Thinking Critically About Society An Introduction to

Sociology 1st Edition Russell Westhaver Solutions

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Thinking Critically About Society: An Introduction to Sociology

Teaching Resource Guide

Russell Westhaver

Chapter 5 Social Relationships and Social Status Positions

Learning Outcomes

1. Social Relationships and Social Status Positions: students should be able to define
what a social status position is as well as describe some of the features of a social
status position (achieved, ascribed, and master).
2. Social Status Positions, Norms, and Roles: students should be able to define what
social norms and social roles are, describe their relationship to social status
positions, and explain how they influence action and thought.
3. The Ambiguity and Contradiction of Social Norms and Social Roles: students
should be able to understand what it means to say that social norms and social
roles are ambiguous and contradictory. Students should also be able to use this
understanding to explain why social norms and roles guide, rather than determine,
thought and behaviour.
4. The Strength of Social Status Positions: students should be able to use the work of
Milgram to understand the enormous influence social norms and social roles have
on the human experience.
5. Social Status Positions, the Sociological Imagination, and Critical Thinking:
students should be able to explain how the idea of a social relationship furthers
our understanding of the sociological imagination and how this idea can be
connected to the practice of critical thinking.
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1. Social Relationships and Social Status Positions
This section introduces students to the notion of social status position and a range
of related concepts to help them develop consolidated understanding of what “social
relationship” means. Adams (1993) describes an exercise, suitable for larger classes, in
which students are asked to work through an extended kinship diagram. The exercise is
designed to illustrate the meaning of social status position. The strength of Adams’
(1993) exercise is that as students can be introduced to the concepts of social norms and
social roles as their attention is drawn to the appropriate relationship between various
kinship categories. Kinship categories can also be used to illustrate the distinction
between ascribed and achieved social status positions. Marciano (1986) describes a
discussion exercise in which students are asked to explain how they know the sex and
gender of their instructor. While the activity is useful for making explicit the implicit
assumptions students have about sex and gender, it can also support students’
understanding of the notion of master status.

2. Social Status Positions, Norms, and Roles

To support students’ understanding of how social relationships influence action
and thought, this section draws on the concepts of social norm and social role. Breaching
exercises are relatively straightforward means to help students to develop concrete
understandings of the nature and impact of social norms. Rafalovich (2006) provides both
a set of general guidelines for breaching exercises as well as particular breaching
exercise. He asks students to “hold up” a line by not moving forward in a public setting
like a coffee shop or store. An strength of Rafalovich’s (2006) discussion is his use of the
breaching exercise to speak to particular sociological concepts (in this case, anomie) in
addition to the general notion of social norms. In Schneider (2002) breaching exercise in
which students are given the option of imagining rather than actively breaching a norm.
A further refinement of general guidelines for breaching exercises can be found in
McGrane’s (1993) Zen inspired reflections (in which he asks students to stand in a public
space for ten minutes, doing nothing). Unlike Schneider (2002) McGrane (1993) provides
compelling sociological and pedagogical reasoning for demanding that students actually
do the breaching activity. Miserandino (1992) describes a means for studying social
norms that does not relying on breaching activities. Students are asked to conduct a short
survey measuring attitudes to the amount of time students spend doing homework during
a typical week. Students are then provided guiding questions for help identify the ideal
behaviour, the range of tolerable behaviour, and the intensity of the norm. A subsequent
discussion involves collating the entire class’ data to illustrate the extent of the norm.
While Miserandino (1992) activity focuses on attitudes to homework, she also provides
ideas for exploring other norms or comparing the same norm among different groups.
Winston (2007), in another non-breaching activity, asks students to introduce themselves
to each other during the first day of class in order to identify and understand social
norms. Discussion guides students to see a common pattern to introductions (in terms of
content) and identify a common set of norms that guide this interaction. In all of these
exercises, discussion can be used to help students identify the way a range of social
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norms cluster together as social roles and the social status positions to which these social
roles are connected.

