Chapter 4: Society, Social Structure, and Social Interaction

1. Chapter 4: Society, Social Structure, and Social Interaction

2. Objectives (slide 1 of 2) 4.1 Levels of Sociological Analysis • Illustrate the three levels of sociological analysis. 4.2 Social Interaction at the Macrosociological Level • Identify the components of the social structure and their impact on the beliefs, behaviors, and values of individuals. • Define and discuss status characteristics. • Distinguish between primary and secondary groups. • Examine leadership styles.

3. Objectives (slide 2 of 2) 4.3 Societies, Technology, and Change • Identify the types of societies as identified by means of subsistence and the major characteristics of each. 4.4 What Holds Societies Together • Compare and contrast the various macrosociological theories of social order and the theorists associated with each. 4.5 Social Interaction from a Microsociological Perspective • Recognize the principles of microsociological analysis and its impact on the beliefs, values, and behaviors of individuals.

4. Levels of Sociological Analysis • Macrosociology: Analysis of social life that focuses on broad features of society, such as social institutions • Microsociology:Analysis of social life that focuses on the specific aspects of interactions • Mesosociology:Analysis of social life that falls between the microsociological and macrosociological levels

5. Social Interaction at the Macrosociological Level • Social structure:Patterns or regularities in how people behave and interact with one another • Social class:A broad measure of the location that a person occupies in the social structure • Status:The position that a person holds in a group • Prestige: The esteem or reputation that accompanies a status

6. Status Characteristics(slide 1 of 3) • Ascribed status: A status that a person takes on involuntarily, either through birth or through other circumstances • Achieved status: A status that is earned through some effort or activity • Status symbols:Signs that identify a particular status • Shaming:Using status symbols to identify those who have violated societal expectations

7. Status Characteristics (slide 2 of 3) • Salient characteristics:Characteristics that distinguish between members of a group • Diffuse characteristics:Status characteristics that are presumed to always matter in determining a person’s relative position in the group. These include: • Sex • Race • Age • Educational attainment • Occupational prestige • Physical attractiveness

8. Status Characteristics (slide 3 of 3) • Specific characteristics: Status characteristics that matter in determining a person’s relative position in the group only if they are shown to be relevant to the circumstance of the group • Master status characteristic:A status characteristic that is so important that it overshadows all other status characteristics • Status inconsistencies: Statuses that contradict one another

9. Roles • Role:Expected behaviors that accompany a status • Role set:More than one role associated with a single status • Role strain:Tension between roles connected to a single status • Role conflict:Tension between roles connected to two or more statuses • Role exit: Disengaging from a status and the social roles attached to it

10. Groups • Group:Individuals who share common beliefs and values and who regularly interact with one another • Aggregate: People who occupy the same space and time but who have no common goals or purpose • Primary group:A group characterized by small, intimate relationships that have a strong influence over an individual’s socialization • Secondary group:A large and impersonal group whose members share a specific goal or activity

11. Leadership in Groups • Instrumental leadership:Leadership that focuses on the completion of tasks • Expressive leadership:Leadership that focuses on the well-being and morale of group members

12. Social Institutions • Social institutions:The ways in which a society meets it basic needs

13. Societies, Technology, and Change • Nonmaterial culture:Symbols and ideologies that define a culture (sometimes called symbolic culture) • Material culture:Physical items that reflect the ideologies of a culture

14. Hunting and Gathering Societies • Hunting and gathering:Societies in which the dominant means of subsistence is hunting animals and gathering food • Network:A web of weak social ties • Optimum foraging strategy:A pattern of foraging that leaves enough flora and fauna in a foraged area for the land to recover in a reasonable amount of time

15. Horticultural and Pastoral Societies Horticultural Societies Pastoral Societies Pastoralism:A means of subsistence that relies on the domestication of animals as the primary food supply • Horticulture:Farming using simple hand tools to raise crops.

