Social Interaction, Social Structure, and Groups

Chapter 5

Social Interaction and Reality

• Reality shaped by perceptions, evaluations, and definitions– Varies across cultures– Ability to define social reality

reflects group’s power – Social change involves redefining or reconstructing

social reality

Social Interaction

• The process by which people act and react in relation to others

• Social construction of reality – the process by which people shape reality through social interaction

• Thomas Theorem – Situations defined as real become real in their consequences

Status

• Status – a social position – Status set – consists of all the statuses a person

holds at a given time– Ascribed status – a social position given to a

person by society– Achieved status – a social position that someone

assumes voluntarily and that reflects ability and effort

Status

– Master status – a status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person’s entire life.

Figure 5-1: Social Statuses

Roles

• Behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status

• Role conflict - conflict among roles corresponding to two or more different statuses

• Role strain – incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status

Understanding Social structure

• Durkheim • Tonnies• Lenski

Durkheim’s Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

• Division of Labor ([1893] 1933)– Mechanical solidarity: Collective consciousness

that emphasizes group solidarity, implying all individuals perform the same tasks

– Organic solidarity: Collective consciousness resting on the need society’s members have for one another

Tönnies Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

• Gemeinschaft (guh-MINE-shoft): Small community in which people have similar backgrounds and life experiences

• Gesellschaft (guh-ZELL-shoft): Large community in which people are strangers and feel little in common with other community residents

Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach

• Human societies undergo process of change characterized by dominant pattern known as sociocultural evolution– Level of technology 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)

Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach

• Preindustrial Societies– Hunting-and-gathering society:

People rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available

– Horticultural societies: People plant seeds and crops

– Agrarian societies: People are primarily engaged in production of food

Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach

• Industrial societies: societies that depend on mechanization to produce its goods and services– 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

Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach

• Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies– Postindustrial society:

Economic system engaged primarily in processing and controlling information

– Postmodern society: Technologically sophisticated society preoccupied with consumer goods and media images

Groups

• Group: any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact on a regular basis– Primary group: small group with intimate,

face-to-face association and cooperation– Secondary group: formal,

impersonal groups with little social intimacy or mutual understanding

Table 18-1: Comparisons of Primary and Secondary Groups

Groups

• In-groups and Out-Groups– In-groups: any groups or categories to which

people feel they belong– Out-groups: any groups or categories to which

people feel they do not belong• Conflict between in-groups and out-groups can turn

violent on a personal as well as political level

Groups

– Reference group: any group thatindividuals use as standard for evaluating their own behavior

Formal Organizations

• Large, secondary groups that are organized to achieve goals efficiently

Types of formal Organizations

• Utilitarian - primary motive is income

• Normative – not for income but to pursue some worthwhile goal

• Coercive- involuntary

Bureaucracy

• a form of organization based on explicit rules, with a clear, impersonal, and hierarchical authority structure

Characteristics of Bureaucracy

• Complex division of labor (specialization)• Hierarchy of authority• Explicit rules• Rewards on the basis of performance• Extensive written records

Corporation

• A group that, through the legal process of incorporation, has been given the status of a separate and real social entity– Limited liability

Group Think

• Intense social pressure within a group for individuals to conform to group norms and abandon individual and critical thinking

• People will compromise judgment to avoid being difficult– Solomon Asch’s experiment

Types of Leadership

• Instrumental Leadership – group leadership that emphasizes the completion of tasks

• Expressive Leadership – group leadership that focuses on collective well-being

Organizational Culture

• Classical theory (scientific management) workers are motivated almost entirely by economic rewards

• Human relations approach – emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation within a bureaucracy