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Social Structure
Unit 3
Sociology 35G
Social Structure and Status
Social Structure
 The underlying patterns of relationships in a group
Status
 A position a person occupies within a social
structure
Ascribed Status
 A position that is neither earned nor chosen but
assigned
Achieved Status
 A position that is earned or chosen
Social Structure and Status
Status Set
 All of the statuses that a person occupies at any
particular time
Master Status
 A position that strongly affects most other aspects of
a person’s life
My Status Set




Write down all the statuses that you occupy
at this point in your life.
Beside each status, write down which ones
are ascribed and which ones are achieved
Now decide which one or ones are your
master statuses…these can be achieved or
ascribed
Explain why these are your master statuses!
Which type of Status?
Status?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Wife, mother, author,
author, church
church choir
choir director
director
Electrician, spouse
The presidency of the United States, professional
athlete
Gender, race
Daughter, son
Quarterback, coach fan, trainer
Ascribed status
Achieved status
Master status
Status set
Philip Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment
Role Playing
Social Psychologist Philip
Zimbardo designed an
experiment to observe the
behaviour of people in a
mock prison.
Philip Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment
This is one of the most
famous and controversial
studies ever conducted in
the field of social science.
Philip Zimbardo’s study is a
classic example of the
power of the situation and
how easily an individual can
slip into a role and have it
become real.
Zimbardo Prison Experiment
Exit Slip

Write a reflection (your thoughts, wonderings)
about the Zimbardo Experiment.

Give an example in your life, either recently
or when you were a child, when you were put
in a role where you acted in a way that you
would not normally act.
Social Structure and Roles
Role
 An expected behaviour associated with a particular
status
Right
 A behaviour that individuals can expect from others
Obligation
 A behaviour that individuals are expected to perform
toward others
Role Performance
 The actual behaviour of an individual in a role
Social Structure and Roles
Role Conflict
 Condition in which the performance of a role
in one status interferes with the performance
of a role in another status
Role Strain
 Condition in which the roles of a single status
are inconsistent or conflicting
Role Conflict or Role Strain?

Mr. Jones is a member of a high school
board and his daughter is in Grade 11 at the
same school. The board recently considered
a proposal to drastically cut spending in the
art department. Mr Jones’ daughter is an
aspiring artist with dreams of opening her
own studio someday. Mr. Jones’ vote could
be crucial. What should Mr. Jones do?
Role Strain and Role Conflict Activity
In your group act out a scenario of role strain
or role conflict.
Examples:
 Role strain at school
 Role conflict at school
 Role strain within the family
 Role conflict within the family
 Role strain in social life
 Role conflict in social life
Exit Slip:
Role Strain or Role Conflict

Think of a time when you encountered either
role strain or role conflict. Explain what
happened and how you felt.
Groups
Groups are classified by how they develop and function.
Social Category
People who share a social characteristic
Social Aggregate
People temporarily in the same place at the same
time.
Primary Group
People who are:
1.
2.
3.
emotionally close,
know one another well,
and seek one another’s company.
Secondary Group
People who share only part of their lives
while focusing on a goal or task.
Primary or Secondary Relationships?
1.
2.
3.
4.
A married couple
A coach and her soccer team
A teacher and her students
A car salesperson and her potential customer
Primary Relationships involve interactions that are
intimate, personal, caring and fulfilling.
Secondary relationships involve impersonal
interactions involving limited parts of personalities
Activity
Identify a primary group and a secondary group
to which you belong.
Describe three functions of each of these
groups based on your personal experiences
The Lifeboat Game
A passenger liner is wrecked at sea and these
15 people find themselves together in a
lifeboat. The lifeboat however, can only
support 9 people. If six are not eliminated
everyone will die. If you were in command of
the lifeboat, whom would you choose to
survive?
The Lifeboat Game
In your assigned secondary groups, you
are required to reach a joint decision to which
passengers will be eliminated.
Exit Slip #6 Lifeboat Activity
Was this a difficult task for you to do in your secondary
group? Explain why.
If you had done this activity on your own would your
answers have been different? Explain why.
If you had done this activity with one of your primary
groups, would your answers have been different?
Explain why.
Social Interaction
Cooperation
Interaction in which individuals or groups combine
their efforts to reach a goal
Conflict
Interaction aimed at defeating an opponent
Ingroups and Outgroups
The social definition of who you are also implies who
you are not
Two kinds of groups that provide us with standards
against which we evaluate ourselves. People tend
to perceive certain groups as more attractive to
belong to than others.
Social Interaction
Social Exchange
A voluntary action performed in the expectation of getting a reward in
return
Coercion
Interaction in which individuals or groups are forced to behave in a
particular way. The opposite of social exchange. Coercion is a one
way street. (e.g. Parents coerce children with a curfew, guards coerce
prisoners with force and governments coerce drivers with fines.)
Conformity
Behaviour that matches group expectations. Without conformity there
would be no culture or social structure.
Social Interaction
Group Think
Self-deceptive thinking that is based on conformity
to group beliefs, and created by group pressure to
conform
Group Think
Many decisions are likely to be the product of
groupthink.
For example:
During the administration of President John F.
Kennedy in the early 1960s, for example, the
president and his advisers decided to launch an
invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion
failed. Analysis revealed that during the decision
process, because of group pressure, several top
advisers failed to admit that they thought the plan
would probably not succeed.
Solomon Asch’s Experiment


