4. Social Structure

1. 4. Social Structure

2. Build on what you know • How might factors such as the mass media and popular entertainment influence American norms and values? • What factors might help determine how a person functions in society?

3. Truth or fiction? • An individual’s statuses and roles are limited and unchanging. • Sociologists have little interest in groups and group activities. • Informal interaction has little effect on the functioning of formal organizations.

4. Truth or fiction? • An individual’s statuses and roles are limited and unchanging. • True: Individuals cannot affect the statuses and roles into which they are born. • False: Individuals will take on many different statuses and roles throughout the course of their lives.

5. Truth or fiction? 2. Sociologists have little interest in groups and group activities. • True: Individuals sociologists are interested in individuals rather than groups. • Sociologists closely study group dynamics and their functions in society.

6. Truth or fiction? 3. Informal interaction has little effect on the functioning of formal organizations. • True: there are few or no informal interactions in formal organizations. • False: Although formal organizations are dominated by formal interactions, informal interactions have a strong influence on these organizations as well.

7. Social structure • Social structure – • The network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction • Two major components of social structure: • Status • Role

8. status • Status – • socially defined position in a group or in a society • Ex: mother, wife, teacher, student, daughter, sister, friend, Christian (all at the same time) • Make a list of your statuses (minimum 5).

9. status • Ascribed status – • Status assigned according to qualities beyond a person’s control • Ex: teenager or adult (because of your age – didn’t earn it, can’t change it) • Achieved status – • Status acquired by an individual on the basis of some special skill, knowledge, or ability • Ex: occupations, marital status, education level (have some control over) • Master status – • For most people, one status tends to take rank above all others • Ex: student as teenager, occupation as adult – can change over course of life)

10. role • Role – • The behavior – the rights and obligations – expected of someone occupying a particular status • “you occupy a status, but you play a role” – Ralph Linton • Reciprocal roles – • Corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses • Ex: husband and wife

11. role • Role expectations – • Socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role • Ex: doctors are expected to treat their patients with skill and care • Role performance – • Actual behavior of a person performing a role • Ex: some doctors do not give their patients the best possible care

12. role • Role set – • Different roles attached to a single status • Ex: mother – nurturing role, discipline role • Role conflict – • Occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status • Ex: to be a good employee an individual needs to go to work, but to be a good parent that individual needs to stay home and take care of a sick child • Role strain – • When a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status • Ex: boss who must maintain the morale of workers while getting them to work long periods of overtime

14. Social institutions • When statuses and roles are organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society: • Ex: family, the economy, politics, education, religion, the media, medicine, science, etc.

15. Types of social interaction • What types of interactions do you have with others on a daily basis? • What motivates you to engage in these interactions? • 5 types of interaction take place in societies throughout the world: - Exchange – competition - accommodation - Conflict - cooperation

16. Exchange: • Exchange: • Individual, group, or societal interaction undertaken in an effort to receive a reward in return for actions. • Very basic type of interaction • EX: Dating, family life, friendship

17. exchange • Reciprocity – the idea that if you do something for someone, that person owes you something in return • Exchange theory – theory that holds that people are motivated by self-interests in their interactions with other people • Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated

18. competition • 2+ people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain

19. Conflict • Deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person • 4 sources: • Wars • Disagreements within groups • Legal disputes • Clashes over ideology

20. cooperation • 2+ people or groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than one person • No group can complete its tasks or achieve its goals without cooperation from its members • Ex: basketball team, employees of a corporation work together to increase sales for the organization

21. Accommodation: • Accommodation: • A state of balance between cooperation and conflict. • EX: compromise; truce

22. accommodation • State of balance between cooperation and conflict • Example: • Think about staying at a motel – the owner of the motel is accommodating you by letting you stay for the night in exchange for $60 – if the owner were cooperating with you, you would be able to stay for free – if the owner refused to let you stay under any condition, you would be in a conflict situation

23. Types of Social Interactions

24. Types of interactions • Review the types of interactions on P. 69 – 72 in the textbook. • With a partner, identify at least one example of each type of interaction that you have had in your relationship(s) with friend(s).

25. Contrasting societies • Durkheim: • Preindustrial societies are held together by mechanical solidarity – when people share the same values and perform the same tasks, they become united in a common whole • As society becomes more industrialized, mechanical solidarity gives way to organic solidarity – impersonal social relationships that arise with increased job specialization, in which individuals can no longer provide for all of their own needs. • Many societal relationships based on need rather than on values

26. Ferdinand tonnies • Gemeinschaft - societies in which most members know one another • Gesellschaft – most social relationships are based on need rather than on emotion

27. Groups within society • Make a list of all the types of groups in which you belong. • Ex: family, friends, sports teams, clubs, e-communities

28. What is a Group??? 4 main features: • Two or more people. • Interaction • Shared expectations • Common identity

29. Differences in Groups: • Size • Time • Organization

30. Differences in Groups: • Size: • Dyad • Decision making: difficult • Triad • Decision making: easier • Small group: • Sociologists say 15is largest group where people will work well together.

31. Time: • Regardless of type of group, interaction is NOT continuous. • (NOT 24 hours a day)

32. 3. Organization: formal groups – informal groups -

34. Your groups • Label each group listed with the key terms that apply to it (formal, informal, primary, secondary, reference, in-group, out-group): • Thespian Society • Track and Field team • Prom dates • ROTC • GAS Club • Saturday School • Homecoming bonfire • Employed at PacSun • Mission group at church • Facebook

35. Structure of formal organizations • Formal organization – large, complex secondary group that has been established to achieve specific goals • Bureaucracy – ranked authority structure that operates according to specific rules and procedures • Any organization that has many departments or bureaus • Rationality – subjecting every feature of human behavior to calculation, measurement, and control • What are some examples?

36. Max Weber’s Model of Bureaucracies: • Division of labor • Work divided among specialists • Ranking of authority • Responsibility • Employment based on formal qualifications • Specific qualifications • Rules and regulations • Routine procedures • Specific lines of promotion and advancement • Job security

37. Who fits Weber’s model??? • Governmental agencies & corporations • (strict organization) • Less Bureaucratic?? • Voluntary association: typically nonprofit organization formed to pursue some common interest. • Voluntary membership • EX: Charities; political interest groups

38. How Effective Are Bureaucracies? Have several weaknesses: • Lose sight of their original goals. • Gov’t agencies more concerned about existence than providing useful services. • Focus more on rules instead of goals. • “Red Tape” : bureaucratic delay • Paperwork, long lines, etc….

39. Weaknesses (cont’d) • Bureaucracies tend to result in oligarchies. • Few people rule • More interested in their own interests. • Iron low of oligarchy: • Tendency of organizations to become increasingly dominated by small groups of people.

40. MEMO • Review the criticisms of bureaucracies discussed on pp. 87 and 89. • Write a memo to the head of a bureaucratic organization making suggestions for addressing these criticisms and improving the effectiveness of bureaucracies.

41. interview • Choose someone you know that works in a bureaucratic organization. • Interview that person about what they like and dislike about working in a bureaucracy.