Chapter 4 Social Structure and Social Interaction.

Chapter 4

Social Structure and Social Interaction

Levels of Sociological Analysis

• Macrosociology– Large-Scale Features of Social Life

• Microsociology– Focus on Social Interaction

• Yield distinctive perspectives

• Needed to gain a fuller understanding of social life

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The Macrosociological Perspective

– Status Symbols– Master Statuses– Status Inconsistency– Roles

• Occupy Status• Play Roles

– Groups



• Sociological Significance of Social Structure– Guides Our Behavior– Behavior Decided by Location in Social

Structure

• Culture

• Social Class


Statuses█ Status: Socially defined positions within a

large group or society

– Person can hold more than one status at same time

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Ascribed and Achieved Status

• Ascribed status– A social position a person receives at birth or

takes involuntarily later in life• Matters about which we have little choice

• Achieved status– A social position a person takes on voluntarily

that reflects personal ability and effort– People’s ascribed statuses influence the

statuses they achieve

Master Status

• A status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person’s entire life– Can be negative as well as positive– Gender is a master status because all societies

limit opportunities for women– Physical disability can serve as a master status


• Social Class Divides People by…– Income– Education– Occupational Prestige– Social Status– Ascribed– Achieved


Status Symbols

• What are status symbols?– Home– Car– Clothes– Etc.

And more…

Role

• Behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status– A person holds a status and performs a role– Varies by culture– In every society, actual role performance

varies according to a person’s unique personality

– Some societies permit more individual expression than others

Role

• Role Set– A number of roles attached to a single status

• Differs by society• Might or might not be important to social

identity

Social Roles█ Social role: Set of expectations for

people who occupy a given status

█ Role conflict: When incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by same person

█ Role strain: Difficulties that arise when same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations

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Role Strain and Role Conflict

– Doubt– Search

for alternatives

– Action stage– Creation of a

new identity

Social Roles

█ Role exit: Process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s identity to establish a new role

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Social Networks

█ Social network: Series of social relationships that link a person directly to others, and indirectly links him or her to still more people

– Networking: Involvement in social network; valuable skill when job-hunting

– Can center on any activity

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Social Institutions

█ Social institution: Organized pattern of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs

█ Functionalist view

1. Replacing personnel

2. Teaching new recruits

3. Producing and distributing goods and services

4. Preserving order

5. Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose

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Social Institutions█ Conflict view

– Major institutions help maintain privileges of most powerful individuals and groups within society

– Social institutions have inherently conservative natures

– Social institutions operate in gendered and racist environments

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Social Institutions

█ Interactionist view

– Social institutions affect everyday behavior

– Social behavior conditioned by roles and statuses

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Virtual Worlds

█ With advances in technology, people can maintain social networks electronically

– FaceBook and MySpace first stage in creation of alternative forms of reality

– Virtual life can migrate into real life– Online socializations may not necessarily

reinforce people’s prejudices– Help preserve real-world networks

interrupted by war or other dislocations

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Social Institutions

• Sociological Significance

• Ten Social Institutions in Industrialized Societies

• Mass Media as an Emerging Social Institution

• Comparing Functionalist and Conflict Perspectives


Societies—and Their Transformation

• Hunting and Gathering Societies

• Pastoral and Horticultural Societies

• Agricultural Societies

• Industrial Societies

• Postindustrial (Information) Societies

• Biotech Societies: Is a New Type of Society Emerging?


Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach█ Human societies undergo process of

change characterized by dominant pattern known as sociocultural evolution

– Society’s level of technology is critical• Technology: “Cultural information

about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires” (Nolan and Lenski 2006:361)

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Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach█ Preindustrial Societies

– Hunting-and-gathering society: (Early humanity)People rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available

– Horticultural societies: (About 12,000 years ago)People plant seeds and crops

– Agrarian societies: (About 5,000 years ago)

People are primarily engaged in production of food

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Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach█ Industrial societies: (Beginning 1760)

– People depend on mechanization to produce goods and services

– People rely on inventions and energy sources

– People change function of family as a self-sufficient unit

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Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach█ Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies

– Postindustrial society: (Beginning 1960)– Economic system engaged primarily in

processing and controlling information

– Postmodern society: (Beginning late 1970)– Technologically sophisticated society

preoccupied with consumer goods and media images

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Social Institutions in Industrial and Postindustrial Societies


Consequences of Animal Domestication and Plant Cultivation

Changes in Social Order

• What Holds Society Together?– Mechanical and Organic Solidarity– Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

• It is continuously evolving as it responds to changing values

• How Relevant Today?


Microsociological Perspective: Social Interaction in Everyday Life

• Stereotypes in Everyday Life

• Personal Space

• Eye Contact

• Smiling

• Body Language

• Applied Body Language


Microsociological Perspective: Social Interaction in Everyday Life

• Stereotypes in Everyday Life

• Personal Space– Intimate Distance– Personal Distance– Social Distance– Public Distance


Dramaturgy: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

• Erving Goffman

• Stages

• Role Performance, Conflict, and Strain

• Teamwork

• Applying Impression Management


Ethnomethodology: Uncovering Background Assumptions

• The Study of How People Do Things

• Harold Garfinkle’s Experiments– Conducted exercises to reveal our

background assumptions– Most of these assumptions are unstated


Social Construction of Reality

• Definition of the Situation - Thomas Theorem

• Objective Reality vs. Subjective Interpretation

• Gynecological Examinations


Need for Macrosociology and Microsociology

• Understanding Incomplete Without Both

• Consider the Example of Groups Studied by William Chambliss

• Opportunities open or close to people depending on their social class– And how people learn different goals as they

grow up in different groups


Chapter 4 Social Structure and Social Interaction.

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Transcript of Chapter 4 Social Structure and Social Interaction.