Social Structure

Social Structure (Or the social bigger picture)

Interaction, Groups, and Structure • Social interaction and reality • Elements of social structure • Global social structure • Understanding organizations

Social Structure • Social structure: the way society is organized into predictable relationships • Concepts of social interaction and social structure are closely linked to groups and organizations • Nature of social interaction and what constitutes reality various across cultures • The ability to define social reality reflects a group’s power within that society

Elements of Social Structure • Statuses: any range of socially defined ranked positions within a large group or society • Master status: the statuses that carry the most weight within society • Individuals can hold multiple statuses simultaneously • Intersectionality • Ascribed status: is assigned by society without regard for a person’s unique talents or qualifications • Achieved status: earned through an individual’s own efforts • Ascribed status heavily influences achieved status

Elements of Social Structure • Social role: set of expectations for people who occupy a given status • Roleconflict: when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by same person • Role strain: difficulties that arise when same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations

Elements of Social Structure • Groups: people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact on a regular basis • Primarygroup: small group with intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation • Secondarygroup: impersonal groups with little social intimacy or mutual understanding • In-groups: any groups/categories to which people feel they belong • Out-groups: any groups or categories to which people feel they do not belong

Elements of Social Structure • Reference group: any group individuals use for evaluating their own behavior • Serve a normative function by setting and enforcing standards of conduct and belief • Perform a comparison function by serving as a standard against which people can measure themselves and others • Social Networks: series of social relationships that link person directly to others, and indirectly links him or her to still more people • Networking: involvement in social network; valuable skill when job-hunting • Virtual Worlds

Social Institutions • Social institution: organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs • Gives insight into the structure of a society • Durkheim: Division of Labor ([1893] 1933) • Mechanicalsolidarity: collective consciousness that emphasizes group solidarity, implying all individuals perform the same tasks • Organicsolidarity: collective consciousness resting on the need a society’s members have for one another

Social Institutions • TönniesGemeinschaftand Gesellschaft • Gemeinschaft (guh-MINE-shoft): small community in which people have similar backgrounds and life experiences • Gesellschaft (guh-ZELL-shoft): large community in which people are strangers and feel little in common with other community residents • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • Human societies undergo process of change characterized by dominant pattern known as sociocultural evolution

Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • Preindustrial Societies • Hunting-and-gathering society: people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available • Horticultural society: people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods • Agrarian society: people primarily engaged in production of food • Industrial Society: people depend on mechanization to produce goods and services • People rely on inventions and energy sources • Individuals, villages, and regions began to exchange goods and services and became interdependent

Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies • Postindustrial society: economic system engaged primarily in processing and controlling information • Postmodernsociety: technologically sophisticated society preoccupied with consumer goods and media images

Stages of Sociocultural Evolution

Organizations • Formal organization: special-purpose group designed and structured for maximum efficiency • Structured to facilitate management of large-scale operations • Have bureaucratic form of organization • Fulfill enormous variety of personal and societal needs • Bureaucracy: component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency

Ideal Types • Weber’s Ideal type: construct or model for evaluating specific cases • Division of Labor • Trained incapacity • Hierarchy of Authority • Written Rules and Regulations • Impersonality • Employment Based on Technical Qualifications • Peter Principle

Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture • Classicaltheory (Scientific Management Approach): workers motivated almost entirely by economic rewards • Human relations approach: role of people, • communication and participation within a bureaucracy emphasized

Social Structure