Transcript Chapter 4 Social Structure and Social Interaction Levels of Sociological Analysis • Macrosociology – Large-Scale Features of Social Life • Microsociology – Focus on Social Interaction •

Chapter 4
Social Structure and
Social Interaction
Levels of Sociological Analysis
• Macrosociology
– Large-Scale Features of Social Life
• Microsociology
– Focus on Social Interaction
• Yield distinctive perspectives
• Needed to gain a fuller understanding of
social life
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The Macrosociological Perspective
– Status Symbols
– Master Statuses
– Status Inconsistency
– Roles
• Occupy Status
• Play Roles
– Groups
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The Macrosociological Perspective
• Sociological Significance of Social
Structure
– Guides Our Behavior
– Behavior Decided by Location in Social
Structure
• Culture
• Social Class
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Module 16
Statuses
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Status: Socially defined positions within a
large group or society
– Person can hold more than one status at
same time
Ascribed and Achieved Status
• Ascribed status
– A social position a person receives at birth or
takes involuntarily later in life
• Matters about which we have little choice
• Achieved status
– A social position a person takes on voluntarily
that reflects personal ability and effort
– People’s ascribed statuses influence the
statuses they achieve
Master Status
• A status that has special importance for
social identity, often shaping a person’s
entire life
– Can be negative as well as positive
– Gender is a master status because all societies
limit opportunities for women
– Physical disability can serve as a master status
The Macrosociological Perspective
• Social Class Divides People by…
– Income
– Education
– Occupational Prestige
– Social Status
– Ascribed
– Achieved
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Status Symbols
• What are status symbols?
– Home
– Car
– Clothes
– Etc.
Homes
Cars
And more…
Role
• Behavior expected of someone who
holds a particular status
– A person holds a status and performs a role
– Varies by culture
– In every society, actual role performance
varies according to a person’s unique
personality
– Some societies permit more individual
expression than others
Role
• Role Set
– A number of roles attached to a single status
• Differs by society
• Might or might not be important to social
identity
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Social Roles
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Social role: Set of expectations for
people who occupy a given status
Role conflict: When incompatible
expectations arise from two or more
social positions held by same person
Role strain: Difficulties that arise when
same social position imposes
conflicting demands and expectations
Role Strain and Role Conflict
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Module 16
Social Roles
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Role exit: Process of disengagement
from a role that is central to one’s identity
to establish a new role
– Doubt
– Search
for alternatives
– Action stage
– Creation of a
new identity
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Social Networks
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Social network: Series of social
relationships that link a person directly to
others, and indirectly links him or her to
still more people
– Networking: Involvement in social network;
valuable skill when job-hunting
– Can center on any activity
Module 16
Social Institutions
Social institution: Organized pattern of
beliefs and behavior centered on basic
social needs
█ Functionalist view
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1. Replacing personnel
2. Teaching new recruits
3. Producing
and distributing
goods and services
4. Preserving order
5. Providing and
maintaining a
sense of purpose
Module 16
Social Institutions
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Conflict view
– Major institutions help maintain
privileges of most powerful
individuals and groups within society
– Social institutions have
inherently conservative natures
– Social institutions operate in
gendered and racist environments
Module 16
Social Institutions
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Interactionist view
– Social institutions affect everyday behavior
– Social behavior conditioned by roles and
statuses
Module 16
Virtual Worlds
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With advances in technology, people can
maintain social networks electronically
– FaceBook and MySpace first stage in
creation of alternative forms of reality
– Virtual life can migrate into real life
– Online socializations may not necessarily
reinforce people’s prejudices
– Help preserve real-world networks
interrupted by war or other dislocations
Social Institutions
• Sociological Significance
• Ten Social Institutions in Industrialized
Societies
• Mass Media as an Emerging Social
Institution
• Comparing Functionalist and Conflict
Perspectives
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Societies—and Their Transformation
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Hunting and Gathering Societies
Pastoral and Horticultural Societies
Agricultural Societies
Industrial Societies
Postindustrial (Information) Societies
Biotech Societies: Is a New Type of
Society Emerging?
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Module 17
Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution
Approach
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Human societies undergo process of
change characterized by dominant
pattern known as sociocultural evolution
– Society’s level of technology is critical
• Technology: “Cultural information
about the ways in which the material
resources of the environment may
be used to satisfy human needs and
desires” (Nolan and Lenski 2006:361)
Module 17
Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution
Approach
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Preindustrial Societies
– Hunting-and-gathering society: (Early humanity)
People rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily
available
– Horticultural societies: (About 12,000 years ago)
People plant seeds and crops
– Agrarian societies: (About 5,000 years ago)
People are primarily engaged in production of food
Module 17
Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution
Approach
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Industrial societies: (Beginning 1760)
– People depend on mechanization to produce goods
and services
– People rely on inventions and energy sources
– People change function of family as a self-sufficient
unit
Module 17
Lenski’s Sociocultural Evolution
Approach
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Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies
– Postindustrial society: (Beginning 1960)
– Economic system engaged primarily in
processing and controlling information
– Postmodern society: (Beginning late 1970)
– Technologically sophisticated society
preoccupied with consumer goods and
media images
Social Institutions in Industrial and Postindustrial Societies
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Consequences of Animal
Domestication and Plant
Cultivation
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Changes in Social Order
• What Holds Society Together?
– Mechanical and Organic Solidarity
– Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
• It is continuously evolving as it responds to
changing values
• How Relevant Today?
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Microsociological Perspective:
Social Interaction in Everyday Life
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Stereotypes in Everyday Life
Personal Space
Eye Contact
Smiling
Body Language
Applied Body Language
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Microsociological Perspective:
Social Interaction in Everyday Life
• Stereotypes in Everyday Life
• Personal Space
– Intimate Distance
– Personal Distance
– Social Distance
– Public Distance
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Dramaturgy: The Presentation of
Self in Everyday Life
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Erving Goffman
Stages
Role Performance, Conflict, and Strain
Teamwork
Applying Impression Management
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Ethnomethodology: Uncovering
Background Assumptions
• The Study of How People Do Things
• Harold Garfinkle’s Experiments
– Conducted exercises to reveal our
background assumptions
– Most of these assumptions are unstated
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Social Construction of Reality
• Definition of the Situation Thomas Theorem
• Objective Reality vs. Subjective
Interpretation
• Gynecological Examinations
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Need for Macrosociology and
Microsociology
• Understanding Incomplete Without Both
• Consider the Example of Groups Studied
by William Chambliss
• Opportunities open or close to people
depending on their social class
– And how people learn different goals as they
grow up in different groups
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