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Sociology 374 Introduction to Social Structure and Change

Sociology 374 Introduction to Social Structure and Change. SOCIAL STRUCTURE. SOCIAL STRUCTURE THE RELATIVELY STABLE PATTERNS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION THAT CHARACTERIZE HUMAN SOCIAL LIFE SOCIAL INTERACTION AT THE MICRO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS INDIVIDUAL TO INDIVIDUAL AT THE MEZZO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

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Sociology 374 Introduction to Social Structure and Change

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  1. Sociology 374Introduction to Social Structure and Change

  2. SOCIAL STRUCTURE • SOCIAL STRUCTURE • THE RELATIVELY STABLE PATTERNS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION THAT CHARACTERIZE HUMAN SOCIAL LIFE • SOCIAL INTERACTION • AT THE MICRO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS • INDIVIDUAL TO INDIVIDUAL • AT THE MEZZO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS • LARGER ORGANIZATIONS • AT THE MACRO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS • SOCIETIES and INSTITUTIONS

  3. THE SMALLEST ELEMENTSOF SOCIAL STRUCTURE • STATUS • SOCIAL POSITIONS THAT PEOPLE OCCUPY • Individual statuses largely define who that person is in relation to other people (A group is a set of interrelated status.) • STATUS SET • ALL THE STATUSES THAT PERSONS OCCUPY AT A GIVEN TIMES IN THEIR LIVE (e.g., gender status, religious status, family status, class status, occupational status, and many others) • STATUS INCONSISTENCY • WHEN VARIOUS STATUSES A PERSON OCCUPIES DO NOT FIT SMOOTHLY TOGETHER • A PERSON WITH A PH.D., WORKING AT SEARS SELLING APPLIANCES IN ORDER TO BRING IN A LITTLE MORE MONEY FOR FAMILY EXPENSES • PEOPLE OFTEN INTERACT WITH OTHERS ON THE BASIS OF THE STATUSES THEY OCCUPY RATHER THAN WHO THEY ARE • STATUS SYMBOLS that identify the statues they are occupying thus tell others how to behave towards them (e.g., a wealthy person’s sports car, a street persons tattered clothes)

  4. ASCRIBED STATUSES • THOSE STATUSES INTO WHICH A PERSON IS BORN; INVOLUNTARILY ACQUIRED (e.g., gender, race, family status, etc.) • ACHIEVED STATUSES • positions we acquire over time as a result of our own actions and efforts (e.g. occupation, educational status, political affiliation, etc.) • MASTER STATUS • Not all statuses are equally important • A POWERFUL STATUS THAT DETERMINES A PERSON’S INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY • PROFESSOR, STUDENT, DISABLED, RICH OR POOR, • MASTER STATUSES MAY BE HARD TO ESCAPE OR CHANGE (e.g., Catholic priest)

  5. LET’S SEE…I KNOW I WAS EXPECTED TO TURN THIS IN LAST WEEK, BUT I DIDN’T PERFORM THE TASK UNTIL LAST NIGHT, SO I BETTER TRY TO NEGOTIATE MY ROLE AS “STUDENT” WITH MY PROFESSOR TODAY! SOCIAL ROLES • ROLES • THE BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS STEMMING FROM NORMS • ASSOCIATED WITH VARIOUS STATUSES • ROLE SET • ALL THE BEHAVIORS ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR STATUS (e.g., college professor’s role set; teaching, research, service, etc.) • ROLE EXPECTATION • THAT BEHAVIOR WHICH IS EXPECTED • ROLE PERFORMANCE • THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE BY THE PERSON • ROLE MAKING • NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN ROLE “PLAYERS” • A GOOD EXAMPLE IS THAT OF A COLLEGE STUDENT AND WHAT IS EXPECTED, GIVEN, AND NEGOTIATED

  6. ROLE STRAIN • CONFLICT IN PERFORMING ALLTHE ELEMENTS OF THE ROLE SET CONNECTED TO A SINGLE STATUS • Many students find it difficult to take a heavy course load and do equally well in all their classes • ROLE CONFLICT • CONFLICT IN PERFORMING ROLE EXPECTATIONS WHEN TWO OR MORE STATUSES ARE INVOLVED • A PERSON WHO IS BOTH A POLICE OFFICER AND PARENT WHO CATCHES HER SON BREAKING THE LAW

