturb you?) Yes it on the conviction through the inter- does disturb me! It makes me think myview. They showed no disturbance. abilities to judge people and values are Two of them showed acute suffering way off from normal. It's not a healthy as soon as it appeared that the inter- situation. (What difference does it make?) If I act the way I act it seems view was finished, and they were being to me that I'm just putting my head in dismissed with no acknowledgement of the lion's mouth. I did have preconcep- a deception. tions but they're shattered all to hell. It makes me wonder about myself. Why Three others, by suffering in silence, should I have these different standards. confounded the experimenter. Without It all points to me. giving any indication to the experimenter, they regarded the interview Of the twenty-five subjects that were as an experimental one in which they taken in, seven were unable to resolve were required to solve some problems the incongruity of having been wrong and thought therefore they were being about such an obvious matter and were asked to do as well as possible and unable to "see" the alternative. Their to make no changes in their opinions suffering was dramatic and unrelieved. for only then would they be con- Five more resolved it with the view tributing to the study. They were dif- that the medical school had accepted ficulta for the experimenter to under- good man; five others with the view stand during the interview because that it had accepted a boor. Although they displayed marked anxiety yet their they changed they nevertheless did not remarks were bland and were not ad- abandon their former views. For them dressed to the matters that were pro- Gardner's view could be seen "in gen- voking it. Finally three more subjects eral" but it was a grasp without con- contrasted with the others. One of viction. When their attention was these insisted that the character assess- drawn to particulars the general mentspic- were semantically ambiguous ture would evaporate. These subjects and because there was insufficient in- were willing to entertain and use formation the a "high correlation opinion" "general" picture but they suffered was not possible. A second, the only whenever indigestible particulars one ofin the series, according to his ac- the same portrait came into view. count Sub- found the second portrait as scription to the "general" picture convincing was as the original one. When accompanied by a recitation of char- the deception was revealed he was dis- acteristics that were not only the turbed op- that he could have been as con- posite of those in the subject's vincedori- as he was. The third one in the ginal assessment but were intensified face of everything showed only slight by superlative adjectives so that where disturbance of very short duration. previously the candidate was gauche, However, he alone among the subjects he was now "supremely" poised; where had already been interviewed for medi- he had been boorish, he was "very" cal school and had excellent medical natural; where he had been hysterical, school contacts. Despite a grade point he was "very" calm. Further, they average saw of less than C, he estimated the new features through a new his ap- chances of admission as fair and

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FIGURE 1

CORRELATION OF THE EXTENT OF SUBJECT'S SUBSCRIPTION TO THE "NATURAL FACTS" AS AN INSTITUTIONALIZED ORDER OF KNhOWLEDGE ABOUT PRE-MEDICAL CIRCUESTAiSCES AND INITIAL ANXIETY SCORE

(r = .026)

0 35 34

o 33

315 o03o

? 29 28 28 27 -

S 22

6 21 -Legend: 202-2* - Numbered Nubeedpoitsaesubjecte points are subjects 0 who suspected or saw through 19 the deception. .0 n= 28 (a 17

X -.o -.5 o .5 '.o 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 Anxiety score after initial hearing of recorded candidate

had expressed his preference for izational a conditions of motivated com- career in the diplomatic service over pliance for different collectivity mem- a career in medicine. bers would consist of members' dif- As a final observation, twenty-two ferential grasp of and subscription to of the twenty-eight subjects expressed the "natural facts of life." Hence marked relief-ten of them with ex- the severity of the effects describ- plosive expressions-when the decep- ed above should vary directly with tion was disclosed. Unanimously they the enforceable commitments of mem- said that the news of the deception bers to a grasp of the natural facts permitted them to return to their of life. Further, because of the ob- former views. Seven subjects had tojective character of the grasped com- be convinced that there had been a mon moral order of the facts of col- deception. When the deception was lectivity life, the severity should vary revealed they asked what they were with their committed grasp of the to believe. Was the experimenter tell- natural facts of life and independ- ing them that there had been a de- ently of "personality characteristics." ception in order to make them feel By personality characteristics I mean better? No pains were spared and all characteristics of persons that whatever truth or lies that had to be investigators use methodologically to told were told in order to establish the account for a person's courses of action truth that there had been a deception. by referring these actions to more or Because motivated compliance to less systematically conceived motiva- the expectancies that make up the at- tional and "inner life" variables while titude of daily life consists from the disregarding social and cultural system person's point of view of his grasp effects. The results of most convention- of and subscription to the "natural al personality assessment devices and facts of life," variations in the organ- clinical psychiatric procedures satisfy