In 1951 social psychologist
Solomon Asch devised an
experiment to examine the
extent to which pressure
from other people could
affect one's perceptions.
In total, about one third of
the subjects who were
placed in this situation went
along with majority’s wrong
opinion.
Conditions that Strengthen Conformity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The person feels insecure.
The group has at least 3 people.
The group is unanimous.
The person admires the groups’ status.
Others in the group are observing the
person’s behaviour.
Exit Slip #7
Conformity


Think of a time when you conformed to a
group that went against what you would
normally do or think.
Explain the situation and why you think you
conformed to the people in this group
Stanley Milgram’s Experiment
Stanley Milgram, a
psychologist at Yale
University, conducted a
social psychology
experiment that focused
on the conflict between
obedience to authority
and personal conscience
Milgram came up with a famous and controversial experiment to
examine what happens when ordinary people are faced with morally
questionable orders. What he learned shocked not only him but the
entire world.
He tested whether people would shock a person simply
because an authority figure told them to do it.
In the experiment, conducted at Yale University over a period of
months in 1961, an authority figure -- "the experimenter" -- dressed
in a white lab coat and instructed participants to administer what
they believed were increasingly painful electric shocks to another
person.
Two-thirds of Milgram's participants delivered shocks as they
heard cries of pain, signs of heart trouble.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2769000
Stanley Milgram’s Experiment
Conditions that Strengthen Obedience
1.
The person giving the orders is perceived
as an authority figure is close at hand.
2.
The victim is depersonalized or at a
distance from the person obeying
3.
There were no role models for defiance (no
one else is disobeying)
Video: Group Influence


What surprised you about the video
What are some of the things you learned
about group influence
5 Types of Group Social Interaction
Read pages 181-185
Write a definition for each term and then give a personal
example of the 5 types of social interaction:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Cooperation
Conflict
Social Exchange
Coercion
Conformity
Cooperation, Conflict, Social Exchange,
Coercion or Conformity
Blood donors expect payment. Social exchange
2. Students read what a teacher assigns.conformity
3. Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. conflict
4. Flood victims help each other. cooperation
5. Employees are forced to work overtime or
be fired coercion
Why is conformity essential for the
development of social structures?
1.
Social Psychologists:
Philip Zimbardo – Role Playing
Prison Experiment
Solomon Asch – Conformity
Line Experiment
Stanley Milgram – Obedience
Shocking Experiment
Leadership in Groups
A leader is someone who is consistently able to
influence the behaviour of others.
Instrumental leadership
organizes a group by defining goals and
determines ways to achieve them
Expressive leadership
creates harmony and keeps morale high
usually well liked by group members
Leadership Styles
Authoritarian
 Give orders
 Effective in emergencies
Democratic
 Attempt to win consensus on goals and courses of
action
 Concern for individual rights in the group
Laissez-faire
 Make little attempt to direct or organize the group
 Group functions mostly on its own
Cliques
Clique – an exclusive group that includes a
small number of chosen members
Why do people belong to cliques?
Through cliques, people find others who
share their values, ideas and activities.
Cliques provide a way to form close
friendships.
Activities:
1. Reading 6 “The Curse of Cliques” and
2. Primary group analysis:cliques Alternative assessments pg 30
Cliques Exit Slip #8
What clique do you feel you belong to at
Vincent Massey? Describe your clique
(norms, behaviours, activities, appearance)
How does this clique make you feel?
How did you feel about the group activity we
did? Why? Were you offended by any
comments?
Castlegate: Group Brain Teaser
How effective was your group in this activity?
Was there a lot of discussion in your group?
If not, why?
Did someone act as a leader in your group?
Was this helpful or not?
Do you usually act as a leader in group activities? Are
you comfortable acting in a leadership role? Why or
why not.
Individual Activity “Groups”
Consider your own family. Analyze how you
are a part of that social group. Ask yourself the
following and write down the answers.
Hand in your answers when finished…today!
1. What am I expected to do and be in that group?
2. What is my position or status in that group?
3. In what ways am I an important part of the
group?
4. What happens when a family member does
something the rest of the group doesn’t like?
Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies
Formal Organization – a group deliberately
created to achieve one or more long term
goals
Bureaucracy – a formal organization based on
rationality and efficiency
Unit 3 Test
Social Structure
Status
Ascribed Status
Achieved Status
Status Set
Master Status
Role
Right
Obligation
Role Performance
Role Conflict
Role Strain
Social Structure
Social Aggregate
Social Category
Primary Group
Secondary Group
Ingroups and Outgroups
5 Types of Social Interaction:
Cooperation
Conflict
Social Exchange
Coercion
Conformity
Group Think
Cliques
Types of Leadership
Leadership styles
Long Answer Questions:
The Social Psychologists and their experiments:
Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo and Solomon Asch