Interaction Ritual Research Articles

Converting idol attachment into place attachment: a study of fan tourists’ idol-following travel

ABSTRACT Idol-following travel is a global cultural phenomenon with significant economic benefits for destinations. This research adopts a mixed-method approach guided by Interaction Ritual Theory to understand the idol effect on destinations. Study 1 explores the driving force behind fan tourists’ idol-following travel, the interaction rituals during the trip, and the emotions toward the destination after the journey through qualitative analysis. Study 2 uses PLS-SEM analysis to test how idol attachment converts into place attachment. Findings reveal that idol attachment positively affects fan-environment and fan-fan interactions, enhancing fans’ empathy with their idols. This empathy increases their attachment to the destination.

‘I produce songs for her …. In this way, I gradually know her more. The more I know her, the more I like her’: Using Collins’ model of interactive ritual chains to study the case of virtual idol fandom in China

In the last decade, virtual idols have become increasingly popular among young people in China with news reports estimating a fan-base of around 300 million and total industry revenues of over $35 billion in 2020 (Bloomberg, 2021). Despite these startling figures, there have been few empirical studies of virtual idol fandom. To address this lacuna, this paper explores the ways in which fans engage with the Chinese virtual idol Luo Tianyi and uses insights from Randall Collin’s (2004) work on Interactive Ritual Chains (IRC) to understand the relationship between digital fan practices and the generation of both emotional responses and a wider sense of solidarity Semi-structured interviews with fans, alongside digital participant observation, indicate the key role fans have to play in promoting their idol, notably when it comes to producing original content designed to raise her profile. It is these activities, in conjunction with gender differences, that are used to define hierarchies within the community, and point to the importance of adopting a more critical perspective in relation to Collins’ original work.

Interaction rituals in a crisis: The case of COVID-19 in China

In times of crisis, activating public collective consciousness is crucial. Applying national identity aids in building this consciousness, enhancing social identity, fostering social solidarity, and motivating a joint “state-society” response. Traditional top-down approaches to national identity, relying on symbols and rituals rooted in collective memory, may falter during crises due to formalism. Micro-social interactions, aligned with governance, construct relevant meanings through interaction rituals. Participation in these rituals energizes individuals, shaping national identity and fostering social unity. However, limited research explores this bottom-up approach. Integrating interaction ritual chain theory, this study examines shaping national identity from the bottom up. It concludes that symbolic meanings from governance behavior, social norms, and group identity through interaction rituals yield national symbols, consensus order, and emotional responses. Ultimately, interaction rituals mobilize emotions and reconstruct social order. This study's conclusion holds reference value for enhancing the government's meaning making and enriching interaction ritual chain theory.

Analysing sympathy from a contrastive pragmatic angle: a Chinese–English case study

Abstract In this study, we provide a replicable language-anchored framework for capturing expressions of sympathy in interaction, by contrasting Chinese and English sympathising behaviour. Our framework combines interaction ritual and speech acts, and it captures sympathising without associating it with one particular speech act from the outset. Methodologically, we follow a tripartite design: First we identify puzzlements which ritual sympathising can trigger for Chinese expatriates living in the US and American expatriates in China. We then conduct Discourse Completion Tests (DCTs) to identify conventions of sympathising in the two linguacultures. Finally, we interpret our expatriates’ puzzlement through the outcomes of the DCT analysis.

How Beneficiaries Become Sources of Normative Control

Organizations can motivate and coordinate work by socializing members to internalize organizational values. Existing theories posit that organizations achieve normative control through encapsulation, wherein peers and managers are primary sources of members’ socialization. Drawing on ethnographic data from a not-for-profit school, I show how an external actor—beneficiaries—can become a source of normative control. I develop a multistage process that explains how teachers were socialized by parents, specifically by hearing these parent beneficiaries narrate their needs; engaging in collective storytelling about beneficiaries; experiencing episodic shaming centered on how teachers’ daily performance met (or did not meet) beneficiaries’ needs; and receiving validation from beneficiaries. Because these sequential stages establish beneficiaries as sources of control through social interactions set in specific times and places, and establish shared emotional states among organizational members, I theorize that these stages compose a ritual of integration. Although teachers initially arrived at the school with heterogeneous values, this ritual led many of them to internalize the organizational value of self-sacrifice. Teachers who were unmoved by parents’ stories or came to see parents as exploitative did not internalize this value, and they tended to exit the organization. This study reveals how normative control can arise not only through socialization from in-group members but also from ritual interactions with and about beneficiaries.

