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Sociology 374Introduction to Social Structure and Change

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SOCIAL STRUCTURESOCIAL STRUCTURE• SOCIAL STRUCTURE

– THE RELATIVELY STABLE PATTERNS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION THAT CHARACTERIZE HUMAN SOCIAL LIFE

• SOCIAL INTERACTION– AT THE MICRO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

• INDIVIDUAL TO INDIVIDUAL

– AT THE MEZZO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS• LARGER ORGANIZATIONS

– AT THE MACRO-LEVEL OF ANALYSIS• SOCIETIES and INSTITUTIONS

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THE SMALLEST ELEMENTSOF SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• STATUS– SOCIAL POSITIONS THAT PEOPLE OCCUPY

• Individual statuses largely define who that person is in relation to other people (A group is a set of interrelated status.)

– STATUS SET• ALL THE STATUSES THAT PERSONS OCCUPY AT A GIVEN TIMES IN

THEIR LIVE (e.g., gender status, religious status, family status, class status, occupational status, and many others)

– STATUS INCONSISTENCY• WHEN VARIOUS STATUSES A PERSON OCCUPIES DO NOT FIT

SMOOTHLY TOGETHER– A PERSON WITH A PH.D., WORKING AT SEARS SELLING APPLIANCES IN

ORDER TO BRING IN A LITTLE MORE MONEY FOR FAMILY EXPENSES

– PEOPLE OFTEN INTERACT WITH OTHERS ON THE BASIS OF THE STATUSES THEY OCCUPY RATHER THAN WHO THEY ARE

• STATUS SYMBOLS that identify the statues they are occupying thus tell others how to behave towards them (e.g., a wealthy person’s sports car, a street persons tattered clothes)

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• ASCRIBED STATUSES– THOSE STATUSES INTO WHICH A PERSON

IS BORN; INVOLUNTARILY ACQUIRED (e.g., gender, race, family status, etc.)

• ACHIEVED STATUSES– positions we acquire over time as a result of our

own actions and efforts (e.g. occupation, educational status, political affiliation, etc.)

• MASTER STATUS– Not all statuses are equally important– A POWERFUL STATUS THAT DETERMINES

A PERSON’S INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY• PROFESSOR, STUDENT, DISABLED, RICH OR

POOR,• MASTER STATUSES MAY BE HARD TO

ESCAPE OR CHANGE (e.g., Catholic priest)

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SOCIAL ROLES• ROLES

– THE BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS STEMMING FROM NORMS

– ASSOCIATED WITH VARIOUS STATUSES

• ROLE SET– ALL THE BEHAVIORS ASSOCIATED WITH A

PARTICULAR STATUS (e.g., college professor’s role set; teaching, research, service, etc.)

• ROLE EXPECTATION– THAT BEHAVIOR WHICH IS EXPECTED

• ROLE PERFORMANCE– THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE BY THE

PERSON

• ROLE MAKING– NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN ROLE

“PLAYERS”• A GOOD EXAMPLE IS THAT OF A COLLEGE

STUDENT AND WHAT IS EXPECTED, GIVEN, AND NEGOTIATED

LET’S SEE…I KNOW IWAS EXPECTED TO TURNTHIS IN LAST WEEK, BUTI DIDN’T PERFORM THETASK UNTIL LAST NIGHT,SO I BETTER TRY TONEGOTIATE MY ROLEAS “STUDENT” WITH MYPROFESSOR TODAY!

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• ROLE STRAIN– CONFLICT IN PERFORMING ALLTHE ELEMENTS OF THE ROLE

SET CONNECTED TO A SINGLE STATUS• Many students find it difficult to take a heavy course load and do equally well in

all their classes

• ROLE CONFLICT– CONFLICT IN PERFORMING ROLE EXPECTATIONS WHEN TWO

OR MORE STATUSES ARE INVOLVED• A PERSON WHO IS BOTH A POLICE OFFICER AND PARENT WHO

CATCHES HER SON BREAKING THE LAW

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SOCIAL GROUPSSOCIAL GROUPS• TO BE OR NOT TO BE A SOCIAL

GROUP• TWO OR MORE PEOPLE• WHO INTERACT ON A REGULAR

BASIS• AND FEEL SOME SENSE OF COMMON

IDENTITY and SOLIDARITY

• NON-GROUPS– AGGREGATES

• COLLECTIONS OF PEOPLE WHO HAPPEN TO BE IN THE SAME PLACE AT THE SAME TIME

– CATEGORIES• A COLLECTION OF PEOPLE WHO

SHARE A SOCIAL STATUS (e.g., college freshmen, sociologists, etc.)

