Introduction to Sociology SOC-101

Unit 5 – Social Structure and Social Interaction

Levels of Sociological Analysis Macrosociology

This is the analysis of social life that focuses on the broad features of society This includes social class and how groups related to one

another Used by conflict theorists and functionalists Goal is to examine the large-scale social forces that

influence people Microsociology

This is the analysis of social life that focuses on social interaction What people do when they come together Used by symbolic interactionists

Both analyses need to be used to get a full perspective of what is being studied

Macrosociological Perspective In order to understand human behavior, we

must examine the social structure Social Structure

This is the framework that surrounds us Consists of the relationships of people and groups

to one another It guides our behavior People learn certain attitudes and behaviors

because of their location in the social structure

Components of Social Structure The components of social structure include:

Culture Social Class Social Status Roles Groups Social Institutions

Components of Social Structure Culture

This refers to a group’s language, beliefs, values, behaviors, gestures and material objects

This is the broadest framework that determines who we become

Social Class A group of people who rank close to each other in

income, education, and power This influences not only our behaviors but

attitudes and ideas

Components of Social Structure Status

A recognized social position that an individual occupies

Different from “prestige,” where someone who holds a high position has high status

We hold multiple statuses at once Each status adds to our social identity, defines our

relationships to one another, and guides our behavior

Components of Social Structure Status Set

All the statuses a person holds at a particular time For example, at one time a person can be a sister,

daughter, student, and friend Status sets can change over the course of one’s

life We gain and lose many statuses over the course

of our lifetimes

Components of Social Structure Ascribed Status

This is a social position that a person receives at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life

Race, ethnicity, gender, daughter, teenager Achieved Status

This is a social position that a person assumes voluntarily and reflects personal ability and choice

Honors student, spouse, parent, teacher

Components of Social Structure Master Status

This is a position that carries exceptional importance for identity and often shapes a person’s entire life

Cuts across all other statuses you hold For most people occupation is a master status

because it says a lot about your social background, education, and income

Master status can be a negative if it is tied in with a disease, disability, or even gender in some societies

Components of Social Structure Status Inconsistency

When a person’s statuses are mismatched or contradict one another

10-year-old college student or 25-year-old with Alzheimer's

Status Symbol Item used to identify a status Wedding rings, uniforms, luxury car Can also be negative like the “scarlet letter” in

Hawthorne’s book

Components of Social Structure Role

The behaviors, obligations and privileges expected of someone who holds a particular status

Individuals hold a status and perform a role Roles lay out what is expected of people

Group People who regularly interact with one another They usually share similar values, norms, and

expectations To belong to a group we have to yield the right to

make certain decisions about our behavior to others in the group

Social Institutions Social Institution

The organized, usual, or stand ways by which society meets its basic needs

Examples include family, education, law, military, and mass media

In industrialized societies, the social institutions are more formal, while in tribal societies they are more informal

Society and Its Transformations Society

A group of people who share a culture and a territory In order to understand society, we need to

examine its transformation over time Hunting and Gathering Society

A group that depends on hunting and gathering for its survival

Consisted of small, nomadic groups that moved as they depleted an area’s vegetation or pursued migratory animals

Had an egalitarian society since no one owned anything and no one became wealthier than anybody else

There were no rulers as the group as a whole made decisions

Pastoral and Horticultural Societies Pastoralism

This is the domestication of animals Horticulture

This is the cultivation of plants using hand tools First Social Revolution

With a dependable source of food, labor became specialized and with that people were able to accumulate material possessions

Creation of an elite, ruling class

Agricultural Societies Agricultural Societies

Agriculture Large-scale cultivation using plows harnessed to

animals or more powerful energy sources Growth of permanent settlements with populations

growing into the millions Members of this society become even more

specialized and money is invented as a form of common exchange

Agricultural Societies Second Social Revolution

Social inequality became a fundamental feature of social life

Most people worked as serfs or slaves The elites were free to study philosophy, art, and

literature The elites also created armies to hold their power Men began to gain pronounced power and

privilege over women

Industrial Societies Industrial Societies

Industry The production of goods using advanced sources of

energy (like steam) to drive large machinery

Before 1765, most had depended upon human or animal to provide power

With the development of the steam engine, production became much more efficient

Industrial Societies Third Social Revolution

Industrialization brought even greater surplus and even greater social inequality

Those who first used the new technology created massive amounts of wealth

People moved off their farms into the cities to work in factories

Over time, the social equalities diminished as workers gained rights, slavery was abolished, and there was the creation of a more representative form of government

Postindustrial (Information) Societies Postindustrial Society

It is based on information, services, and the latest technology rather than on raw materials and manufacturing

Basic component is information Fourth Social Revolution

Based on the microchip, the information revolution is transforming society

Social Integration Social Integration

This is the degree to which members of a society are united by shared values and other social bonds

With the way society has evolved and its many conflicting groups, how does society still hold itself together?