Mechanisms of Emotional Experiences of Online Spectators of E-Sports Events From the Perspective of Interactive Ritual Chain

E-sports events play a crucial role as significant entertainment activities and platforms for emotional interaction among the public. This study seeks to delve into the processes underlying the emotional experiences of online spectators during interactive rituals within e-sports events. It employs the core concept of emotional energy within interaction ritual chains as framework for analysis. To accomplish this, we conducted one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 20 online spectators actively engaged in the League of Legends professional league. These interviews specifically targeted their emotions, feelings, evaluations, behaviors, and other relevant experiences both preceding, during, and subsequent to spectating. Our analysis revealed four distinct stages within the emotional energy change process: emotional arousal, immersion, climax, and continuity. These stages collectively culminate in the formulation of a dynamic, continuous, and cyclical emotional energy model. Notably, spectators adeptly employ various emotional regulation strategies to mitigate the impact of disruptive factors. The integration of ritual symbols, coupled with the positive feedback loop of emotional energy, serves to connect the five identified stages and establish a cohesive cyclic upward mechanism. These findings not only offer unique insights into the micro-level emotional experiences of online spectators but also hold practical implications for the effective management of e-sports events.

Research on the Relationship Between Emotional Energy and Revisit Intention in Camping Tourism: Based on Structural Equation Model

Camping tourism was more popular during the COVID-19 epidemic around the world, which made camping tourism a crucial part of the worldwide tourism industry. However, previous research did not fully study camping tourism from a comprehensive perspective, just focused on the environment or peer interaction, as a result, they are hard to deeply understand the nature of camping tourism. In this paper, we introduce the tourism field theory and interaction ritual chain theory to construct our model and test the model with the method of structural equation model. After testing the model, we find: (1) The tourism field can significantly and positively affect individual tourist’s emotional energy; (2) Interaction ritual can significantly positively affect the emotional energy of individual tourists; (3) The emotional energy of tourists can significantly positively affect the revisit intention; (4) There is a significant mutual positive influence between the tourism filed and the interaction ritual. Based on the research conclusions, the study provides theoretical support and reference suggestions for tourism planners and product designers from three aspects: emphasizing the construction of the tourism field, providing opportunities for interaction rituals, and developing diversified tourism projects.

Alienation in the Teaching Hospital: How Physician Non-Greeting Behaviour Impacts Medical Students' Learning and Professional Identity Formation.

Clinical workplaces offer unrivalled learning opportunities if students get pedagogic and affective support that enables them to confidently participate and learn from clinical activities. If physicians do not greet new students, the learners are deprived of signals of social respect and inclusion. This study explored how physicians' non-greeting behaviour may impact medical students' participation, learning, and professional identity formation in clinical placements. We analysed 16 senior Norwegian medical students' accounts of non-greeting behaviours among their physician supervisors in a reflexive thematic analysis of focus group interview data. The main themes were: A) Descriptions of non-greeting. Not being met with conduct signalling rapport, such as eye contact, saying hello, using names, or introducing students at the workplace, was perceived as non-greeting, and occurred across clinical learning contexts. B) Effects on workplace integration. Non-greeting was experienced as a rejection that hurt students' social confidence, created distance from the physician group, and could cause avoidance of certain workplace activities or specific medical specialties. C) Impact on learning. Non-greeting triggered avoidance and passivity, reluctance to ask questions or seek help or feedback, and doubts about their suitability for a medical career. Medical students' accounts of being ignored or treated with disdain by physician superiors upon entering the workplace suggest that unintended depersonalising behaviour is ingrained in medical culture. Interaction rituals like brief eye contact, a nod, a "hello", or use of the student's name, can provide essential affective support that helps medical students thrive and learn in the clinic.