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• REASONS FOR JOINING GROUPS– TO ENJOY A MEASURE OF INTIMACY– TO ACCOMPLISH GOALS

• TYPES OF GROUPS (Cooley, 1909)– PRIMARY GROUPS (e.g., family, peer

group, etc.)• SMALL, INTIMATE, AND ENDURING• CENTRAL TO OUR LIVES• CONTAIN SIGNIFICANT OTHERS

– SECONDARY GROUPS• LARGER, IMPERSONAL, TEMPORAL• OFTEN RELATED TO PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT• AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT

INTERACTING WITHIN SECONDARY GROUPS IS RISING

NO DOUBT ABOUTIT…I AM HAVING TOSPEND MUCH MORETIME ON THE JOB!

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OTHER Types of Groups GROU• IN- AND OUT-GROUPS

– IN-GROUPS• GROUPS THAT INDIVIDUALS JOIN

AND FOR WHICH THEY FEEL LOYALTY AND PRIDE

– OUT-GROUPS• GROUPS TOWARD WHICH

INDIVIDUALS MAY FEEL DISDAIN AND HOSTILITY

• RFERENCE GROUPS– people we look to in order to evaluate

our own behavior– REFERENCE GROUPS SERVE A

COUPLE OF FUNCTIONS• NORMATIVE FUNCTION

– GUIDANCE ABOUT HOW TO ACT

• COMPARATIVE FUNCTION– ASSESS ONESELF IN RELATION

TO OTHERS

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• GROUP DYNAMICS– THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE BETWEEN THE

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUPS

• MAJOR AREAS OF CONCERN– GROUP SIZE

• NUMBER OF RELATIONSHIP; FORM COALITIONS

– LEADERSHIP• EXPRESSIVE AND INSTRUMENTAL

– CONFORMITY• PRESSURES TO CONFORM TO GROUP MANDATES

– DECISION MAKING PROCESSES• OPEN OR CLOSED; CONSEQUENCES OF GROUPTHINK

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GROUP SIZE

• TERMS– DYADIC RELATIONSHIP

• TWO PERSONS• VERY UNSTABLE AND

EASILY DESOLVED

– TRIADIC RELATIONSHIP• THREE PERSONS• MANY MORE

RELATIONSHIPS POSSIBLE

– SMALL GROUPS• FOUR OR MORE MEMBERS• INTIMACY DECLINES AND

STABILITY INCREASES AS SIZE OF GROUP GROWS

THESE DYADICRELATIONSHIPS ARE INTIMATE…YES,BUT SO UNSTABLE

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• LEADERSHIP IN SMALL GROUPS– GROUPS TEND TO HAVE TWO DISTINCT

LEADERS DEVELOP• INSTRUMENT

– TASK-ORIENTED

• EXPRESSIVE– INTERESTED IN MORALE OF GROUP

– TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLE• AUTHORITARIAN

– TASK-ORIENTED, very directive, little attention to the members opinions

• DEMOCRATIC– ENCOURAGES GROUP DISCUSSION AND INPUT, build

group consensus

• LAISSEZ-FAIRE– Highly non directive, letting group members make their on

decisions without much help or input, LEAST EFFECTIVE AND OFTEN DETACHED

I PREFER TO BECOLLABORATIVE,BUT I CAN ALSODO WHATEVER ITTAKES TO GET THEJOB DONE!

DON’T

STEREOTYPE

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CONFORMITYAND DECISION-MAKING

• ON CONFORMITY– STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT GROUPS

INFLUENCE CONFORMITY• ASCH’S RESEARCH

• DECISION-MAKING– GROUPS OFFER LARGER POOL TO DRAW

FROM WITH RESPECT TO BRAINSTORMING EFFORTS

– GROUP THINK• Tendency of highly cohesive groups to make poor

decisions because the members are unwilling to threaten the group’s solidarity

AND, OF COURSE,EVERYONE AGREESWITH THE GROUP’SPOSITION…RIGHT!?!