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FIGURE 2

CORRELATION OF THE EXTENT OF SUBJECT'S SUBSCRIPTION TO THE "NATURAL FACTS" AS AN INSTITUTIONALIZED ORDER OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PRE-MEDICAL CIRCUMSTA.CES oAND RELATIVE ANXIETY SCORE

(r..751) o 37L 236

the decepto

o 1 33

- 32

a 30 S29 ? 28 - 282 27 26

125 Sbreached24 31 23 - 22 - Legend: " Numbered points are subjects 20 - 2 who suspected or saw through 1919 - thethe deception.direction of- indicateschange. 17 . 28 16

-1.0 -.5 0 .5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6-5 7.0 7.5 Amount of change in anxiety score after expectancies were breached

this thecondition. study of the twenty-eight pre-medi- Thereby, cal students reported above. Prior to the following phenomenon should the introduction of incongruous bema- discoverable. Imagine a procedure terial, the extent of students' subscrip-whereby a convincing assessment can be made of the extent of a tion to a common moral order of facts person's committed grasp of the "nat- of pre-medical school life and the stu- ural facts of social life." Imagine an- dents' anxiety correlated -.026. After other procedure whereby the extent of the incongruous material had been in- a person's confusion can be assessed troduced and unsuccessfully normaliz- ranging through the various degrees ed, and before the deception was re- and mixtures of the behaviors describ- vealed, the correlation was .751. Be- ed before. For a set of unselected per- cause assessment procedures were ex- sons, and independently of personality tremely crude, because of serious errors determinations, the initial relationship in design and procedure, and because between the committed "grasp of nat- of the post hoc argument, these re- ural facts" and "confusion" should be sults do no more than illustrate what random. Under the breach of the ex- I am talking about. Under no circum- pectancies of everyday life, given the stances should they be considered as conditions for the optimal production findings. of disturbance, persons should shift in exhibited confusion in an amount that THE RELEVANCE OF COMMON UN- DERSTANDINGS TO THE FACT THAT is coordinate with the original extent MODELS OF MAN IN SOCIETY POR- of their grasp of the "natural facts of life." TRAY HIM AS A JUDGMENTAL DOPE The type of phenomenon that I pro- pose is discoverable is portrayed in Many studies have documented the Figures 1 and 2 which are based on finding that the social standardization

