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Chapter 4
Social Structure
Social Structure
• Social structure gives society its
enduring characteristics and makes
patterns of human interaction
predictable.
• Social structure: the network of
interrelated statuses and roles that
guide human interaction.
Status
• Status: A socially defined position in a
group or in a society.
• Each status has attached to it one or more
roles.
• Each individual in society occupies several
statuses.
• Statuses are ways of defining where
individuals fit in society and how they
relate to others in society
Ascribed Status
• Ascribed: Based on a person’s inherited
traits or are assigned automatically when a
person reaches a certain age.
• Teen or young adult due to age…You didn’t
earn it, not can you do anything about it.
• Ex. Sex, family heritage, race, etc. (write
down one example)
Achieved Status
• Achieved: Acquired through your own direct
efforts, special skills, knowledge, or abilities.
• Ex. the status of baseball player is achieved
because of physical ability and knowledge of the
game.
• People have some control over their achieved
status.
• All occupations are achieved statuses, as are
husband/wife, parent, high school or college
grad
Master Status
• Of all the statuses you have, one
tends to take rank over all others.
• Master Status: the status that plays
the biggest role in shaping a person’s
life and determining his or her social
identity.
• Can be ascribed or achieved.
Master Status
• An adult in the U.S. usually has an
achieved master status.
• Ex. Occupation, wealth, marital
status, parenthood, etc.
Master Status
• Master status can change throughout
your life.
• Teen- Student or athlete
• Adulthood- Occupation
• Late adulthood- Volunteer work,
hobbies, grandparenthood, past
accomplishments
Roles
• Statuses are social categories,
whereas roles are the component
that brings social structure to life.
• “You occupy a status, but you play a
role.” (Linton)
• At home you play the role of son or
daughter. At school you may play the
role of student.
Roles
• You may also perform roles that go along
with the status of athlete, cast of the play,
student mentor, etc.
Reciprocal Roles
• Reciprocal Roles: Corresponding roles that
define the patterns of social interaction
between related statuses.
• Ex. 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.
• Ex. doctor-patient, friend-friend,
employer-employee, sales clerk-customer
Role Expectations and Role Performance
• Ideally, when people interact with one
another their behavior corresponds to the
particular roles they are playing.
• Role Expectations: Socially determined
behaviors expected of a person
performing a role.
• What are some examples of role
expectations?
Role Expectations and Role Performance
• Role Performance: Actual role behavior.
• Unfortunately, role behavior does not
always match the behavior expected by
society.
• Problems can arise because role behaviors
considered appropriate by a certain
segment are seen as inappropriate by
society as a whole.
Role Conflict and Role Strain
• Even within a single status, there are many
interested roles to perform.
• Role Sets- The different roles attached to a single
status.
• Because we hold many different statuses, we
must deal with many role sets in our daily lives.
• Contradictions between our role sets can lead to
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.
Role Conflict
• Ex. To be a good employee an
individual needs to go to work.
However, to be a good parent,
that person needs to stay home
and take care of a sick child.
Role Conflict
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJbtd1pzie0&NR=1&safet
y_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WGNAwdkoGo&safety_
mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Role Strain
•Occurs when a person has
difficulty meeting the role
expectations of a single status.
Role Strain
•Ex. A boss trying to maintain
the morale of his workers
while asking them to work
long overtime hours.
Social Institutions
• Statuses and their related roles determine the
structure of various groups in society.
• Social Institutions- System of statuses, roles,
values, and norms that is organized to satisfy one
or more of the basic needs of society.
• Basic Needs: provide physical and emotional
support, transmit knowledge, produce goods
and services, maintain social control.
Exchange
• Exchange- Individual, group, or social
interaction undertaken in an effort to
receive a reward in return for actions.
• Almost all daily interaction involves
exchange.
• “Exchange is the most common form of
interaction.” (Blau)
• Dating, family life, friendship, politics all
involve exchange.
Exchange
• Reciprocity- The idea that if you do
something for someone, that person
owes you something in return.
