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11 - On Social Routines and That Access Hollywood Bus

from Part III - The Interactive Making of the Trumpian World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Bruce Mannheim
Edited by
Janet McIntosh  and
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Janet McIntosh
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Norma Mendoza-Denton
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

Trump’s “grab ’em by the pussy” remark was an example of a communicative “routine”: an interactional pre-fabricated exercise, seemingly innocuous, and often experienced as fun. In the type of routine Trump participated in, an Alpha individual establishes a superordinate position with respect to other participants (the In-group) by targeting an individual or group of individuals (Targets) outside the interaction, often by identifying the victim or victims with a social stigma. The stigma extends beyond the duration of the routine, and so has consequences for the Targets that extend well beyond the seemingly innocuous duration of the routine, often (but not always) violently threatening their physical well-being. The routine is familiar to the participants and – as social routines do – recruits the Alpha (Trump) and the In-group (his interlocutors) to their respective roles in an automatized way. There are significant negative consequences for not participating as an In-groupie, including exclusion from the group of interactants or even becoming the next target. Trump’s “grab ’em by the pussy” exchange was thus not just some individuals blowing off steam, but an example of a widely recognizable social routine that enlists interactants into its patterns and hierarchy.

Keywords

routinesocial routineinteractionin-groupssocial dominancestigmagroup dynamicssocial hierarchy
Type
Chapter
Information
Language in the Trump Era
Scandals and Emergencies
 , pp. 168 - 178
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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