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 244 SOCIAL PROBLEMS of common understandings, of social structures overirrespec- the temporal tive of what it is that"succession" is of standardized,here and now situa- orients persons' actions to scenic tions are treated as epiphenomenal. events, and furnishes persons the The misleading character of the use grounds upon which departures from of the judgmental dope to portray the perceivedly normal courses of affairs relationship between standardized ex- are detectable, restoration is made, and pectancies and courses of action goes effortful action is mobilized. to the problem of adequate explanation as the controlling consideration in the Social science theorists-most par- investigator's decision to either con- ticularly social psychiatrists, social psy- sider or disregard the common sense chologists, anthropologists, and sociol- rationalities when deciding the neces- ogists-have used the fact of standardization to conceive the character and sary relationships between courses of action, given such problematic consid- consequences of actions that comply erations as perspectival choice, subjec- with standardized expectancies. Gener- tivity, and inner time. A favored solu- ally they have acknowledged but other- tion is to portray what the member's wise neglected the fact that by these actions will have come to by using same actions persons discover, create, and sustain this standardization. An the stable structures-what they came to-as a point of theoretical departure important and prevalent consequence from which to portray the necessary of this neglect is that of being misled about the nature and conditions of character of the pathways whereby the end result is assembled. Hierarchies of stable actions. This occurs by making need dispositions, and common culture out the member of the society to be as aenforced rules of action are favored judgmental dope of a cultural and/or devices for bringing the problem of psychological sort with the result that necessary inference to terms, although the unpublished results of any ac- at the cost of making out the person- complished study of the relationship between actions and standardized ex- in-society to be a judgmental dope. pectations will invariably contain How is an investigator doing it when enough incongruous material to invite he is making out the member of a essential revision. society to be a judgmental dope? Sev- eral examples will furnish some spe- By "cultural dope" I refer to the cifics and consequences. man - in - the -sociologist's- society who I assigned students the task of bar- produces the stable features of the so- gaining for standard priced merchan- ciety by acting in compliance with pre- dise. The relevant standardized expec- established and legitimate alternatives tancy is the "institutionalized one price of action that the common culture pro- rule," a constituent element, according vides. The "psychological dope" is the to Parsons,10 of the institution of con- man-in-the-psychologist's-society who tract. Because of its "internalized" char- produces the stable features of the society by choices among alternative 9 Common sense rationalities are discuss- courses of action that are compelled ed at length in Schutz, op. cit., Economica, on the grounds of psychiatric biog- and in my article, "The Rational Properties raphy, conditioning history, and the of Scientific and Common Sense Activities," Behavioral Science, 5 (January, 1960), pp. variables of mental functioning. The 72-83. The common sense rationalities were common feature in the use of these made the basis of a radical criticism and "models of man" is the fact that reconstruction of sociological interests in courses of common sense rationalities9 mental illness in Egon Bittner, op. cit. 10 Parsons, Talcott, "Economy, Polity, of judgment which involve the Money,per- and Power," dittoed manuscript, son's use of common sense knowledge 1959.

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 245 acter the student-customers should outcome and planned to do so in the have been fearful and shamed by the future, particularly for costly merchan- prospective assignment, and shamed dise. by having done it. Reciprocally, anx- Such findings suggest that one can iety and anger should have been com- make the member of the society out monly reported for sales persons. to be a cultural dope (a) by portray- Sixty-eight students were required toing a member of the society as one accomplish one trial only for any item who operates by the rules when one is costing no more than two dollars, and actually talking about the anticipatory were to offer much less than the asking anxiety that prevents him from permit- price. Another sixty-seven students ting a situation to develop, let alone were required to accomplish a series confronting a situation in which he of six trials: three for items costing has the alternative of acting or not two dollars or less, and three for items with respect to a rule; or (b) by over- costing fifty dollars or more. looking the practical and theoretical importance of the mastery of fears. Findings. (a) Sales persons can be(c) If upon the arousal of troubled dismissed as either having been dopes feelings persons avoid tinkering with in different ways than current theories these "standardized" expectancies, the of standardized expectancies provide, standardization could consist of an at- or not dopes enough. A few showed tributed standardization that is sup- some anxiety; occasionally one got ported by the fact that persons avoid angry. (b) Twenty percent of the the very situations in which they might single tries refused to try or aborted learn about them. the effort, as compared with three percent of those who had been assigned Lay as well as professional knowl- the series of six trials. (c) When the edge of the nature of rule governed bargaining episode was analyzed actionsas and the consequences of breach- consisting of a series of steps-antici- ing the rules is prominently based on pation of the trial, approaching the just such procedure. Indeed, the more sales person, actually making the of- important the rule, the greater is the fer, the ensuing interaction, terminat- likelihood that knowledge is based on ing the episode, and afterwards-it avoided tests. Strange findings must was found that fears occurred with the certainly await anyone who examines greatest frequency in both groups inthe expectancies that make up routine anticipating the assignment and ap-backgrounds of common place activities for they have rarely been expos- proaching the sales person for the first try. Among the single trials the num- ed by investigators even to as much ber of persons who reported discom- revision as an imaginative rehearsal of their breach would produce. fort declined with each successive step in the sequence. Most of the students Another way in which the member who bargained in two or more trials of the society can be made a judg- reported that by the third episode they mental dope is by using any of the were enjoying the assignment. (d) available theories of the formal prop- Most students reported less discomfort erties of signs and symbols to portray in bargaining for high priced than the way persons construe environ- low priced merchandise. (e) Follow- mental displays as significant ones. The ing the six episodes many students re-dope is made out in several ways. I ported that they had learned to their shall mention two. "surprise" that one could bargain in (a) Characteristically, formal inves- standard priced settings with some tigations have been concerned either realistic chance of an advantageous with devising normative theories of