The Emergence and Elimination of the Stigmatization of Sports Fan Circles in the New Media Era: Based on the Theory of Interactive Ritual Chain

The Emergence and Elimination of the Stigmatization of Sports Fan Circles in the New Media Era: Based on the Theory of Interactive Ritual Chain

Research on Agricultural Assistance Live Streaming from the Perspective of Interactive Ritual Chain

Research on Agricultural Assistance Live Streaming from the Perspective of Interactive Ritual Chain

A Review of Ugo Corte, Dangerous Fun: The Social Lives of Big Wave Surfers. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2022, 272 pp.

This ethnographic study of big wave surfing in WaimeaBay in Hawai’i by the Italian sociologist Ugo Corte discovers how this extreme sport involving risk-taking activity is performed interactively. The data from observations and interviews are interpreted in terms of the theory of interaction ritual, which claims that the key to understanding these group activities is the notion of emotional energy generated as result of the social interaction. Unlike his predecessors Еrving Goffman and Randall Collins, Ugo Corte does not proceed from theory, but from his empirical material, for the interpretation of which he uses comparisons with somewhat similar phenomena from different fields, from other sports to creative industries. However, the book’s theoretical framework is Collins’s thesis on affect as a driving force of social order, from which the ideas emerge about how the focus of emotion and attention in joint activity generates group solidarity. The book illustrates how a sociologist and anthropologist can address the issues of risk and danger, and also shows the ways in which modern interactionist sociology, armed with post-Goffmanian tools, is developing.

Conflation between ‘Public Good’ and ‘Greater Good’ in the Context of Research Impact

Abstract This study sets out to conceptually distinguish between ‘public’ and ‘greater good’ in respect to research impact claims. We argue that the former is a category reflective of genuine benefit for the wider public, while the latter merely represents a rhetorical category to pursue the ends of a select few. Methodologically, we showcase that only within the actual research conduct is it possible to distinguish between these two categories. Likewise, without acknowledging methodological limitations, researchers may contribute to post-truth predicaments in the sense that the interaction ritual chains they are using constitute a mere rhetorical flourish rather than a rigorous argument for genuine benefit. We conclude with an appeal to future scrutiny for how researchers can retain their integrity in this new research impact discourse. We argue that an uncritical use of impact arguments may undermine the very social fabric that makes scientific pursuits possible.

Digital Design of Film and Television Scenes Based on Interactive Ritual Chain in the New Media Era

Abstract In this paper, we utilize group event prediction techniques for film and television communication to explore the effects of interactive cinema and scene design on participants’ feelings and the impact of film and television communication. A five-dimensional feature vector is used for quantization, and the dimensions and categories of the feature vectors can be changed to make them more consistent with the characteristics of the research object for different types of network events in the interaction scene. For the analysis and prediction of event attention, the data of the budding period before the outbreak is extracted in the preprocessing stage for the prediction of future outbreaks of the event, as the data for the analysis of attention, and the event attention model is constructed through differential equations to realize the prediction of the impact of attention. The results showed that during the video content exploration, respondents had a higher demand for experiencing the festival ritual process (5.73) and preferred the institution of making five-color glutinous rice (2.53). The interactive video scenes were designed with comforting colors (1.86), beautiful interface aesthetics, and a simple operation flow (3.11). Of the eight secondary indicators found in the documentary dissemination effect, five indicators, including content theme and video duration, significantly impacted the number of interactions with the video. There is a significant difference between interactive behavior and emotional experience, and interactive respondents can feel the emotional experience more.

Research on Ideological and Political Connotation, Value and Practice Path of College Basketball Course from the Perspective of Interactive Ritual Chain

Research on Ideological and Political Connotation, Value and Practice Path of College Basketball Course from the Perspective of Interactive Ritual Chain

Role distance. An ethnographic study on how street-level managers cope

Abstract Policy is not only made by street-level bureaucrats at the frontlines. It is also made by their superiors—street-level managers—who set the organizational conditions through which street-level bureaucrats act. Although scholars have documented how street-level bureaucrats cope with the pressures of their work by, for instance, breaking or bending rules, the question of how street-level managers cope with the pressures of their own work has received less attention. Drawing from ethnographic data of a network of publicly funded health centers in the Midwestern US, I show how street-level managers use an interaction ritual with role distance to cope. Role distance is mobilized when the person uses communicative expressions such as laughter or cries of frustration to convey a critical distance from what her organizational role prescribes. Based on classic sociological insights, I posit that role distance can function as follows. It can help managers preserve self by allowing them to define their putatively “more-human self” from their work, create a feeling of collectiveness as they orient themselves to the shared frustrations yet obligations that their role engenders, which enables them to coordinate on carrying out tasks, even those that rub against their preferences and well-intentions. Taken together, I suggest that role distance can offer a coping function, which enables them to hold in abeyance individual and collective responsibility for the decisions they make. I then highlight the benefits and unintended consequences of role distance and posit what academics and practitioners can do to ensure that street-level managers use role distance toward more productive ends.