• Reciprocity is the basis of exchange.
• Rewards for reciprocity can be
material and nonmaterial.
Exchange Theory
• Exchange Theory- Believes that people are
motivated by self-interest in their interactions
with other people.
• Behavior that is rewarded tends to be
repeated.
• When costs of an interaction outweigh
rewards; individuals are likely to end a
relationship.
• (Exchange Theory= Maximize Rewards,
Minimize Costs)
Assignment
•Page 68 Section 1 Review #2-3
•Page 70 think About It #1-2
•Try to write 2 to 3 sentences
for each question
Competition
• Occurs when 2 or more people or groups
oppose each other to achieve a goal that
only one can attain.
• Competition is about achieving the goal.
• Cornerstone of the capitalist economic
system and the democratic form of
government
Competition
• Viewed as positive as long as it follows
accepted rules of conduct.
• Competition can lead to psychological
stress, a lack of cooperation in social
relationships, inequality and even conflict.
Conflict
• The deliberate attempt to control a person
by force, to oppose someone, or to harm
another person.
• Conflict is about defeating the enemy.
• Conflict has few rules of conduct, and even
these are often ignored.
4 Sources of Conflict
• War
• Disagreements
• Legal Disputes
• Clashes over ideology (religious or political)
• Conflicts sometimes begin as competition
(businesses, politics)
• Conflict can be positive by reinforcing group
boundaries and strengthening group loyalty by
focusing on an outside threat.
Cooperation
• Cooperation: Occurs when 2 or more
people or groups work together to achieve
a goal that will benefit more than one
person.
• A social process that gets things done.
• Competition can be used along with
cooperation to motivate group members
to work harder.
Accommodation
• Accommodation is the state of
balance between cooperation and
conflict.
• Ex. Staying at a hotel…
Accommodation
• 4 Types of Accommodation:
• Compromise: Give up something to come
to a mutual agreement.
• Truce: Brings conflict to a halt until a
compromise can be reached.
Accommodation
• Mediation: A form of accommodation
involving a 3rd party who acts as an advisor
or counselor to help the 2 parties reach an
agreement.
• Arbitration: When a 3rd party makes
decision that is binding on both parties.
• Ex. child support or MLB
Group
• Group: A set of people who interact
on the basis of shared expectations
and possess some degree of common
identity.
• Societies are the largest and most
complex groups that sociologists
study.
Groups
• Sociologists classify societies according to
subsistence strategies; the way a society
uses technology to provide for the needs
of its members.
• 3 Categories of Subsistence Strategies:
• Preindustrial
• Industrial
• Post Industrial
Preindustrial
• Types of Preindustrial societies
• Hunting and Gathering
• Pastoral societies
• Horticultural societies
• Agricultural societies
What is a Group?
• In sociological terms, a group has four
major features.
• It must consist of two or more people.
• There must be interaction between group
members.
• The members of the group must have shared
expectations.
• The members must possess some sense of
common identity.
What is a Group?
• The last three features- interaction, shared
expectations, and a common identitydistinguish a group from an aggregate or
social category.
• An aggregate is a group of people gathering
in the same place at the same time but they
lack organization or lasting patterns of
interaction.
• Ex. People on an airplane, people standing in
a ticket line at a movie.
What is a Group?
• In the case of social categories it is not
necessary for people to interact in any
way.
• A social category is simply a means of
classifying people according to a shared
trait or a common status.
• Ex. Students, women, teenagers, lefthanded people
Organization of Groups
• Organization of groups can be formal or
informal.
• In a formal group, the structure, goals, and
activities of the group are clearly defined.
• Ex. Student government
• In an informal group there is no official
structure or established rules of conduct.
• Ex. Your group of friends
Reference Groups
• People usually perform their social roles and
judge their own behaviors according to
standards set by a particular group.
• They do not have to belong to this group, but
when people identify with the group’s standards
and attitudes, the group influences their
behavior.
• Any group with whom individuals identify and
whose attitudes and values they adopt is called a
reference group.