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 246 SOCIAL PROBLEMS symbolic usages or, the while pairing of seeking"sign" and "referrent"- de- scriptive theories, have as an association.settled In for each casenor- a pro- mative ones. In either case it is nec- cedural description of such symbolic essary to instruct the construing mem- usages is precluded by neglecting the ber to act in accordance with the in- judgmental work of the user. vestigator's instructions in order to Precisely this judgmental work, guarantee that the investigator will be along with its reliance upon and its able to study their usages as instances reference to common sense knowledge of the usages the investigator has in of social structures, forced itself upon mind. But, following Wittgenstein,11 our attention in every case where in- person's actual usages are rational us- congruities were induced. Out atten- ages in some "language game." What is tion was forced because our subjects their game? As long as this program- had exactly their judgmental work and matic question is neglected, it is in- common sense knowledge to contend evitable that person's usages will fall with as matters which the incongruities short. The more will this be so the presented to them as practical prob- more are subjects' interests in usages lems. Every procedure that involved dictated by different practical consid- departures from an anticipated course erations than those of investigators. of ordinary affairs, regardless of wheth- (b) Available theories have many er the departure was gross or slight, important things to say about such aroused recognition in subjects that the sign functions as marks and indica- experimenter was engaged in double tions, but they are silent on such over- talk, irony, glosses, euphemism, or lies. whelmingly more common functions This occurred repeatedly in departures as glosses, synecdoche, documented rep- from ordinary game play. resentation, euphemism, irony, and double entendre. References to com- Students were instructed to play tick- mon sense knowledge of ordinary af- tacktoe and to mix their subjects by fairs may be safely disregarded in de- age, sex, and degree of acquaintance. tecting and analyzing marks and indi- After drawing the ticktacktoe matrix cations as sign functions because users they invited the subject to move first. disregard them as well. The analysis Afterof the subject made his move the irony, double entendre, glosses, and experimenter erased the subject's mark, the like, however, imposes different moved it to another square and made requirements. Any attempt to consid- his own mark but without giving any er the related character of utterances, indications that anything about the meanings, perspectives, and orders nec- play was unusual. In half of 247 trials essarily requires reference to common students reported that subjects treated sense knowledge of ordinary affairs. the move as a gesture with hidden Although investigators have neglect- but definite significance. Subjects were ed these "complex" usages, they have convinced that the experimenter was not put their problematic character en-"after something" that he was not say- tirely aside. Instead, they have glossed ing and whatever he "really" was do- them by portraying the usages of the ing had nothing to do with ticktacktoe. member of a language community asHe was making a sexual pass; he was either culture bound or need compell- commenting on the subject's stupidity; ed, or by construing the pairing heof was making a slurring or an impu- appearances and intended objects-- dent gesture. Identical effects occurred when students bargained for standard priced merchandise, or asked the other 11 Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Philosophical Investigations, Oxford; Basil Blackwell, to clarify his commonplace remarks, 1959. or joined without invitation a strange