Studying Small Talk from a pragmatic angle: An introduction

AbstractIn this introduction to the present special issue, we first define the notion of Small Talk from a pragmatic point of view and interconnect Small Talk with interaction ritual. Following this, we point out why a speech act-based approach is particularly useful to study Small Talk in a rigorous and replicable way. We also introduce the speech act framework used by all the studies in the special issue. Finally, we introduce the contents of the special issue.

Hard Work and Fun: Collective Online Interaction in a Case of Photo Fraud

Online platforms devoted to investigating criminal cases or mysteries are often seen as reaching outwards to identify suspects, promote punishment, and try to solve cases. Simultaneously, internal interactions between posters motivate them to contribute, even to outdo one another, and so a team spirit emerges. This article analyzes a lengthy thread on a Swedish Internet discussion forum, Flashback, in which a wildlife photographer was exposed for manipulating photographs. We explore how the online interaction is characterized by both competition and collaboration, as well as hard work and displayed expertise, and is framed in terms of the morally right and an underdog perspective. The posters' activities are largely directed at the photographer's moral wrongdoing and take the form of an internal process between the participants, where work and play merge. We analyzed the case with the help of Randall Collins' interaction rituals, Erving Goffman's frames, and the concept of playbour.

Memorable interactive experiences between hosts and guests in B&Bs and their generation process: The host perspective

Experiences of bed and breakfast (B&B) hosts during guest interactions profoundly affect both guest experiences and the hosts' business passion. However, research on hosts' memorable interaction experiences (MIEs) is still limited. This study, using the critical incident technique and thematic analysis, examines MIEs among B&B hosts in Yangshuo, China, within the framework of interaction ritual chains theory. It identifies that MIEs of B&B practitioners vary from negative to positive, underpinned by two primary experiences: social interaction and novelty. Preventing negative MIEs hinges on service outcomes, decent work, and emotional experience. MIEs, emerging from both successful and broken interaction rituals around positively distinctive daily interactions and problematic crisis events, impact practitioners' well-being and professional passion through the accumulation of emotional energy and sacred symbols. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of tourism host-guest relations and supports the sustainable growth of the B&B industry.

A Study on Parents' Childrenswear Consumption Mechanisms from the Perspective of Interactive Ritual

Consumption is often influenced by the intermediary role of parents; however, the mechanism behind this influence remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to explore the decision-making model of children's wear consumption based on the interactive ritual theory. Grounded research was conducted using data from semi-structured interviews with 24 parents. The findings of this study indicate that the decision-making process of parents regarding children's wear consumption can be considered an interactive ritual. The key elements that initiate this ritual include the characteristics of decision makers and users, the inherent attributes of the product, and social factors. Moreover, the interplay between perceived value and brand identity emerges as the central dynamic of this ritual, while the outcomes of the ritual manifest as purchase intention, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Finally, the analysis of the dynamic process of children's apparel consumption is discussed, providing suggestions for the future focus of kids' garment enterprises, and outlining directions for future research.

Revisiting the binary view of honorifics in politeness research

Abstract In this paper, we revisit the popular assumption that politeness in languages such as Japanese and Korean with a complex honorific system is crucially different from politeness in languages with no comparably rich honorific repertoires, such as Chinese. We propose a bottom–up, contrastive and corpus-based model through which we challenge this binary view. This model combines interaction ritual and speech acts. As a case study, we compare a set of expressions representing lexico-grammatical honorifics in Japanese and Chinese, i.e., in a so-called “honorific-rich” and a “non-honorific-rich” language. Our results show that the group of honorifics studied work in an essentially comparable fashion, hence disproving the above-outlined binary view.