Question

Civil inattention appears to be a rather unconscious behavior and has several functions in our social world. Please select the reason that sociologists argue it is an important concept to understand and study. a. Because civil inattention is an unconscious behavior, it has little effect or importance in other aspects of the social world b. Seeing individual unconscious behavior lends sociologists great insight into mob and riot mentality c. If an individual implies to another person that he does not suspect the other’s behavior, there is no reason to be hostile toward the other person, whose social life is allowed to proceed in an orderly fashion d. Allowing sociologists to see how people openly express their emotions toward close family members gives them vital information in nonverbal communications e. Determining the function of civil inattention would allow sociologists to understand the conforming nature and interaction in the military

Answer 1

Answer:

c. If an individual implies to another person that he does not suspect the other’s behavior, there is no reason to be hostile toward the other person, whose social life is allowed to proceed in an orderly fashion

Explanation:

First introduced by sociologist Erving Goffman, the concept of civil inattention refers to the interaction between strangers where both of them acknowledge they're aware of the other, and recognize the rights of the other, but at the same time, they act as distant and as indifferent as possible towards each other. Sociologists argue it is an important concept to understand and study because, according to them, if an individual implies to another person that he does not suspect the other’s behavior, there is no reason to be hostile toward the other person, whose social life is allowed to proceed in an orderly fashion. For example, when two strangers are walking in opposite directions, the usual behavior is for one of them or both to make way for the other one to continue on his way uninterrupted and without any fuss. Civil inattention is also important in the study of impression management, as recognizing the other as harmless comes from the other one giving that impression, albeit more often than not unconsciously.