Social Status and Roles Review Status: a socially defined position within a group or society Role:...
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Transcript of Social Status and Roles Review Status: a socially defined position within a group or society Role:...
Social Status and Roles
Review
Status: a socially defined position within a group or society
Role: the behavior (actions) expected of a person who holds a status.
We all have statuses and roles!!!
Types of Statuses
Achieved Status: a status assigned to a person because of some special skill, ability, achievement, or merit.
Job, Team membership, family relationships such as mother or husband
Ascribed Status: a status assigned according to conditions beyond a person’s control
Ex: race, gender, age, family relationships such as brother or sister
Question 1
How does your status and/or role affect the behavior of others?
Socialization
Definition: the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies.
Labeling oneself is the first step in Socialization and including yourself in a social structure. Why?
Question #2
In what ways have you been socialized? What methods did the society use to socialize you as a functional person?
Question #3
How does your status or role affect your behavior as a person? Does it define your behavior or does your behavior define the role or status?
Question #4
Do you think a person can avoid being labeled with a status or role? Why or Why not?
Formal Organizations
Large, complex secondary groups that are established to achieve specific goals.
Formal Organizations
Size -- tend to be large
Time -- tend to be long-lasting
Interaction -- very formal
What makes interaction formal?
•Process -- specific methods
•Regulations -- rules that govern the operation of the group
This stems from Rationalization ...
The process by which every feature of human life becomes subject to calculation, measurement, & control.
Examples of Formal Organizations
•Government
•Schools
•Large Businesses
Most large/formal organizations are known as a
BureaucracyBureaucracy......a ranked authority structure that operates according to specific rules and procedures.
Bureaucracy...
Another term for a ranked authority structure is a hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is like a pyramid of people ...
Hierarchy
Most of the people are at the bottom, while most of the power is at the top!
Hierarchy
Power People
Max Weber’s Model of Bureaucracy
A) Division of Labor
B) Ranking of Authority
C) Employment based on formal qualifications
Max Weber’s Model of Bureaucracy
D) Rules and regulations
E) Specific lines of promotion and advancement
Bureaucracy
The focus of the group is the rules and processes,
NOT the needs or individual concerns
Formal Organizations are often MERITOCRACIES…
(…or at least they are supposed to be!)
Meritocracy -- an organization in which members gain positions & promotions based on having “earned” them
Criticisms
•Institutional Momentum
•Bureaucratic Personalities
•Red Tape
•Iron Law of Oligarchy
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
A) Self Continuation -- the organization’s main goal is to continue its own existence
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
This is called “Institutional Momentum” -- the larger a bureaucracy is and the longer it is around, the harder it is to stop.
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
B) Bureaucratic personalities -- the job becomes a ritual, rules replace common sense
Sorry, I’m just doing my job!
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
C) Red tape -- bureaucratic delay filling out forms, standing in lines, being sent to different departments
Next Window Please
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
D) Robert Michel’s “Iron Law of Oligarchy” -- the tendency for power to become concentrated at the top of a bureaucracy
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
E) C. Northcote Parkinson’s Law -- work expands to fill the time available for its completion
Criticisms of Formal Organizations
One other major criticism of bureaucracies is Lawrence J. Peter’s “Peter Principle”
The Peter Principle
In a hierarchy, a person will tend to be promoted until he reaches his level of incompetence.
The Peter Principle
It’s related to meritocracy -- a person earns a promotion at one level ...
The Peter Principle
… and doesn’t lose it if they are incompetent at the next level.
The Peter Principle
They never earn another promotion, so they stay at their level of incompetence.
The Peter Principle
EX: a student who fails 11th grade is not sent back to 10th, they stay in 11th until they pass.
Review -- What is a Formal Organization?
A large, complex secondary group that is established to achieve specific goals.
Characteristics
Size -- tend to be large
Time -- tend to be long-lasting
Interaction -- very formal
What is a hierarchy?
Power People
What is a Meritocracy?
Meritocracy -- an organization in which members gain positions & promotions based on having “earned” them
Bureaucracies in Our Lives
Education System, Internal Revenue Service, Hospitals
Bureaucracy- Bureaucracy- ConclusionConclusionBureaucracies are a “necessary evil’.
They are better at handling a great deal of work than handling individuals needs.
They serve important functions (education, healthcare, etc.).
We could not operate without bureaucracies, but bureaucracies could operate more efficiently.
Bureaucracy-
A ranked authority structure that operates according to specific
rules and procedures
Bureaucracy
Necessary but greatly disliked by most people
Bureaucracy
The best way to coordinate large numbers of people to achieve large-scale goals
Max Weber-
Model of bureaucracy
Interactionist
Perspective
Max Weber-
A. Division of Labor
Max Weber-
B. Ranking of Authority
Max Weber-
C. Employment based on formal qualifications
Max Weber-
D. Rules and Regulations
Max Weber-
E. Specific lines of advancement and promotion
Bureaucracy
The focus of the group is the rules and processes,
NOT the needs or individual concerns
Criticisms of Bureaucracies
A. Institutional Momentum-
once started, bureaucracies have a vested interest in maintaining themselves- save people’s jobs
Criticisms of Bureaucracies
B. Peter Principle-
in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to the level of his or her incompetence
Criticisms of Bureaucracies
C. Red Tape-
rules and regulations (forms, lines, “next window”) which delay the achievement of goals
Criticisms of Bureaucracies
D. Iron Law of Oligarchy-
power is held by only a few people at the very top of the bureaucracy
Criticisms of Bureaucracies
E. Parkinson’s Law-
work expands to fill the time available for its completion
Bureaucracies in Our Lives
Education System, Internal Revenue Service, Hospitals
Bureaucracy- ConclusionBureaucracies are a “necessary evil’.
They are better at handling a great deal of work than handling individuals needs.
They serve important functions (education, healthcare, etc.).
We could not operate without bureaucracies, but bureaucracies could operate more efficiently.