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4. Social Structure

4. Social Structure. Build on what you know. How might factors such as the mass media and popular entertainment influence American norms and values? What factors might help determine how a person functions in society?. Truth or fiction?.

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4. Social Structure

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  1. 4. Social Structure

  2. Build on what you know • How might factors such as the mass media and popular entertainment influence American norms and values? • What factors might help determine how a person functions in society?

  3. Truth or fiction? • An individual’s statuses and roles are limited and unchanging. • Sociologists have little interest in groups and group activities. • Informal interaction has little effect on the functioning of formal organizations.

  4. Truth or fiction? • An individual’s statuses and roles are limited and unchanging. • True: Individuals cannot affect the statuses and roles into which they are born. • False: Individuals will take on many different statuses and roles throughout the course of their lives.

  5. Truth or fiction? 2. Sociologists have little interest in groups and group activities. • True: Individuals sociologists are interested in individuals rather than groups. • Sociologists closely study group dynamics and their functions in society.

  6. Truth or fiction? 3. Informal interaction has little effect on the functioning of formal organizations. • True: there are few or no informal interactions in formal organizations. • False: Although formal organizations are dominated by formal interactions, informal interactions have a strong influence on these organizations as well.

  7. Social structure • Social structure – • The network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction • Two major components of social structure: • Status • Role

  8. status • Status – • socially defined position in a group or in a society • Ex: mother, wife, teacher, student, daughter, sister, friend, Christian (all at the same time) • Make a list of your statuses (minimum 5).

  9. status • Ascribed status – • Status assigned according to qualities beyond a person’s control • Ex: teenager or adult (because of your age – didn’t earn it, can’t change it) • Achieved status – • Status acquired by an individual on the basis of some special skill, knowledge, or ability • Ex: occupations, marital status, education level (have some control over) • Master status – • For most people, one status tends to take rank above all others • Ex: student as teenager, occupation as adult – can change over course of life)

  10. role • Role – • The behavior – the rights and obligations – expected of someone occupying a particular status • “you occupy a status, but you play a role” – Ralph Linton • Reciprocal roles – • Corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses • Ex: husband and wife

  11. role • Role expectations – • Socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role • Ex: doctors are expected to treat their patients with skill and care • Role performance – • Actual behavior of a person performing a role • Ex: some doctors do not give their patients the best possible care

  12. role • Role set – • Different roles attached to a single status • Ex: mother – nurturing role, discipline role • Role conflict – • Occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status • Ex: to be a good employee an individual needs to go to work, but to be a good parent that individual needs to stay home and take care of a sick child • Role strain – • When a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status • Ex: boss who must maintain the morale of workers while getting them to work long periods of overtime

  13. Social institutions • When statuses and roles are organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society: • Ex: family, the economy, politics, education, religion, the media, medicine, science, etc.

  14. Types of social interaction • What types of interactions do you have with others on a daily basis? • What motivates you to engage in these interactions? • 5 types of interaction take place in societies throughout the world: - Exchange – competition - accommodation - Conflict - cooperation

  15. Exchange: • Exchange: • Individual, group, or societal interaction undertaken in an effort to receive a reward in return for actions. • Very basic type of interaction • EX: Dating, family life, friendship

  16. exchange • Reciprocity – the idea that if you do something for someone, that person owes you something in return • Exchange theory – theory that holds that people are motivated by self-interests in their interactions with other people • Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated

  17. competition • 2+ people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain

  18. Conflict • Deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person • 4 sources: • Wars • Disagreements within groups • Legal disputes • Clashes over ideology

  19. cooperation • 2+ people or groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than one person • No group can complete its tasks or achieve its goals without cooperation from its members • Ex: basketball team, employees of a corporation work together to increase sales for the organization

  20. Accommodation: • Accommodation: • A state of balance between cooperation and conflict. • EX: compromise; truce

  21. accommodation • State of balance between cooperation and conflict • Example: • Think about staying at a motel – the owner of the motel is accommodating you by letting you stay for the night in exchange for $60 – if the owner were cooperating with you, you would be able to stay for free – if the owner refused to let you stay under any condition, you would be in a conflict situation

  22. Types of Social Interactions

  23. Types of interactions • Review the types of interactions on P. 69 – 72 in the textbook. • With a partner, identify at least one example of each type of interaction that you have had in your relationship(s) with friend(s).

  24. Contrasting societies • Durkheim: • Preindustrial societies are held together by mechanical solidarity – when people share the same values and perform the same tasks, they become united in a common whole • As society becomes more industrialized, mechanical solidarity gives way to organic solidarity – impersonal social relationships that arise with increased job specialization, in which individuals can no longer provide for all of their own needs. • Many societal relationships based on need rather than on values

  25. Ferdinand tonnies • Gemeinschaft - societies in which most members know one another • Gesellschaft – most social relationships are based on need rather than on emotion

  26. Groups within society • Make a list of all the types of groups in which you belong. • Ex: family, friends, sports teams, clubs, e-communities

  27. What is a Group??? 4 main features: • Two or more people. • Interaction • Shared expectations • Common identity

  28. Differences in Groups: • Size • Time • Organization

  29. Differences in Groups: • Size: • Dyad • Decision making: difficult • Triad • Decision making: easier • Small group: • Sociologists say 15is largest group where people will work well together.

  30. Time: • Regardless of type of group, interaction is NOT continuous. • (NOT 24 hours a day)

  31. 3. Organization: formal groups – informal groups -

  32. Your groups • Label each group listed with the key terms that apply to it (formal, informal, primary, secondary, reference, in-group, out-group): • Thespian Society • Track and Field team • Prom dates • ROTC • GAS Club • Saturday School • Homecoming bonfire • Employed at PacSun • Mission group at church • Facebook

  33. Structure of formal organizations • Formal organization – large, complex secondary group that has been established to achieve specific goals • Bureaucracy – ranked authority structure that operates according to specific rules and procedures • Any organization that has many departments or bureaus • Rationality – subjecting every feature of human behavior to calculation, measurement, and control • What are some examples?

  34. Max Weber’s Model of Bureaucracies: • Division of labor • Work divided among specialists • Ranking of authority • Responsibility • Employment based on formal qualifications • Specific qualifications • Rules and regulations • Routine procedures • Specific lines of promotion and advancement • Job security

  35. Who fits Weber’s model??? • Governmental agencies & corporations • (strict organization) • Less Bureaucratic?? • Voluntary association: typically nonprofit organization formed to pursue some common interest. • Voluntary membership • EX: Charities; political interest groups

  36. How Effective Are Bureaucracies? Have several weaknesses: • Lose sight of their original goals. • Gov’t agencies more concerned about existence than providing useful services. • Focus more on rules instead of goals. • “Red Tape” : bureaucratic delay • Paperwork, long lines, etc….

  37. Weaknesses (cont’d) • Bureaucracies tend to result in oligarchies. • Few people rule • More interested in their own interests. • Iron low of oligarchy: • Tendency of organizations to become increasingly dominated by small groups of people.

  38. MEMO • Review the criticisms of bureaucracies discussed on pp. 87 and 89. • Write a memo to the head of a bureaucratic organization making suggestions for addressing these criticisms and improving the effectiveness of bureaucracies.

  39. interview • Choose someone you know that works in a bureaucratic organization. • Interview that person about what they like and dislike about working in a bureaucracy.

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