3./4. The Ambiguity and Contradiction of Social Norms and

Social Roles and The Strength of Social Status Positions
Sections 3 and 4 of this chapter provide students with an opportunity to
understand that while social status positions, social norms, and social roles do not
perfectly determine what we do and think, they do exert considerable influence over the
human experience. Section three uses the ambiguity and contradiction of social norms
and social roles, along with the example of doctors who torture, to explain why norms
and roles do not perfectly determine how we act and think. The documentary Doctors of
the Dark Side (Davis, 2011) reviews evidence of medically supervised torture by the US
military and may be used as a support for this discussion. Section 3 reflects on the Jewish
Holocaust and Stanley Milgram’s studies on obedience to support students’ appreciation
of the role social status positions, social norms, and social play in determining what we
do and think. Milgram’s film Obedience, in which he documents some of his
experimental work, provides an excellent opportunity to illustrate some of the general
principles of this section. Zimbardo’s film Quiet Rage, with its emphasis on how the
students involved in his famous study, became their roles, can be used for similar
purposes. Abowitz (2002) and Friedman (1985) provide general insights for introducing
students to a discussion of the Holocaust. Abowitz’s (2002) discussion of the role
bureaucratic rationalization played in the Holocaust is particularly relevant for this
section.

5. Social Status Positions, the Sociological Imagination, and

Critical Thinking
This section asks students to reflect on grading in order to illustrate how the
practice of critical thinking, in conjunction with sociological concepts, can be used to
account for action and thought. Central to this discussion is encouraging students to
interpret relevant background information/data through the concepts of social status
position, social norms, and social roles. Two exercises from the pages of Teaching
Sociology can be used to ask students to generate and understand background information
in a similar way. Crone (1997) describes a panel debate activity, in which students are
asked to debate from particular political stances while Grauerholz and Scuteri (1989) ask
students to take on the identity of a member of a group to which they do not belong and
write journals from this other perspective. Both activities present students with an
opportunity to generate and gather background information about what we do and think
and apply social status position, social norms, and social roles to that information in order
to account for it.
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 References

Abowitz, D. A. (2002). Bringing the Sociological into the Discussion: Teaching the
Sociology of Genocide and the Holocaust. Teaching Sociology, 30(1), 26-38.
Adams, D. S. (1993). "Who Are Your Second Cousins?" A Lecture/Discussion
Technique for Introducing "Status," "Norm," and "Role" in the First Year
Sociology Course. Teaching Sociology, 21(1), 105-108.
Crone, J. A. (1997). Using Panel Debates to Increase Student Involvement in the
Introductory Sociology Class. Teaching Sociology, 25(3), 214-218.
Davis, M. (Writer). (2011). Doctors of the Dark Side. Iraq/USA.
Friedman, N. L. (1985). Teaching about the Holocaust. Teaching Sociology, 12(4), 449-
461.
Grauerholz, E., & Scuteri, G. M. (1989). Learning to Role-Take: A Teaching Technique
to Enhance Awareness of the "Other". Teaching Sociology, 17(4), 480-483.
Marciano, T. D. (1986). "How Do You Know I'm a Woman?": Freeing Up Role
Constraints in Sexual Diversity. Teaching Sociology, 14(3), 191-192.
McGrane, B. (1993). Zen Sociology: Don't Just Do Something, Stand There! Teaching
Sociology, 21(1), 79-84.
Miserandino, M. (1992). Studying a Social Norm. [Article]. Teaching of Psychology,
19(2), 103.
Rafalovich, A. (2006). Making Sociology Relevant: The Assignment and Application of
Breaching Experiments. Teaching Sociology, 34(2), 156-163.
Schneider, F. W. (2002). Applying Social Psychological Concepts to a Norm-Violation
Experience. [Article]. Teaching of Psychology, 29(1), 36-38.
Winston, F. (2007). First Day Sociology: Using Student Introductions to Illustrate the
Concept of Norms. Teaching Sociology, 35(2), 161-165.

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