Download Ch. 4 S. 1

Sociology Ch. 4 S. 1: Building
Blocks of Social Structure
Obj: Identify and describe the two
major components of social
structure; analyze how these two
components of social structure
affect human interaction.
Social structure gives a society its enduring
characteristics and makes patterns of human
interaction predictable. Sociologists have viewed
society as a system of interrelated parts-as a
structure-since the time of Auguste Comte.
However, social structure as a concept has often
been very loosely defined. Throughout this
textbook, the term social structure will mean the
network of interrelated statuses and roles that
guide human interaction. A status is a socially
defined position in a group or in a society. Each
status has attached to it one or more roles. A
role is the behavior-the rights and obligationsexpected of someone occupying a particular
status.
Status
To understand social structure,
one must be familiar with the
concept of status. Each
individual in society occupies
several statuses. For
example, an individual can
be a teacher, a father, a
husband, an African
American, and a church
deacon all at the same time.
Statuses are ways of
defining where individuals fit
in society and how they
relate to others in society
Ascribed and Achieved Statuses
While some statuses are assigned, others are
gained through effort. An ascribed status is
assigned according to qualities beyond a
person's control. Ascribed statuses are not
based on an individual's abilities, efforts, or
accomplishments. Rather, they are based on a
person's inherited traits or are assigned
automatically when a person reaches a certain
age. You hold the status of teenager or young
adult, for example, because of your age. You did
nothing to earn this status. Neither can you
change it. Other examples of ascribed statuses
include your sex, family heritage, and race.
Individuals acquire an achieved status through their
own direct efforts. These efforts include special
skills, knowledge, or abilities. For example, a
person achieves the status of basketball player
because of his or her physical skills and
knowledge of the game. Similarly, someone
achieves the status of actor because of his or her
acting abilities.
Unlike their ascribed statuses, people have some
control over their achieved statuses. In a complex
society such as the United States, the list of
achieved statuses is almost endless. For example,
all occupations are achieved statuses. Other
achieved statuses include husband or wife, parent,
high school or college graduate, and athlete.
Master Status
All individuals hold many
statuses. For most people, one
status tends to take rank
above all others. This status
plays the greatest role in
shaping a person's life and
determining his or her social
identity and is called a master
status. A master status can be
either achieved or ascribed. In
the United States, an adult's
master status is usually
achieved. For example,
occupation, wealth, marital
status, or parenthood can
serve as a master status.
A person’s master status changes over the
course of his or her life. During the
teenage years, being a student or athlete
often serves as a master status. During
much of adulthood, on the other hand,
master status is often based on one's
occupation. Finally, in late adulthoodgenerally after a person retires from his or
her primary occupation-volunteer work,
hobbies, grandparenthood, or past
accomplishments serve as a person's
master status.
Roles
Statuses serve simply as social categories. Roles
are the component of social structure that brings
statuses to life. As Ralph Linton noted, you
occupy a status, but you play a role. You play
many different roles every day. At home you
probably play the role associated with the status
of son or daughter. At school you play the role
associated with the status of student. You may
also perform the roles that go along with the
status of a reporter on the school newspaper or
of a member of the gymnastics team.
Most of the roles you perform have
reciprocal roles. Reciprocal roles are
corresponding roles that define the
patterns of interaction between related
statuses. For example, one cannot fulfill
the role associated with the status of
husband without having someone else
perform the role that goes along with the
status of wife. Other statuses that require
reciprocal roles include doctor-patient,
athlete-coach, friend-friend, employeeemployer, leader-follower, and sales clerkcustomer.
Role Expectations and Role
Performance
Ideally, when people interact with one another their
behavior corresponds to the particular roles they
are playing. The socially determined behaviors
expected of a person performing a role are
called role expectations. For example, doctors
are expected to treat their patients with skill and
care. Parents are expected to provide emotional
and physical security for their children. Police
officers are expected to uphold the law.
In reality, people’s role performance - their actual
role behavior-does not always match the
behavior expected by society. Some doctors do
not give their patients the best possible care.
Some parents mistreat their children.
Occasionally, this problem arises because role
behaviors considered appropriate by a certain
segment of society are seen as inappropriate by
society as a whole. Even when someone tries to
fulfill a role in the manner expected by society,
actual performance may fall short of
expectations. This problem occurs, in part,
because each of us is asked to perform many
roles, some of which are contradictory.
Role Conflict and Role Strain
Even within a single status, there are many
interrelated roles to perform. Sociologists
call the different roles attached to a single
status a role set. Each of us, because we
hold more than one status, must deal with
many role sets in our daily lives. The often
contradictory expectations within and
between our role sets can lead to role
conflict and role strain.
Role conflict occurs when fulfilling the role
expectations of one status makes it difficult to
fulfill the role expectations of another status. In
other words, role conflict occurs between
statuses. For example, to be a good employee
an individual needs to go to work. However, to
be a good parent, that individual needs to stay
home and take care of a sick child. Role strain,
on the other hand, occurs when a person has
difficulty meeting the role expectations of a
single status. The boss who must maintain the
morale of workers while getting them to work
long periods of overtime is likely to experience
role strain.
Social Institutions
Statuses and their related roles determine the
structure of the various groups in society. When
these statuses and roles are organized to satisfy
one or more of the basic needs of society, the
group is called a social institution. The basic
needs of a society include providing physical
and emotional support for its members,
transmitting knowledge, producing goods and
services, and maintaining social control.
Although sociologists have recognized many
significant social institutions, some
scholars have focused on the major
institutions of family, the economy, politics,
education, and religion. Sociologists have
also studied the social institutions of the
media, medicine, and science. You will
take a closer look at these social
institutions in later chapters.