sociology
heyman
chpt.4-SocialStructureandSocialInteraction23.pptxChpt. 4- Social Structure and Social Interaction
Refers to the typical patterns of a group (guides our behavior).
Major Components:
1. Culture(chpt. 2)- values, language, symbols, behaviors and material objects.
2. Social Class(chpt. 8)- education, income and occupational prestige.
3. Status- a position occupied by a person in a group (family, school, society, etc.).
Social Structure-Macrosociology
a. Ascribed Status- involuntary; often inherited at birth.
b. Achieved Status- voluntary; earned or achieved.
c. Status Set- all of the positions an individual occupies.
d. Status Symbol- indicators of status; includes items that display prestige.
*Examples: a wedding band, a necklace with a cross, a fur coat, a rolls royce, etc.
(Major Components-Social Structure)
e. Master Status- a status that defines a person (cuts across your other statuses).
*Examples: One’s sex or race, disability, being President, etc.
4. Roles- behaviors, obligations and privileges attached to a status.
a. Role Conflict- conflict across roles(statuses).
*Examples: student-athlete, student-parent, parent-employee, etc.
(Major Components-Social Structure)
b. Role Strain- strain within a single role(status).
*“You occupy a status, but you play a role.”
5. Groups(chpt. 5)- people who share common interests and a common identity.
6. Social Institutions- the organized ways that each society develops to meet its basic needs.
a. Government
b. Economy
c. Family
d. Education
(Major Components- Social Structure)
e. Religion
f. Law
g. Medicine (Health Care)
h. Science/Technology
i. Military
Also- Mass Media and Sports (emerging institutions).
7. Societies- people who share a culture and a territory.
(Major Components- Social Structure)
A society’s structure can be changed through technological innovation.
Social Inequality increased as societies have evolved.
1. What caused the agricultural revolution (based on farming and the rearing of animals)?
*The plow
2. What caused the industrial revolution (based on production and manufacturing)?
* The steam engine
3. What caused the post-industrial revolution (based on information, services, and technology)?
* The microchip
The Four Social Revolutions
Interaction- what happens when people are in one another’s presence (but also includes longer-distance interactions).
*Examples: Personal space, eye contact, smiling, body language, etc.
1. Personal Space- culturally determined. Four distance zones in North America are:
a. Intimate Distance Zone: Body-18 inches.
-Reserved for intimates.
b. Personal Distance Zone: 18 inches from body to 4 feet from our body.
-For ordinary conversations.
Social Interaction-Microsociology
c. Social Distance Zone: 4 feet-12 feet from body.
-Formal conversations (like a job interview).
d. Public Distance Zone: 12 feet from body and beyond.
-Public speaking.
2. Dramaturgy-(Erving Goffman, 1922-1982).
-The study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
*Like actors on a stage, we play different roles in our lives.
(Social Interaction)
a. Impression Management- trying to control how others perceive us.
b. Front Stage Performances- this is where we perform-how we want others to see us.
c. Back Stage Performances- this is who we are behind closed doors.
d. Role Performance- how someone performs a role (style, personality, charisma, etc.).
(Social Interaction)
* “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts.”
* “All the world’s indeed a stage, And we are merely players, Performers and portrayers, Each another’s audience, Outside the gilded cage” (written by Neal Peart of RUSH, 1981).
William Shakespeare
3. Ethnomethodology- the study of how people use background assumptions (common sense understandings) to make sense out of life.
a. Background Assumptions- your ideas about the way life is and how things should work.
*Example: How should we respond when someone asks “How are you?”
**Break conventional rules in order to uncover unnoticed patterns of everyday life.
(Social Interaction)
4. The Social Construction of Reality
-The use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real (meaning is not inherent in our everyday reality).
-The Thomas Theorem: situations defined as real become real in their consequences (perception is reality).
*Examples: Germs in historical/global perspective, gynecological exams.
(Social Interaction)
Each one focuses on different aspects of the human experience; both are necessary to understand social life.
Macro/Micro Connection