  7. SOCIAL GROUPS • TO BE OR NOT TO BE A SOCIAL GROUP • TWO OR MORE PEOPLE • WHO INTERACT ON A REGULAR BASIS • AND FEEL SOME SENSE OF COMMON IDENTITY and SOLIDARITY • NON-GROUPS • AGGREGATES • COLLECTIONS OF PEOPLE WHO HAPPEN TO BE IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME • CATEGORIES • A COLLECTION OF PEOPLE WHO SHARE A SOCIAL STATUS (e.g., college freshmen, sociologists, etc.)

  8. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT…I AM HAVING TO SPEND MUCH MORE TIME ON THE JOB! • REASONS FOR JOINING GROUPS • TO ENJOY A MEASURE OF INTIMACY • TO ACCOMPLISH GOALS • TYPES OF GROUPS (Cooley, 1909) • PRIMARY GROUPS (e.g., family, peer group, etc.) • SMALL, INTIMATE, AND ENDURING • CENTRAL TO OUR LIVES • CONTAIN SIGNIFICANT OTHERS • SECONDARY GROUPS • LARGER, IMPERSONAL, TEMPORAL • OFTEN RELATED TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT • AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT INTERACTING WITHIN SECONDARY GROUPS IS RISING

  9. OTHER Types of Groups GROU • IN- AND OUT-GROUPS • IN-GROUPS • GROUPS THAT INDIVIDUALS JOIN AND FOR WHICH THEY FEEL LOYALTY AND PRIDE • OUT-GROUPS • GROUPS TOWARD WHICH INDIVIDUALS MAY FEEL DISDAIN AND HOSTILITY • RFERENCE GROUPS • people we look to in order to evaluate our own behavior • REFERENCE GROUPS SERVE A COUPLE OF FUNCTIONS • NORMATIVE FUNCTION • GUIDANCE ABOUT HOW TO ACT • COMPARATIVE FUNCTION • ASSESS ONESELF IN RELATION TO OTHERS GET THEM!

  10. GROUP DYNAMICS • GROUP DYNAMICS • THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND GROUPS • MAJOR AREAS OF CONCERN • GROUP SIZE • NUMBER OF RELATIONSHIP; FORM COALITIONS • LEADERSHIP • EXPRESSIVE AND INSTRUMENTAL • CONFORMITY • PRESSURES TO CONFORM TO GROUP MANDATES • DECISION MAKING PROCESSES • OPEN OR CLOSED; CONSEQUENCES OF GROUPTHINK

  11. THESE DYADIC RELATIONSHIPS ARE INTIMATE…YES, BUT SO UNSTABLE GROUP SIZE • TERMS • DYADIC RELATIONSHIP • TWO PERSONS • VERY UNSTABLE AND EASILY DESOLVED • TRIADIC RELATIONSHIP • THREE PERSONS • MANY MORE RELATIONSHIPS POSSIBLE • SMALL GROUPS • FOUR OR MORE MEMBERS • INTIMACY DECLINES AND STABILITY INCREASES AS SIZE OF GROUP GROWS

  12. I PREFER TO BE COLLABORATIVE, BUT I CAN ALSO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET THE JOB DONE! • LEADERSHIP IN SMALL GROUPS • GROUPS TEND TO HAVE TWO DISTINCT LEADERS DEVELOP • INSTRUMENT • TASK-ORIENTED • EXPRESSIVE • INTERESTED IN MORALE OF GROUP • TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLE • AUTHORITARIAN • TASK-ORIENTED, very directive, little attention to the members opinions • DEMOCRATIC • ENCOURAGES GROUP DISCUSSION AND INPUT, build group consensus • LAISSEZ-FAIRE • Highly non directive, letting group members make their on decisions without much help or input, LEAST EFFECTIVE AND OFTEN DETACHED DON’T STEREOTYPE