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 247 group of conversationalists, or used a acteristically, experimenters were un- gaze that during an ordinary conversa- able to restore the situation. Subjects tion wandered "randomly" by time to were only partially accepting of the various objects in the scene. experimenter's explanation that it has Still another way of making the been done "as an experiment for a person out for a cultural dope is to course in Sociology." They often complained, "All right, it was an experi- simplify the communicative texture of his behavioral environment. For ex- ment, but why did you have to choose me?" Characteristically, subject and example, by giving physical events preferred status one can theorize out of perimenter wanted some further reso- lution than the explanation furnished existence the way the person's scene, but were uncertain about what it could as a texture of potential and actual or should consist of. events, contains not only appearances and attributions but the person's own Finally, the member may be made lively inner states as well. We en- out to be a judgmental dope by por- countered this in the following pro- traying routine actions as those gov- cedure. erned by prior agreements, and by Students were instructed to select making the likelihood that a member someone other than a family member will recognize deviance depend upon the existence of prior agreements. That and in the course of an ordinary con- this is a matter of mere theoretical versation and, without indicating that anything unusual was happening, preferenceto whose use theorizes essen- bring their faces up to the subject's tial phenomena out of existence can until their noses were almost touch- be seen by considering the common- ing. According to most of the 79 ac- place fact that persons will hold each other to agreements whose terms they counts, regardless of whether the pairs were the same or different sexes, never actually stipulated. This neglect- whether they were acquaintances edor property of common understand- close friends (strangers were prohibit- ings has far reaching consequences ed), and regardless of age differences when it is explicitly brought into the except where children were involved, portrayal of the nature of "agreements. the procedure motivated in both experimenter and subject attributions of aApparently no matter how specific sexual intent on the part of the other the terms of common understandings though confirmation of this intent wasmay be-a contract may be considered withheld by the very character of the the prototype-they attain the status procedure. Such attributions to the of an agreement for persons only inso- other were accompanied by the per- far as the stipulated conditions carry son's own impulses which themselves along an unspoken but understood et became part of the scene as their not ceteral2 clause. Specific stipulations only being desired but their desiring. are formulated under the rule of an The unconfirmed invitation to choose agreement by being brought under the had its accompanying conflictful hes- jurisdiction of the et cetera clause. This itancy about acknowledging the choice does not occur once and for all, but is and having been chosen. Attempted essentially bound to both the inner avoidance, bewilderment, acute em- and outer temporal course of activities barrassment, furtiveness, and above all and thereby to the progressive develop- uncertainties of these as well as un- ment of circumstances and their con- certainties of fear, hope, and anger tingencies. Therefore it is both mis- were characteristic. These effects were leading and incorrect to think of an most pronounced between males. Char- agreement as an actuarial device where-