Sociologists have found that as societies change, so do people’s orientations to life

Mechanical/Organic Solidarity Emile Durkheim (1893)

Believed that as society changes, the relationships amongst its members also change

Mechanical Solidarity People have much in common through similar

work, education, religion, and lifestyle This was found in more traditional and small scale

societies

Mechanical/Organic Solidarity As societies get larger, labor becomes more

specialized People become more dependent on one another

for the work they contribute to the whole Organic Solidarity

The interdependence that results from the division of labor where people depend on others to fulfill their jobs

This is found in more modern and industrial societies

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Ferdinand Tönnies also analyzed the evolution

of two types of human association in 1887 Gemeinschaft (“Intimate Community”)

A type of society in which life is intimate, and where everyone in the community knows everyone else

Found in traditional and small scale societies An example of this is Amish society

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Over time, society changed and the

relationships among people became more impersonal

Gesellschaft (“Impersonal Association”) A type of society that is dominated by impersonal

relationships, individual accomplishments, and self-interest

This is more modern day, industrial society

Microsociological Perspective While macrosociologists look at the overall

features of society, microsociologists looks that the interpersonal, face-to-face interactions

Stereotypes Assumptions of what people are like, whether true

or false First impressions of a person can be shaped and

affected by their sex, race, ethnicity, age and clothing

This can also affect how you act towards that person

Personal Space Personal Space

This refers to the surrounding area over which a person makes some claim to privacy

The definition of personal space varies from culture to culture In the U.S., most people prefer to stand several feet

apart when talking In the Middle East, they stand much closer

Edward Hall (1969) An anthropologist who observed that North

Americans use four different “distance zones” when it comes to personal space

Personal Space Four levels of personal space

Intimate Distance – (> 18 inches from our bodies) Reserved for comforting, protecting, hugging, intimate

touching, and lovemaking. Personal Distance – (18 inches to 4 feet)

Reserved for friends and acquaintances and ordinary conversations

Social Distance – (4 to 12 feet) For impersonal or formal relationships For example, we use this zone for such things as job

interviews Public Distance – (<12 feet)

Reserved for more formal relationships For example, it is used to separate dignitaries and

public speakers from the general public

Dramaturgy Dramaturgy – Erving Goffman (1922-1982)

Analyzed social life in terms of drama or the stage Socialization consists of learning how to perform on the

stage of life Performances

Everyday life includes things like dress (costume), objects carried along (props), and tone of voice and gestures (manner)

Impression Management People’s efforts to control the impressions that others

receive of them Front Stage – This is where we give “our lines” to an

audience Back Stage – “Behind the scenes” where there is no

audience This is where we can relax and let “our hair down”

Dramaturgy Roles play a vital aspect in dramaturgy

Role Performance The ways in which someone performs a role within the

limits that role provides Being the “ideal” daughter, or the “good” worker

Role Conflict The conflict someone feels between roles because the

expectations attached to one role are incompatible with the expectation of another role

Do you study, go to your friend’s party, or help your parents out with chores?

Role Strain Conflicts that someone feels within a role A friendly boss still needs to keep his distance to

evaluate his workers properly

Dramaturgy Team Work

The collaboration of two or more people to manage impressions jointly.

Face-Saving Behavior Techniques used to salvage a performance going

sour Tact

Helping someone save face; when members of the “audience” help a performer recover from an embarrassment

Role Strain and Role Conflict

Ethnomethodology Ethnomethodology – Harold Garfinkel (1967)

This is the study of the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings using commonsense

Background Assumptions These are deeply embedded common understandings

of how the world operates and how people are supposed to act

In order to discover our background assumptions we must break the rules This is the only way to see how people construct their

reality Examples include bargaining for items in a

supermarket, the teacher playing the student for a class, talk to people an inch away from their face

By breaking the rules, people will become agitated, surprised, and possibly angry

Social Construction of Reality Social Construction of Reality

The use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real

Thomas Theorem – William and Dorothy Thomas (1928) “If men define situations as real, they are real in

their consequences” We behave according to the way we perceive the

world It is not the reality of something that impresses

itself on us, but society impresses the reality of something on us

“Saints” and “Roughnecks” In 1978, William Chambliss published his

study on the “Saints” and the “Roughnecks” Examined two different delinquent groups in a

town’s high school The “Saints” were boys from “good” middle-class

families and were expected to “go somewhere” The “Roughnecks” were boys from lower-class

families and perceived to have “no futures”

“Saints” and “Roughnecks” The boys in both these groups skipped school, got

drunk, did a lot of fighting, and committed numerous acts of vandalism The Saints actually were more delinquent since they

skipped school more often and committed more acts of vandalism

After high school, seven of the eight Saints graduated college and went on to well paying jobs Three of them received advanced degrees

With the Roughnecks, only four finished high school Two did well in sports, went to college on scholarships,

and became high school coaches Two who did not graduate wound up in prison for

separate murders

“Saints” and “Roughnecks” Using macrosociology, we can see:

How social class can either open or close doors for us How people learn different goals in different groups

Using microsociology, we can see: How the Saints used their reputation to their

advantage and how it negatively affected the Roughnecks

How the Saints used the fact that they had cars and were able to use them to commit crimes in other communities (thus keeping their “good” reputation in their own community

How the Roughnecks, by not having cars, were focused in a small area and visible to their own community

Macro- and Micro-Sociology We need to study both macro- and micro-

sociology to get a complete understanding of social life as they both give us different aspects