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Lecture Nine. Social Structure: Shaping the context of social interaction. Social Structure: What provides the context of our lives?. The social structure of a society – how society is organized – shapes how we are connected to others
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Lecture Nine Social Structure: Shaping the context of social interaction
Social Structure: What provides the context of our lives? • The social structure of a society – how society is organized – shapes how we are connected to others • We can think about social structure as the context of our social interactions • This context is created through patterns of behavior and the roles we occupy in social institutions such as family and the economy
Context of Social Interaction • Social Structure both reflects and reproduces our behavior and culture
Changing Social Structure = Changing Social Life • As society becomes industrialized and globalized (and therefore organized more rationally) our social lives shift from being lived mostly in primary groups to secondary groups • Think back over your week, did you spend more time?
Social Groups • Primary groups are characterizedas small, face-to-face and intimate groups with an enduring sense of commitment. • Social relations in these groups are often based on emotion and tradition • Secondary groups are characterizedas large and impersonal groups where we develop short relationships • Social relations in these groups are often based on formal rules and rational thinking
Globalization and Social Life • In the post-industrial period of globalization we are much more interdependent than ever before. Most of our daily requirements – food, work, clothing, etc – are supplied by people we have never met working in organizations we know little about • This requires organizations (secondary groups) that can coordinate the resources and activities needed to keep society and our daily lives running smoothly • How these organizations are organized greatly affects how we live our lives and interact with those around us
The Modern Organization: Rationally Organized • Most of the organizations we depend on today – government, corporations, schools, etc - are organized rationally • Sociologists call these types of organizations “bureaucracies” • Rationalization is theprocess by which thought and action are no longer rooted in emotion, tradition, but become rooted in ‘value-rational’ thought and action
Thinking Rationally • Rationalization is both a way of thinking and a way of organizing and coordinating human activities and the goods they produce • To think and act rationally is to find the most efficient means to achieve a goal. • What this means is that human action is organized to find the quickest, easiest, and most cost effective methods to achieve the desired outcomes – even if it is at the expense of our values, traditions, and social & environmental relationships.
Example: The Cow Hindus – symbol of everything alive McDonald’s – means to an end ($)
Beyond Rationality? • Sociologist George Ritzer argues that we have moved to an even great level of rationality • “McDonaldization”: the “process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society”
Efficiency • Efficiency is the choosing the fastest means to an end, with the least amount of cost or effort • The idea of efficiency is specific to the interests of the industry or business, but is typically advertised as a benefit to the customer • Examples: the drive-up window, self-serve gasoline, ATM's, • The customer often ends up doing the work that previously was done for them. • We end up spending more time, being forced to learn new technologies, remember more numbers, and often pay higher prices
Quantification & Calculation • Quantification “involves an emphasis on things that can be calculated, counted, quantified. Quantification refers to a tendency to emphasize quantity rather than quality. This leads to a sense that quality is equal to certain, usually (but not always) large quantities of things." • Examples of this element include: the "Big Mac," the Whopper,""Big Gulp," Wendy's "Biggie Meals"
Predictability • Predictability refers to the attempt to structure our environment so that surprise and difference do not encroach upon our sensibilities. Rational people need to know what to expect • They want to be sure that the fun, satisfaction, taste, and benefits they received last week in Cincinnati will be repeated next week in San Diego. A Big Mac is a Big Mac is a Big Mac
Non-human Technology • Non-human Technology: Everything is pre-packaged, pre-measured, automatically controlled. The human employee is not required to think, just follow the instructions and push a button now and then • "The next step in this development is to have the customer do the scanning,..." • What this means is that the skills and capabilities of the human actor are quickly becoming things of the past. • Who we are and how we interact is becoming defined by our dependence upon and subordination to the machine
“Iron Cage of Rationality” • Max Weber, who studied rational systems, feared that a rationally organized society can become a cage in which we are trapped and our basic humanity denied • Society would become a seamless web of rationalization from which there would be no escape • As society becomes more rational, people are locked into a series of rational systems, only able to move from one system to another • from rationalized educational institutions, to rationalized workplaces, to rationalized recreational settings, to rationalized homes
Disenchantment of the World • McDonaldization at large works to eliminate genuine human interaction, because interactions are unpredictable and waste time • When you are at Target or Starbucks does the person helping you really mean it when they ask “How are you today?” • And do you give a genuine answer? • As our interactions are structured by rational environments, there is a break down in genuine and spontaneous human interaction
McDonaldization in Our Daily Lives • Look at the following and identify the 4 main principles of McDonaldization: • Example 1: College/Higher Education • Example 2: Hollywood Films • What are some of the irrationalities that emerge from this way of organizing activities?
April 1st Sign in Finish Lecture 9: Social Structure Film and Discussion: Modern Meat Homework: Introduction to Sociology: Chapter 14 Rough Draft of CCA Paper 4/15
Rationality can lead to Irrationality • Ritzer argues that extreme rationality or McDonaldization can lead to irrational outcomes • "Most specifically, irrationality means that rational systems are unreasonable systems. By that I mean that they deny the basic humanity, the human reason, of the people who work within or are served by them." – George Ritzer
Irrationality of Fast Food • The rational organization of the Fast Food provides many conveniences today. Fast food is cheap, fast, and easy. • However, it also produces many irrationalities in our society: • The food we eat is often less nourishing, loaded with stabilizers and flavor enhancers, fats, salt and sugar. This contributes to the health problems of our society, such a skyrocketing rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. • The packaging used in fast food industry pollutes the environment. • Microwavable foods and fast-food restaurants allow us to eat what we want, when we want it. The ritual of cooking, eating together, and sharing is fading from the American family.
The Rational Organization of Our Daily Lives • As we grow more interdependent with globalization, we can examine the ways in which most of the organizations that play a central role in our daily lives are becoming McDonaldized and the impacts this has on our social connections and social relationships with others • As we grow more organizationally connected are we becoming less socially connected?