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by persons are enabled der the rule as of previouslyof any agreed Here ac- and Now to predict tivity each is sometimes other's contested future should activities. More accurately, not be permitted to mask common its pervasive understandings that and routine have use asbeen an ongoing form- and es- ulated under the rule sential feature of ofan "actions agreement in accord are used by persons with tocommon normalize understandings." whatever their actual activities turn out to This process, which I shall call a be. Not only can contingencies arise, method of discovering agreements by but persons know as of any Here and eliciting or imposing a respect for the Now that contingencies can material- rule of practical circumstances, is a ize or be invented at any time that version of practical ethics. Although it it must be decided whether or not has received little if any attention by what the parties actually did satisfied social scientists, it is a matter of the the agreement. The et cetera clause pro- most abiding and commonplace con- vides for the certainty that unknown cern in everyday affairs and common conditions are at every hand in terms sense theories of these affairs. Adept- of which an agreement, as of any par- ness in the deliberate manipulation of ticular moment, can be retrospectively et cetera considerations for the further- reread to find out in light of present ance of specific advantages is an oc- practical circumstances what the agree- cupational talent of lawyers and is ment "really" consisted of "in the first specifically taught to law school stu- place" and "all along." That the work dents. One should not suppose, how- of bringing present circumstances un-ever, that because it is a lawyer's skill, that only lawyers are skilled at it, or 12 The et cetera clause, its properties, and that only those who do so deliberately, do the consequences of its use have been so at all. The method is general to the prevailing topics of study and discussion among the members of the Conferences on phenomenon of the society as a sys- Ethnomethodology that have been in prog- tem of rule governed activities.13 It ress at the University of California, Los is available as one of the mechanisms Angeles, and the University of Colorado whereby potential and actual successes since February, 1962, with the aid of a grant from the U. S. Air Force Office of and windfalls, on the one hand, and Scientific Research. Conference members the disappointments, frustrations, and are Egon Bittner, Harold Garfinkel, Craig failures, on the other, that persons MacAndrew, Edward Rose, and Harvey Sacks. Published discussions of et cetra by must inevitably encounter by reason conference participants will be found in of seeking to comply with agreements, Egon Bittner, "Radicalism: A Study of the can be managed while retaining the Sociology of Knowledge," American Soci- perceived reasonableness of actual so- ological Review (in press); Harvey Sacks, "On Sociological Description," Berkeley cially organized activities. Journal of Sociology, 8 (1963), pp. 1-16; A small scale but accurate instance Harold Garfinkel, "A Conception and Some of this phenomenon was consistently Experiments With Trust . . . ," op. cit. produced by a procedure in which the Extended studies dealing with coding procedures, methods of interrogation, lawyers' experimenter engaged others in con- work, translation, model construction, his- versation while he had a wire recorder torical reconstruction, "social bookkeeping," hidden under his coat. In the course of the counting, and personality diagnosis will be found in unpublished papers by Bittner, Garfinkel, MacAndrew, Rose, and Sacks; 13 Insofar as this is true, it establishes in transcribed talks given by Bittner, Gar- the programmatic task of reconstructing the finkel, and Sacks on "Reasonable Accounts" problem of social order as it is currently at the Sixteenth Annual Conference on formulated in sociological theories, and of World Affairs, University of Colorado, criticizing currently preferred solutions. At Boulder, April 11-12, 1963; and in Con- the heart of the reconstruction is the ference transcriptions. Publication of empiricalthese problem of demonstrating the materials is planned by the group for definitive1964. features of "et cetera" thinking.

