Making Sense of “Racism”: A Case of Interactional Problems in Ambiguous Situations

Ambiguity inheres in social interaction. Cultural schemes do not always provide clarity in interactions, and so interactional problems may arise. However, we rarely look to situational ambiguity to understand interactional problems. I illustrate interactional problems in ambiguous situations through an ethnographic case at a high school in a progressive, U.S. Midwest suburban school district that is developing a race‐conscious culture. I argue that reputation management is central to these social interactions, and therefore, difficulties with managing reputation due to the perceived ambiguities over what counts as racism constitute the interactional problem. Furthermore, this ambiguity generates anxiety and thus disruptes social bond. To manage reputation, teachers often choose to control information by disengaging from situations that could be construed as racial. However, this strategy impedes teachers' day‐to‐day work. Integrating micro‐level interactionism and the sociology of culture, this paper offers a theoretical framework for examining interactional problems in ambiguous situations.