A Sociology of Awkwardness

On Social Interactions Going Wrong
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-16155-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Advances in Sociology

A Sociology of Awkwardness shows how awkward feelings are the outcome of social interactions going wrong.

Combing insights from cultural sociology and the sociologies of interactions and emotions, this book develops the first comprehensive sociology of awkwardness. It provides an understanding of how people define, express, and experience awkwardness, while locating its causes not within individuals, but within social interactions. Furthermore, it uniquely includes how both time and space impact on awkwardness. The book also offers a unique perspective by examining how both time and space contribute to the experience of awkwardness. Additionally, it delves into the various ways people cope with awkward situations. Drawing on rich empirical data on everyday encounters, dating, work and self-help, this book develops a unique typology of awkwardness.

Using rich empirical data from everyday life, dating, work, and self-help contexts, A Sociology of Awkwardness introduces a novel typology of awkwardness. This book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences, particularly those interested in culture, social interactions, and emotions. It will also attract readers seeking to understand awkwardness as a cultural phenomenon, though not as a self-help guide.

Zielgruppe

General and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Berkers, Pauwke

Wijngaarden, Yosha

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Sociology’s awkward silence on awkwardness

1. Theorizing awkwardness

2. Culture, meaning, and awkwardness

3. Interactions, scripts, and awkwardness

4. Emotions, feelings, and awkwardness

5. Analyzing awkwardness

6. Awkward interactions

7. Awkward spaces

8. Awkward times

9. Dealing with awkwardness

Conclusion and discussion: That was awkward, folks!

Über Autor(innen)

Pauwke Berkers is Full Professor Sociology of Popular Music at Erasmus University Rotterdam. As a music sociologist, he has widely written on social inequalities in popular music in academic journals, such as Gender & Society, Poetics, Cultural Sociology. His most recent book is Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production (with Julian Schaap, 2018). As a cultural sociologist, his work has addressed topics as authenticity, stigmatization, boundary and [long silence] awkwardness.

Yosha Wijngaarden is Assistant Professor Media and Creative Industries at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Working at the intersection of sociology, media studies, organization studies and geography, she has written extensively on work practices and (potentially awkward) social interactions within the creative industries. Her work was published in academic journals such as Geoforum, Human Relations and Cultural Trends.