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LARGER ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE

NETWORKS– BROAD WEB OF SOCIAL TIES THAT RADIATES

OUT FROM A GIVEN INDIVIDUAL• STANLEY MILGRAM’S RESEARCH (1967)

– EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL CAREERS (e.g., job search)

– NETWORKS ARE DIVIDED INTO• STRONG LINKS

– PERSONS WHO KNOW EACH OTHER WELL

• WEAK LINKS– PERSONS WHO ARE LESS INTIMATE

– “STRENGTH OF WEEK TIES”

IT SURE IS GREATTO BE ABLE TOUSE YOUR INPUT ON THIS DRAFT…NETWORKING REALLY PAYS OFF!

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OTHER ELEMENTS• FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS

– A LARGE SECONDARY GROUP– DESIGNED TO ACCOMPLISH

SPECIFIC TASKS– AN ELABORATE INTERNAL

DIVISION OF LABOR

• COMMUNITIES– RELATIVELY LARGE NUMBER OF

PEOPLE WHO LIVE TOGETHER IN A SINGLE GEOGRAPHIC AREA

– CONNECTED BY A VARIETY OF SOCIAL BONDS

• STRATA (Layers)– SEGMENTS WITHIN A LARGE

POPULATION WHICH RECEIVE DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF SCARCE AND VALUED RESOURCES (e.g, social classes, racial groups, etc.)

COMMUNITIES AREVIBRANT AND VERYDYNAMIC ELEMENTSOF SOCIAL STRUCTURE

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SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS• SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

– Widely accepted, rather stable clusters of roles, statuses, norms, values, and groups that develop around the basic need of society (predictable, established ways to provide for one or more of a society’s basic needs)

– Five core institutions: the family, religion, the economy, the political institution, and education

– Other examples of institutions: science, law and criminal justice system, the military, etc.)

– Theses institutions fulfill five critical needs of society• Replacing members (the family)• Socializing new members (education, religion)• Producing and distributing goods and services (the economy)• Preserving order (law and criminal justice system, the military)• Proving a sense of meaning and purpose (religion)

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SOCIETIES

• THE LARGEST ELEMENT OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE– A SIZABLE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO INTERACT,

SHARE A CULTURE, AND USUALLY LIVE IN A SINGLE GEOGRAPHIC TERRITORY

• SOCIETIES ARE SELF-PERPETUATING• SOCIETIES ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE

INTERDEPENDENT

– SOCIETIES DO EVOLVE OVER TIME, ALBEIT VERY SLOWLY

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Social structure becomes more diffuse and more global.

• Face-to-face interaction vs. Diffuse interaction (e.g., Communicating online, virtual communities, etc)

• Diffuse forms of social structure (no territorial limits)

• Toward a global society?

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Summary

1. Social structure consists of the relatively stable patterns of social interaction that characterizes human social life; it is within the context of social structure that people enact culture.

2. Statuses are the key components from which larger units of social structure are constructed.

3. Statuses may be ascribed or achieved; when a status is especially important in determining an individual's identity, it is called a master status.

4. Roles are the dynamic aspect of statuses - we occupy a status but play a role.

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Summary 5. Role strain and role conflict can result when people play several roles at the same time.

6. Social groups consist of several people who regularly interact and feel some sense of solidarity or common identity.

7. Primary groups provide warmth and intimacy, where as secondary groups are important for accomplishing specific objectives.

8. In-groups, out-groups, and reference groups are other important types of social groups.

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Summary

9. The size of the group is crucial in determining how it functions.

10. All groups have two types of leader: instrumental leaders, who concentrate on achieving group goals, and expressive leaders, who maintain group morale.

11. People in small groups feel strong pressure to conform to the expectations of others and to obey group leaders.

12. Groupthink can interfere with the ability of a cohesive group to make wise decisions.

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Summary

13. Networks are an increasingly important type of relatively diffuse social structure.

14. Larger elements of social structure include formal organizations, communities, strata, institutions and societies.

15. Social structure becomes more diffuse and more global.