SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

1. SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

2. Social Interaction and Structure • Social Interaction: • Refers to the way people respond to one another. • Social Structure: • The way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships. • Studying the link between interaction and structure is central to sociology http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_988/text/0,,HGTV_22056_37069,00.html http://www.hometips.com/hyhw/plumbing/plumbing.html

3. Social Structure • Metaphor: • Structure: House Structure and Piping • Interaction: How you decorate, and live in the house. • the foundation of a house, the structure, creates what Allan Johnson calls the “path of least resistance” • It sets the stage for who interacts with who and how. • Social Structure: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_988/text/0,,HGTV_22056_37069,00.html Social Interaction: http://www.hometips.com/hyhw/plumbing/plumbing.html

4. Elements of Social Structure http://www.whitehouse.gov/ • Status • --Status refers to any of the socially defined positions within a large group or society. • --A person holds more than one status simultaneously. • --Examples of statuses: • president daughter • student neighbor http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/# http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/06/images/20070626-3_p062607sc-0290-784v.html

5. Elements of Social Structure Ascribed Statuses • --Ascribed status is a status one is born with. Source: Schaefer 2004

6. Elements of Social Structure • --Ascribed status is a status one is born with (or can’t change). --Achieved status is a status one earns. Source: Schaefer 2004

7. Elements of Social Structure • Master Status • a status that dominates others and determines a person’s general position in society. Often Race and Gender http://www.africanamericans.com/JackieRobinson.htm Rock Hudson: Homosexuality, Jackie Robinson first black baseball player, Sandra Day O’Connor: The first woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice. • Source: http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/oconnor_s.htm

8. Social Roles • --sets of expectations for people who occupy a given status. Source: Kendall

9. Social statuses are like a part in a play. Each part has a role to play. • Role Conflict • --occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person. • --the challenge of occupying two social positions simultaneously. • (Wearing 2 hats) • Social Roles • --sets of expectations for people who occupy a given status. http://www.chacocanyon.com/essays/whosdoingyourjob.shtml Source: Kendall

10. Can run into conflict if playing two parts/statuses • i.e. you play both a cloud that requires white makeup and a tree that requires green makeup.

11. Social Roles

12. Source: Kendall http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099938/posters

13. Role Exit • --Role Exit describes the process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-identity and reestablishment of an identity in a new role. • Role Strain • --describes the difficulties that result from the differing demands and expectations associated with the same social position. http://www.leaveittobeaver.org/ http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2474027/photos Role Exit: I Quit! I’m going to drive a truck.

14. Reviewing social structure and the paths of least resistance they create further informs our thinking of nature vs. nurture. • How much does social structure/situation matter? • Does it trump our individual nature?

15. Zimbardo 7.5 minutes • Where do you see social structure? • Did social structure override the “selves” of those involved in the experiment? • What would you have done? • What does this experiment say about re-socialization and prison as a “Total Institution.”

16. Total Institution: Goffman • Institutions such as prisons, the military, mental hospitals, and convents that regulate all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority. • Re-socialiazation is particularly effective in total institutuins. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.arthist.lu.se/visualculture/panopticon.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.arthist.lu.se/visualculture/&h=389&w=500&sz=91&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=tBHUQ9jeY9LYXM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpanopticon%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DgBf%26sa%3DX http://images.google.com/images?q=panopticon&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=JWK&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

17. Remember Both/And • Human beings interpret or define each other’s actions. • The ability to define social reality reflects a group’s power within society. • You will be a powerful group, global elite, with a college education. • You can make change!

18. Nacirema – our culture • Socialization – how we learn what is expected • Social Structure – a part of socialization but also the way things are in our culture/society • Wednesday will look at Gender in terms of Social Structure.

20. The Role of Socialization • Social Networks and Technology • Social Network • --A Social Network is a series of social relationships that links a person directly to others and through them indirectly to still more people.

21. The Role of Socialization • Social Institutions • Social institutions are organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs. • Social institutions provide insight into the structure of society.

22. Zimbardo’s Experiment

24. Social Interaction and Reality? • Defining and Reconstructing Reality • Human beings interpret or define each other’s actions. • The ability to define social reality reflects a group’s power within society.

25. Social Interaction and Reality? • Negotiated Order • --Negotiated order is a social structure that derives its existence from the social interactions through which people define and redefine its character. • --People reshape reality by negotiating changes in patterns of social interaction. • --Negotiation is the attempt to reach agreement with others concerning the same objective.

27. Social Structure • Patterened, organized interaction, also referred to as a foundation of “patterned regularities”; socially constructed rules or boundaries that tie individuals together in some ways and separate them in others (Stryker, 1990) • The foundation or framework which forms what we know as society. Metaphor: Structure= the foundation of a house, the structure creates what Allan Johnson calls the “path of least resistance” Sets the stage for who interacts with who and how.

28. The Role of Socialization Table 5.1: Functions and Institutions

29. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Tönnie’s Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft • Gemeinschaft (guh-MINE-shoft) • The Gemeinschaft is defined as a small community in which people have similar backgrounds and life experiences. • Gesellschaft (guh-ZELL-shoft) • The Gesellschaft is defined as a large community in which people are strangers and feel little in common with other community residents.

30. Social Structure in Global Perspective Table 5.2: Comparison of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

31. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • This approach views society as undergoing change according to a dominant pattern, known as sociocultural evolution. • Sociocultural evolution refers to the “process of change and development in human societies resulting from growth in their stores of cultural information.”

32. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • A society’s level of technology is critical to the way it is organized. • Preindustrial Societies • --Hunting-and-Gathering Societies • *These societies are composed of small, widely dispersed groups. • *These societies use minimal technology. • Continued...

33. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • --Horticultural Societies • *People plant seeds and crops. • *People are less nomadic than in hunter-gatherer societies. • *People use technology in a limited way. • --Agrarian Societies • *People are primarily engaged in production of food. • *People use technological innovations like the plow for dramatic increases in food production.

34. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • Industrial Societies • --These societies depend on mechanization to produce its goods and services. • --These societies rely on inventions and energy sources that facilitate agricultural and industrial production. • --These societies change the function of the family as a self-sufficient unit.

35. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies • --Postindustrial Society • *A postindustrial society is one whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information. • *The main output of postindustrial society is services. • Continued...

36. Social Structure in Global Perspective • Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution Approach • --Postmodern Society • *A postmodern society is a technologically sophisticated society preoccupied with consumer goods and media images.

37. Social Policy and Social Structure • The AIDS Crisis • The Issue • --While there are encouraging new ways to treat people, there is currently no way to eradicate AIDS by medical means. • --How can people be protected and whose responsibility is it?

38. Social Policy and Social Structure • The AIDS Crisis • The Setting • --Health practitioners pay particular attention to methods of transmitting HIV because there is no cure or vaccine for AIDS at this time. • --AIDS is on the increase, with an estimated 36.1 million people infected and 3 million dying annually. • --AIDS is not evenly distributed and the developing nations of the sub-Saharan Africa have been hard hit.

39. Social Policy and Social Structure • The AIDS Crisis • Sociological Insights • --A dramatic health crisis such as AIDS is likely to bring about changes in social structure. • --From a functionalist view, if established social institutions cannot meet a crucial need, new social networks are likely to emerge to fill that function.

40. Social Policy and Social Structure • The AIDS Crisis • Sociological Insights • -- Viewed from a conflict perspective, policymakers were slow to respond to the AIDS crisis because those in high-risk groups--gays and IV drug users--were comparatively powerless. • --Interactionists widely forecast that AIDS would lead to a more conservative sexual climate. They are also concerned about the impact of AIDS treatment on the daily lives of those stricken with the disease.

41. Social Policy and Social Structure • The AIDS Crisis • Policy Initiatives • --AIDS has struck all societies, but not all nations can respond in the same manner. • --The high cost of drug treatment programs has generated intensive worldwide pressure on the major drug companies to lower their prices to patients in developing nations. • --The prospect of cheaper medicine will in turn stimulate the demand for care and a need for additional resources.

42. Social Policy and Social Structure Figure 5.3: Daily Dosing for AIDS

43. Characteristic Percent of Population15 Years Old or Older With any disability 24.0 Severe 12.5 Not severe 11.5 Has difficulty or is unable to: See words and letters 4.1 Hear normal conversation 4.8 Have speech understood 1.0 Lift or carry 10 pounds 7.9 Climb stairs without resting 8.9 Walk three city blocks 9.1 Social Policy and Social Structure Persons with Disabilities (I) Source: Census analysis released in 1998 based on the 1994-1995 Survey of Income and Program Participation. See Bureau of the Census 1998. Disability Status of Persons 15 Years Old and Over. Special analysis provide to author.

44. Characteristic Percent of Population15 Years Old or Older Has difficulty or needs personal assistance with: Getting around inside the home 1.7 Getting in/out of bed or chair 2.7 Bathing 2.2 Dressing 1.6 Eating 0.5 Getting to or using the toilet 1.0 Social Policy and Social Structure Persons with Disabilities (II) Source: Census analysis released in 1998 based on the 1994-1995 Survey of Income and Program Participation. See Bureau of the Census 1998. Disability Status of Persons 15 Years Old and Over. Special analysis provided to author.

45. Characteristic Percent of Population15 Years Old or Older Needs personal assistance with: Going outside the home 4.0 Keeping track of money and bills 1.9 Preparing meals 2.1 Doing light housework 3.4 Using the telephone 1.3 Social Policy and Social Structure Persons with Disabilities (II) continued Source: Census analysis released in 1998 based on the 1994-1995 Survey of Income and Program Participation. See Bureau of the Census 1998. Disability Status of Persons 15 Years Old and Over. Special analysis provided to author.

46. Characteristic Percent of Population15 Years Old or Older Needs personal assistance with: Going outside the home 4.0 Keeping track of money and bills 1.9 Preparing meals 2.1 Doing light housework 3.4 Using the telephone 1.3 Social Policy and Social Structure Persons with Disabilities (II) continued Source: Census analysis released in 1998 based on the 1994-1995 Survey of Income and Program Participation. See Bureau of the Census 1998. Disability Status of Persons 15 Years Old and Over. Special analysis provide to author.

47. The geography of HIV, 1997 Percentage of people in each country ages 15 to 49 infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS in 1997: 16.0 — 26.0 percent 8.0 — 15.9 percent 2.0 — 7.9 percent 0.5 — 1.9 percent 0.0 — 0.4 percent Data not available Social Policy and Social Structure Mapping Life Worldwide: Distribution of AIDS Worldwide Source: Richard T. Schaefer. 2001. Sociology, 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Figure 5-2, p. 135. From United Nations data reproduced by L. Altman 1998:A1.

48. The Role of Socialization • Groups • A group is any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with each other on a regular basis. • Every society is composed of many groups in which daily social interaction takes place, including those groups who interact electronically.

49. Source: Kendall