Interaction Ritual Chains

Sex, smoking, and social stratification are three very different social phenomena. And yet, argues sociologist Randall Collins, they and much else in our social lives are driven by a common process : interaction rituals. Interaction Ritual Chains is a major work of sociological theory that attempts to develop a "radical micro-sociology." It proposes that successful rituals create symbols of group membership and pump up individuals with emotional energy, while failed rituals drain emotional energy.
Each person flows from situation to situation, drawn to those interactions where their cultural capital gives them the best emotional energy payoff. Thinking, too, can be explained by the internalization of conversations within the flow of situations ; individual selves are thoroughly and continually social, constructed from the outside in.