CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIAL INTERACTION

Objectives:Differentiate between macrosociological

and microsociological approaches to studying social life.

Understand social structure, lists its major components, and discuss how it guides people’s behaviors

Understand the concepts of culture, social class, social status, roles, groups, and social institutions

LEVELS OF SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Macrosociology: analysis of social life that focuses on broad features of society, such as social class and the relationships of groups to one another; an approach usually used by functionalists and conflict theorists

Microsociology: analysis of social life that focuses on social interaction (what people do when they are in one another’s presence); an approach usually used by symbolic interactionists

MACROSOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Social Structure: the framework that surrounds us, consisting of the relationships of people and groups to one another, which give direction to and set limits on behavior

guides our behaviormany times overrides personal

feelings and desirespeople learn behaviors and

attitudes because of their location in the social structure

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE

1) Culture—groups language, beliefs, values, behaviors, and gestures

broadest framework for human behavior

2) Social Class—based on income, education, and occupational prestige

influences not only behaviors, but also ideas and attitudes

COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE CONT…

3) Social Status—social ranking; the position that someone occupies in society or a social groupsome statuses hold prestige, others don’tpeople can have multiple statuses at once (status set)

Types of Statuses:--Ascribed Status: positions an individual either

inherits at birth or receives involuntarily later in life

--Achieved Status: positions that are earned, accomplished, or involve at least some effort or activity on the individual’s part

COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE CONT…

3) Social Status cont….Status Symbols: items used to identify a status (ie: wedding rings—marital status, uniforms, guns, badges—occupation/authority)Master Status: Status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies (ie: sex, race, age)

Video Example: Anthony Robles—National Championship wrestler from ASU

--What do you think is his Master Status?

COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE CONT…

4) Roles—behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status occupy a status vs. play a role (ie: status—male, role—being “tough”)roles lay out what is expected of people

Role exit: refers to the ending of a role, including the adjustments people make when they face not “being” what they formally were (ie: graduating college, getting a divorce)

COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE CONT…

5) Groups—people who have something in common and who believe that what they have in common is significant; social groupregularly interact with one anothershare values, norms and expectationsmust yield to others the right to make certain decisions about our behavior (ie: curfew, attending group meetings)

COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE CONT…

6) Social Institutions—the organized usual, or standard ways by which society meets its basic needsexamples: family, religion, education, economics, medicine, politics, law, science, military and mass media (see figure 4.1 pg 100)establish the context in which people live, shape their priorities, obligations, activities, relationships, behaviors, thoughts and orientations (ie: economic system—work week)

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS CONT…

Functionalist Views:social institutions exist because they meet

universal needs; provides society with functional requisites (major tasks a society must fulfill to survive)

Five Functional Requisites:--Replacing Members--Socializing New Members--Producing and Distributing Goods and Services--Preserving Order--Providing a Sense of Purpose

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS CONT…

Conflict Views:Social institutions are the primary

means by which the members of the elite maintain their privileged positions

Purpose of social institutions is to preserve the social order, which perpetuates social inequality

WHAT HOLDS SOCIETY TOGETHER?

Mechanical and Organic Solidarity--Durkheim--key to social cohesion (degree to which members

of a group or society feel united by shared values and other social bonds) is mechanical solidarity (unity that a people feel as a result of performing the same or similar tasks)

--As societies get larger, their division of labor (how they divide up work) becomes more specialized—each person contributes to the welfare of the whole

--Organic Solidarity (solidarity based upon the interdependence that results from division of labor; need others to fulfill their jobs)

WHAT HOLDS SOCIETY TOGETHER? CONT…

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft--Ferdinand Tonnies--Gemeinschaft—a type of society in

which life is intimate; a community in which everyone knows everyone else and people share a sense of togetherness (before industrialization)

--Gesellschaft—a type of society that is dominated by impersonal relationships, individual accomplishments and self-interest (after industrialization)