Social Structure

1. Social Structure Analyze social structure and interaction within society.

2. What is social structure? • the network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction • You occupy a status, you play a role. • 3 building blocks: • Statuses • Role • Social Institutions

3. Status • socially defined position in a group or in a society • each individual in society occupies several statuses • examples: teacher, wife, student, woman, sister, daughter, church member, American, white, runner, nerd

4. Types of Statuses • ascribed status – assigned according to qualities beyond a person’s control; not based on abilities efforts, or accomplishments; based on a person’s inherited traits (gender, race) or assigned automatically when a person reaches a certain age • achieved status –acquire through own direct efforts including special skills, knowledge, or abilities • master status – plays the greatest role in shaping a person’s life and determining his or her social identity; can be achieved or ascribed • U.S. - usually achieved

5. The Many Statuses of Me • List as many statuses that describe you as you can. • What is your master status? • Using these statuses and others that you think of, create a word collage that creatively portrays the many statuses of you. Give prominence to your master status.

6. Roles • behaviors (rights and obligations) expected of someone occupying a particular status • When people interact their behavior corresponds to the roles they are playing: • role expectations – behaviors expected of the person performing a role • role performance – actual role behavior

7. More on Roles • role set – different roles attached to a single status • role conflict – when fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status • role strain – when a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status Teacher: entertainer, tutor, multimedia expert nurse, record keeper, researcher Student: learner, artist, mathematician, reader multimedia expert, group member

8. Think-Pair-Share • Describe an example of role conflict or role strain in your own life.

9. Social Institutions • system of statuses, roles, values, and norms, that is organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society More on Social Institutions in Unit 6 • basic needs = physical & emotional support, transmitting knowledge, producing goods & services, maintaining social control • examples: family, economy, politics, education, religion, the media, medicine, science

10. The 5 Types of Social Interaction Analyze social structure and interaction within society.

11. Lights, Camera, Social Interaction Skits! • Working with your small group, you will create two different skits to dramatize your type of social interaction (text pages 69 – 72) Guidelines • Skits should help the rest of the class understand what your type of social interaction looks like in the everyday world. • All members must participate in some way. • Props make things more fun  • You will present these to the class.

12. Exchange • when an individual, group, or social interaction takes place in an effort to receive a reward in return for actions • most basic & common form of interaction • basis:reciprocity– if you do something for someone, that person owes you something in return (material or nonmaterial) • exchange theory – people are motivated by self-interest in their interactions; we do things primarily for rewards

13. Competition (achieve the goal) • when two or more people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain • common in Western societies • positive: means of motivating people to perform the roles society asks of them • negative: stress, lack of cooperation, inequality, conflict

14. Conflict (defeat the opponent) • the deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person • can begin as competition • four sources of conflict: war, disagreements within groups, legal disputes, & clashes over ideology • useful purposes: reinforces group boundaries, strengthens group loyalty, lead to social change

15. Cooperation • when two or more people or groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than one person • necessary social process; gets things done • can be used with competition

16. Accommodation • state of balance between cooperation and conflict (you give a little, you take a little) • forms: compromise, truce, mediation (third party helps make a decision), arbitration (third party makes the decision)

17. The Argument Culture? • Read “Sociology in the World Today: The Argument Culture” on page 70 Answer these questions: • Do you agree with Tannen that Americans live in an argument culture in which conflict and opposition dominate social interaction? Explain your answer. • Why are conflict-oriented talk shows SO entertaining? • What alternatives does Tannen offer to the argument culture?

18. Other Examples of Social Interaction

19. Nonverbal Social Interaction • Personal space - bubble that surrounds us, varies from culture to culture • We feel most comfortable in the US with about 21 inches distance between us &another person. We move in closer to those we feel more intimate toward. About arms length Both leaning in

20. We lean away to re-establish a more comfortable distance. We lean in to establish closeness and to communicate interest.

21. Saudi King Abdullah What is going on here? Is this an intimate relationship?

22. Personal Space & Touching Personal Space • Intimate distance-18 inches • Personal distance -18 inches -4 feet • Social distance - 4-12 feet • Public distance -12 feet (We can enlarge our space by taking up more room with our books and coat in an area) Touching • US - low touch, average 2 touches an hour • France-110 touches an hour • Puerto Rico - 180 touches • London - 0 touches

23. Body Language & Eye Contact • Our body language can communicate volumes about our true thoughts and feelings. • Eye contact – used to communicate different messages: • showing interest • a challenge • threat • an invitation for intimacy • aggression

24. Body Language (cont.) • Smiling-varies from culture to culture. In the US we smile and expect others to smile. • When Wal-Mart opened a store in Germany, they ordered German clerks to smile at customers. The customers complained. They interpreted it as flirting. (becoming too familiar) • People from a smiling culture may feel confused &anxious when communicating with someone who seldom smiles. It makes it difficult for us to read them. We may interpret it to mean the person does not like us. Women find men less attractive when they smile compared to when they take on swaggering or brooding poses, a Canadian study has found. In contrast, men find women more attractive when they smile, and least attractive when they look proud and confident, the study of 1,084 heterosexual men and women shows.

25. Body Language (cont.) • The government has started using it to teach airport employees to pick up on cues of possible terrorists.

26. Avoiding Social Interaction Do Americans communicate with each other enough?

27. What do you see in these images?

28. Are Americans too isolated? What do you notice about these pictures?

29. Levittown • William Levitt – mass produced suburban homes • Levittown – New York suburb that offered affordable homes ($8,000 each); demand increased & other Levittown's were built

30. Subdivided • Director Dean Terry moves to the suburbs and finds nothing but isolation in a landscape of big box stores and freeways. • No one talks to each other. To conform is to be cold. • Is this good for us? For our children? For democracy?