16. Agrarian Societies • Agriculture:Farming using machinery powered by engines

17. Industrial and Postindustrial Societies Industrial Societies Postindustrial Societies Postindustrialism:A means of subsistence that relies on the production of services and information • Industry: A means of subsistence that relies on the production of goods using machinery driven by advanced sources of energy

18. Society and Conflict • Capitalists:Marx’s term for the owners of the means of production • Bourgeoisie:Marx’s term for white-collar professions and management who work for the capitalists • Proletariat:Marx’s term for the working class who provide labor for the capitalists • Lumpenproletariat:Marx’s term for the dispossessed, criminals, mentally ill, and disabled in society • Alienation:Marx’s term for the limitations in life choices that accompany low social status

19. Society and Rationalization(slide 1 of 2) • Bureaucracy:An organizational model designed to perform tasks rationally and efficiently • Characteristics of bureaucracies: • Rely on specialization • Are organized hierarchically • Guide operations using rules and regulations • Rely on officials with technical competence • Place value on organizational rules rather than on the individual • Track movementsby formal processes

20. Society and Rationalization (slide 2 of 2) • Rationalization of society: The historical process by which rationality replaced tradition as the main mode of human thought • Organizational environment: Factors external to an organization that affect its operation • Emotion regulation: The idea that businesses try to regulate the emotions of their workers

21. Issues with Bureaucracy • Iron cage of bureaucracy: Limitations on creativity and flexibility that are placed on workers by the bureaucratic process, causing alienation • Bureaucratic ritualism: Rigid focusing on rules and regulations that undermine an organization’s goals • Bureaucratic inertia: The tendency of a bureaucracy to perpetuate itself over time • Mission drift: The tendency of formal organizations to shift their goals for their own survival • Iron Law of Oligarchy:An idea, developed by Robert Michels, that suggests that bureaucracy always means the rule of the many by the few

22. Society from a Functionalist Perspective: Ferdinand Tönnies • Gemeinschaft:Tönnies’s term for societies based on a strong sense of community developed around strong traditions about how members of the village should interact • Gesellschaft:Tönnies’s term for a society based on individual self-interest

23. Society from a Functionalist Perspective: Emile Durkheim • Mechanical solidarity:Durkheim’s term for societies based on strong moral values and a deep sense of community among members • Organic solidarity:Durkheim’s term for societies based on individualism, specialization, and interdependence • Anomie:A feeling of normlessness caused by a disconnect from the dominant norms of society

24. Social Interaction from a Microsociological Perspective • Stereotype:A general assumption that a person holds about a particular group of people • Personal space:Space surrounding a person that, when violated, causes discomfort

25. Facial Expressions and Body Language • Studies show that between 60 and 90% of the meaning taken from face-to-face interactions is communicated nonverbally.

26. Dramaturgy (slide 1 of 2) • Dramaturgy: A microsociological approach that analyzes social life in terms of the stage • Jargon:Specialized language that indicates the authenticity of the person in the role • “Front stage” behavior:Behaviors that are part of the role being played • “Back stage: behavior:Behaviors that are not part of the role being played • Role performance:The way in which a person plays a particular role within a given framework

27. Dramaturgy (slide 2 of 2) • Sign vehicles:Elements that communicate the message of a performance, composed of the social setting, scenery, and appearance • Teamwork:Two or more people working together to make a performance more realistic or appropriate • Face-saving behavior:Actions that seek to salvage a performance that is going wrong • Impression management: The ways in which an individual playing a role will try to control the performance such that others are convinced by the performance

28. The Social Construction of Reality • Through interaction, individuals in groups develop background assumptions that influence how they see the world around them. • The Thomas theorem states that situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences.

29. Ethnomethodology • Ethnomethodology:A type of symbolic interactionism that seeks to understand how individuals make sense of their everyday surroundings • Background assumptions: Understandings of the way the world works that are deeply embedded in our social understanding