Chapter 18

Social Structure and Personality

Chapter Outline

• Status Attainment• Individual Values• Social Influence on Health• Alienation

Position and Social Structure

• Every person occupies a position - a designated location in a social system.

• The ordered and persisting relationships among these positions make up the social structure.

Influence of Social Structure

• Role Expectations– Every person occupies one or more

positions in the social structure. – Each position carries a role - a set of

expectations about the behavior of the occupant of that position.

– Role expectations are anticipations of how a person will behave based on the knowledge of his or her position.

Influence of Social Structure

• Social Networks– Sets of relationships associated with the

various positions a person occupies.– Primary relationships are personal,

emotionally involving and of long duration and have a substantial effect on one’s behavior and self image.

Influence of Social Structure

• Status• The Social ranking of a person’s position. • Each of us occupies several positions of

differing status. • In the United States, occupational status is

especially influential.

Status Attainment

• The individual's status is the single most important influence on his or her life.

• Status determines access to money and influence over others.

Occupational Prestige in the United States

Occupation Score Occupation Score

Physician 86 Lawyer 75

College professor 74 Registered nurse 66

Electrical engineer 64Elementary

school teacher64

Police officer 60 Social Worker 52

Dental hygienist 52 Office manager 51

Electrician 51 Housewife 51

Office secretary 46 Data Entry keyer 41

Occupational Prestige in the United States

Occupation Score Occupation Score

Farmer 40 Auto mechanic 36

Beautician 36Assembly-line

worker35

Housekeeper 34Precision

Assembler31

Truck driver 30 Cashier 29

Waitress/waiter 28Garbage collector

28

Hotel chambermaid

20 Househusband 14

Intergenerational Mobility

• Upward mobility is when a person moves from an occupation lower in prestige and income to one higher in prestige and income.

• Intergenerational mobility is the extent of change in social status from one generation to the next.

Determinants of Occupational Status Attainment

• Socioeconomic background influences ability, aspiration and educational attainment.

• Ability includes grades, which affect encouragement from significant others and aspiration for educational attainment.

• Occupational status is affected b y education and also by ability, aspirations and significant others.

Educational Attainment by Ethnicity and Gender, 2003

White Black Asian Hispanic

M F M F M F M F

High School Graduate or

More84.5 85.7 79.6 80.3 89.5 86 56.3 57.8

College Graduate or

more29.4 25.9 16.7 17.8 53.9 46.1 11.2 11.6

Occupational Segregation

• Median Annual Earnings, 2003:• White man - $37,180 • White woman - $29,484• Black man - $28,912• Black woman - $25,532• Hispanic man - $24,128 • Hispanic woman - $21,320

Individual Values

• Values are enduring beliefs that certain patterns of behavior or end states are preferable to others.

• Values are related to choices and behavior.

Differences Between Occupations

• Three characteristics– Closeness of supervision - extent to which

the worker is under the control of a supervisor.

– Routinization of work - extent to which tasks are repetitive and predictable.

– Substantive complexity of the work - how complicated the work tasks are.

Occupational Roles and Health

• Some occupations directly expose workers to health hazards.

• Many occupational roles expose individuals to streses that affect individuals indirectly.

Gender Roles and Health

• Men are twice as likely as women to die from coronary heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver or lung cancer, than women.

• The top four causes for death are the same for men and women in the U.S.:– Heart disease– Cerebrovasuclar disease– Cancer– Chronic respiratory disease

Marital Roles

• Married men and women are less likely to report conditions such as back pain and headaches and limitations on activity.

• Widowed persons are more likely than the divorced or separated to experience health problems.

Marital Roles

• Married persons are less likely to engage in behaviors that expose them to accidents and illness.

• Marital stress has indirect consequences for health by increasing depression and negatively affecting health behaviors.

Social Roles

• Factors: The Negative Relationships of Class and Health– Persons with higher status are more likely to be

employed full-time, have rewarding jobs and higher income.

– Higher status persons are more likely to have a sense of control over their job and their health.

– Higher status persons are less likely to engage in high risk behaviors and are more likely to eat properly, exercise and use health care services.

Mental Health

• Stress is a major influence on mental health. • Short term stressors may produce a

temporary increase in stress-related symptoms or depression.

• Long term stressors may produce impaired psychological functioning.

Gender and Mental Health

• On measures of distress, women attain significantly higher scores than men.

• Men experiencing high stress report higher rates of substance use and abuse while women report higher rates of impaired psychological functioning.

Marital Roles and Mental Health

• A study of 18-24 year old men and women, found that marriage did improve well-being.

• Married men are characterized by better mental heath than married women.

• Spillover occurs when the stress experience at work or in the family is carried over into the other domain.

Social Networks and Mental Health

• Social networks ease the impact of stressful events by providing:– Emotional support - letting us know they

care– Esteem support - providing positive

feedback about our abilities and worth as a person.

– Informational support – Instrumental support - money, labor, time

Social Class and Mental Health

• The lower a person's socioeconomic status, the greater the amount of stress reported.

• Low education, low occupational attainment, and low income contribute separately to stress.

Alienation

• The sense that one is involved in the social world or lacks control over it.

• Two types:– Self-Estrangement is the awareness that

one is engaging in activities that are not rewarding in themselves.

– Powerlessness - The sense of having little or no control over events.