  13. CONFORMITYAND DECISION-MAKING AND, OF COURSE, EVERYONE AGREES WITH THE GROUP’S POSITION…RIGHT!?! • ON CONFORMITY • STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT GROUPS INFLUENCE CONFORMITY • ASCH’S RESEARCH • DECISION-MAKING • GROUPS OFFER LARGER POOL TO DRAW FROM WITH RESPECT TO BRAINSTORMING EFFORTS • GROUP THINK • Tendency of highly cohesive groups to make poor decisions because the members are unwilling to threaten the group’s solidarity

  14. LARGER ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE IT SURE IS GREAT TO BE ABLE TO USE YOUR INPUT ON THIS DRAFT… NETWORKING REALLY PAYS OFF! NETWORKS • BROAD WEB OF SOCIAL TIES THAT RADIATES OUT FROM A GIVEN INDIVIDUAL • STANLEY MILGRAM’S RESEARCH (1967) • EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL CAREERS (e.g., job search) • NETWORKS ARE DIVIDED INTO • STRONG LINKS • PERSONS WHO KNOW EACH OTHER WELL • WEAK LINKS • PERSONS WHO ARE LESS INTIMATE • “STRENGTH OF WEEK TIES”

  15. OTHER ELEMENTS COMMUNITIES ARE VIBRANT AND VERY DYNAMIC ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE • FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS • A LARGE SECONDARY GROUP • DESIGNED TO ACCOMPLISH SPECIFIC TASKS • AN ELABORATE INTERNAL DIVISION OF LABOR • COMMUNITIES • RELATIVELY LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE TOGETHER IN A SINGLE GEOGRAPHIC AREA • CONNECTED BY A VARIETY OF SOCIAL BONDS • STRATA (Layers) • SEGMENTS WITHIN A LARGE POPULATION WHICH RECEIVE DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF SCARCE AND VALUED RESOURCES (e.g, social classes, racial groups, etc.)

  16. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS • SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS • Widely accepted, rather stable clusters of roles, statuses, norms, values, and groups that develop around the basic need of society (predictable, established ways to provide for one or more of a society’s basic needs) • Five core institutions: the family, religion, the economy, the political institution, and education • Other examples of institutions: science, law and criminal justice system, the military, etc.) • Theses institutions fulfill five critical needs of society • Replacing members (the family) • Socializing new members (education, religion) • Producing and distributing goods and services (the economy) • Preserving order (law and criminal justice system, the military) • Proving a sense of meaning and purpose (religion)

  17. SOCIETIES • THE LARGEST ELEMENT OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE • A SIZABLE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO INTERACT, SHARE A CULTURE, AND USUALLY LIVE IN A SINGLE GEOGRAPHIC TERRITORY • SOCIETIES ARE SELF-PERPETUATING • SOCIETIES ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE INTERDEPENDENT • SOCIETIES DO EVOLVE OVER TIME, ALBEIT VERY SLOWLY

  18. Global Social Structure Social structure becomes more diffuse and more global. • Face-to-face interaction vs. Diffuse interaction (e.g., Communicating online, virtual communities, etc) • Diffuse forms of social structure (no territorial limits) • Toward a global society?

  19. Summary 1. Social structure consists of the relatively stable patterns of social interaction that characterizes human social life; it is within the context of social structure that people enact culture. 2. Statuses are the key components from which larger units of social structure are constructed. 3. Statuses may be ascribed or achieved; when a status is especially important in determining an individual's identity, it is called a master status. 4. Roles are the dynamic aspect of statuses - we occupy a status but play a role.

  20. Summary 5. Role strain and role conflict can result when people play several roles at the same time. 6. Social groups consist of several people who regularly interact and feel some sense of solidarity or common identity. 7. Primary groups provide warmth and intimacy, where as secondary groups are important for accomplishing specific objectives. 8. In-groups, out-groups, and reference groups are other important types of social groups.

  21. Summary 9. The size of the group is crucial in determining how it functions. 10. All groups have two types of leader: instrumental leaders, who concentrate on achieving group goals, and expressive leaders, who maintain group morale. 11. People in small groups feel strong pressure to conform to the expectations of others and to obey group leaders. 12. Groupthink can interfere with the ability of a cohesive group to make wise decisions.

  22. Summary 13. Networks are an increasingly important type of relatively diffuse social structure. 14. Larger elements of social structure include formal organizations, communities, strata, institutions and societies. 15. Social structure becomes more diffuse and more global.

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