31. Are American suburbs making us more isolated? • 2005 U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey – Americans spend over 100 hours a year commuting to work (24 minutes daily) – only 80 vacation hours a year • More than half of Americans live in suburbs (59%) • Pew Research Center - Suburbanites are significantly more satisfied with their communities than are residents of cities, small towns or rural areas

32. Types of Societies Analyze social structure and interaction within society.

33. Introduction • Role behavior often takes place in groups – a set of people who interact on the basis of shared expectations & possess some degree of common identity • Largest & most complex groups are societies(people who share a common culture & sense of unity) • Sociologists classify societies according to subsistence strategies - the way a society uses technology to provide for the needs of its members

34. Types of Societies • Three broad categories: • Preindustrial Societies • Industrial Societies • Postindustrial Societies

35. Types of Societies Group Activity • Working with your group, you will create a poster that summarizes (using words & pictures) the following: • the key characteristics of one specific type of society • the roles that individuals play in this model of group system • Use text pages 73 – 77 • You will present your findings and poster to the class tomorrow • Preindustrial • hunting & gathering societies • pastoral societies • horticultural societies • agricultural societies • Industrial • Postindustrial

36. Preindustrial Societies • Food production is the main economic activity • Carried out through the use of human & animal labor • Divided according to their level of technology & method of producing food

37. Preindustrial: Hunting & Gathering • Main form of food production: daily collection of wild plants & hunting of wild animals • Move around in search of food (no permanent villages) • Small size (60 – 100 people) • Statuses are relatively equal, decisions reached through general agreement • Family is the main social unit & carries out most social functions (production & education) Examples: Australian Aboriginals Inuit in Alaska Tribes along the Amazon River Basin

38. Preindustrial: Pastoral • Main form of food production: rely on domesticated herd animals to meet their food needs • Nomadic life moving herds from pasture to pasture • Reliable food source = support larger populations • Food surpluses (fewer needed to work) = complex division of labor– specialization by individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic activities • Trade creates inequality; power acquired through wealth & property • Government: hereditary chieftainships Examples: African societies (Horn, Sahel, & Sub-Saharan) including the Bedouin, Somalis, & Berbers Sherpa in Nepal Navajo of North America

39. Preindustrial: Horticultural • Main form of food production: fruits & veggies grown in garden plots (slash-and-burn often used) • Use human labor & simple tools to cultivate land • Rotating garden plots allows them to stay in one area for a long period of time (build villages) • Villages from 30 – 2,000 • Surplus food leads to a complex division of labor & role specialization • Inequalities in wealth & power • Government: hereditary chieftainships (usually better development than pastoralist societies) Examples: Micronesian tribes Certain African tribes (Dahomey) Tribes in South America Ancient Olmec, Maya, Aztec & Inca

40. Preindustrial: Agricultural • Main form of food production: animals used to pull plows & till fields (plant more than w/ human labor) • Irrigation & terracing sometimes used • Support large populations • Most work in food production, but many specialized roles • Cities develop as specialized workers come together • Power often held by a single person (hereditary monarchy) • Build armies to provide protection from outside attack • Construct roads = facilitates trade (use money instead of barter); develop writing system • Sharp status differences (landowners & peasants) Examples: Pre Industrial Revolution Europe America before 1900 Amish in the U.S.

41. Industrial Societies • Emphasis: shifts from food to manufactured goods production • Production (food & goods) by machine= reduced need for agricultural workers • Industrialization (use technology to produce wide varieties of goods in factories – rather than homes) • Less skill required (assembly line system – each has a specific job rather than completing the whole thing) = BORING • Urbanization (people move to cities for work) • Changing family functions (not education & production) • Science sometimes challenges religion • More freedom to compete for social position; statuses achieved Examples: China Republic of South Africa Australia New Zealand Argentina Japan (some say)

42. Postindustrial Societies • Emphasis: providing information & services • U.S. Example: • 73% of the workforce • 2% employed in agriculture • 25% production of goods • Standard of living & quality of life improve (wages increase) • Strong emphasis on science & education • Technology is key to future prosperity • Individual rights & personal fulfillment are important (social equality & democracy) Examples: United States Canada Western Europe (some say Japan)

43. Contrasting Societies: Preindustrial v. Industrial • ÉmileDurkheim • preindustrial societies are held together by mechanical solidarity – close social relationships; a small group of people who share values & perform the same tasks • industrial societies are held together by organic solidarity– impersonal social relationships that arise because of job specialization & are based on survival needs rather than shared values French sociologist Émile Durkheim

44. Mechanical Solidarity • Example: farmingcommunity – little diversity is tolerated &everyone is expected to think alike because everyone has a similar frame of reference and an understanding of one another.

45. Organic Solidarity • Example:US – we live in communities of people we mostly do not know who engage in all sorts of different work and activities, but we need one another because of these differences. We need those people to do things for us that we cannot do for ourselves. We are no longer self sufficient.

46. Contrasting Societies: Simple v. Complex Societies (Ferdinand Tonnies) Gemeinschaft Gesellschaft • “community” • members of society are close • activities center on the family & community • strong group solidarity • examples: preindustrial societies or rural villages • “society” • social relationships: • based on need rather than emotion • impersonal • often temporary • traditional values weak • Individual goals more important than group’s

47. The Amish are an example of Gemeinschaft life in the US today.

48. Life is predictable and secure.

49. Amish Barn Raising Needs are met by neighbors, friends and family

50. As society changed we found that we needed to look beyond our small intimate communities, to outsiders or strangers to provide for needs not met by those we knew. Even the Amish who are self-sufficient, find at times they too have to look outside of their own social networks.