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities 249 conversation the experimenter opened play, theatre going, high ceremony, his jacket to reveal the recorder, say- religious conversion, convention going, "See what I have?" An initial ing, and scientific inquiry. A second pause was almost invariably followed modification consists of instrumental by the question, "What are you going transformations of environments of to do with it?" Subjects claimed the real objects such as occur in experi- breach of the expectancy that the con- mentally induced psychosis, extreme versation was "between us." The fact fatigue, acute sensory deprivation, that the conversation was revealed to brain injuries, prefrontal lobotomies, have been recorded motivated new pos- and the use of hallucinogenic drugs. A sibilities which the parties then sought third transformation consists of neonate to bring under the jurisdiction of an learning which quite literally entails agreement that they had never spe- the growth of a world and is directed cifically mentioned, and that indeed to the production of objective features did not previously exist. The conver- of the persons' environment that "any sation, now seen to have been recorded, competent member can see." The thereby acquired fresh and problem- growth of the world is necessarily ac- atic import in view of unknown uses companied by the progressively en- to which it might be turned. An agreed forced and enforceable compliance of privacy was thereupon treated as the developing member to the atti- though it had operated all along. tude of daily life as a competent societal member's way of "looking at CONCLUDING REMARKS things." A fourth set of modifications are involved in adult socialization, dis- The expectancies that make up the tinguishable from neonate learning by attitude of everyday life are constitu- the absence of radically naive expec- tive of the institutionalized common tancies. Other modifications are those understandings of the practical every- of estrangement, which must include day organization and workings of so- the various phenomena intended un- ciety as it is seen "from within." Modi- der the currently popular theme of fication of these expectancies must "alienation," as well as the phenomena thereby modify the real environments of the cultural stranger, of the major of the societies' members. Such modi- and minor forms of mental illness, of fications transform one perceived en- the degradation that accompanies vironment of real objects into another charges of criminality and the fates of environment of real objects. social incompetence found in mental Each of many kinds of modifications retardation and old age. Modifications of the background of everyday expec- occur through mischief, playful and tancies furnish an area of needed fur- serious; through the subtle psycho- ther work. Each modification has as pathic effects of aging as one comes its counterpart transformed objective to learn that one may sin, cause others structures of the behavioral environ- harm, and not "pay"; and through the ments that each modification produces. discovery that the common societal It is disconcerting to find how little we know about these different sets orders which in adolescence appear so massive and homogeneous not only of background expectancies and the have their interstices but depend for different objective environments that they constitute. their massiveness upon persons' con- One such modification consists of tinual improvisations. Finally, there is the ceremonial transformation of one the modification that consists in the environment of real objects into an- discovery and rationalization of the other. Such modifications occur in common sense world through the

This content downloaded from 128.192.54.167 on Thu, 05 Jan 2017 21:37:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 250 SOCIAL PROBLEMS growth of social treating science as problemmatic asphenomena a social movement. the actual methods whereby members I have been arguing that aof concern a society, doing sociology, lay or for the nature, production, professional, and recog- make the social structures nition of reasonable, realistic, of everyday and an- activities observable. The alyzable actions is not the "rediscovery" monopoly of common sense is pos- of philosophers and professional sible perhaps sociol- because professional so- ogists. Members of a society ciologists, are con- like members, have had too cerned as a matter of course and nec- much to do with common sense knowl- essarily with these matters both as edge of social structures as both a features and for the socially managed topic and a resource for their inquiries production of their everyday affairs. and not enough to do with it only and The study of common sense knowledge exclusively as sociology's program- and common sense activities consists of matic topic.

ON MAINTAINING DEVIANT BELIEF SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY

J. L. SIMMONS University of Illinois

The present paper explores vs. someunconscious, or Parsons' distinction selected aspects of a belief amongsystem cognitive, expressive, and evalu- shared by a small group of "mystics" ative symbols1 will be made here located in southeastern United States. since it is neither feasible nor nec- Its major concern is the means through essary for the purposes of this paper. which these divergent beliefs are The term "system" will call the maintained in the face of a disbeliev- reader's atention to the important fact ing larger society. that beliefs do not exist as a heap of Data for the report were gathered disconnected items, but are related in- from intimate association and many to some kind of "coherent" and "con- lengthy conversations with a promi- sistent" pattern. nent member of the group and from much briefer conversations with four THE ESPERS other members. Pamphlets and news- The group, which we will call Es- letters of the group were also exam- per, has its headquarters in a semi- ined. Observations from a number of isolated mountainous area of Georgia. other fringe groups have also been This location was picked partly for drawn upon. its relative seclusion and for the The concept "belief system" is here natural protection it would afford in defined as the set of notions with the event of a nuclear war. Several which individuals and groups interpret members have sold their business and the physical and social reality around properties in other locations to settle them and within themselves. No here permanently. The buildings and classification of these notions, grounds such are extensive, including hous- as the psychoanalytic one of conscious ing for perhaps two hundred people, ample garden space, springs, and I am indebted to George J. McCall for many of the ideas implicit in this article 1 Talcott Parsons, The Social System, and to Daniel Glaser for help in revision. Glencoe; Free Press, 1951, pp. 326-383.

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