Sociology

Sixteenth Edition, Global Edition

Social Interaction in
Everyday Life

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Social Interaction
• What is social interaction?
– Social interaction is the process by which people act and
react in relation to others.
– Humans rely on social structure to make sense out of
everyday situations.

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 wha t?
e nc e d by
lu
vior is in f u d e
eh a tt i t
Soc ia l B ea
c tiv
b je
Su

Closed
environment Personal Social
Attitute Behavior

Objective conditions d e
u
(Macro): Socio-economic, tt it
a
e
cultural and politic tiv
c
b je
O

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Social Structure

• Members of every society have different

positions in that society. A social position
that a person holds is called social status.
• Status is part of our social identity and
helps to define our relationship with others.
• As one sociologist says “Before we can
deal with someone we need to know who
is the person is

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE 07/31/2021 5

CULTURE
Statuses & Roles

Ec
on Ascribed Achieved
o m
y
Social Institutions
CULTURE

Social Groups
CULTURE
Ed
u c at

Primary
olu
i on INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR,
Po l

v
In
itics CONDITION, IDENTITIES &
INTERACTION
In Vo
Vo vo lu
Mass Media lu lu
y o
h

il g i
alt

Fam eli Secondary

He

R
n
Social Institutions Social Groups
Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved CULTURE
 COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
• 1. CULTURE: Everything people create and share as
members of society.
• 2. SOCIAL GROUPS: People connected together
and having awareness of their connectedness.
• 3. STATUSES: Social positions people occupy
• 4. ROLES: acting or playing out organized or
negotiated scripts that accompany social positions.
• 5. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: Organized patterns of
rules/norms, values, beliefs, functions and
interaction centered on basic social needs of
people.

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 07/31/2021 7

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE COMPONENTS OF THE SOCIAL

STRUCTURE AND INTERACTION

Social Interaction
CULTURE
Social Groups

Social Institutions

Individual/Group
Interaction, condition
and identity

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Social Structure: Status

• Social positions a person holds at a given time

– Dance partner
– Boss
– Friend
– Harley club member
– Sports participant
– Business manager

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Status set

• A person can hold many statuses at once. Status

set is all the statuses a person holds at a given
time (example)
• Status set change over our life course by gaining
and losing of status
Request: Make a list of 10 important statuses in
your life.

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Type of Status

• Ascribed: Involuntary positions and it is a social position a

person receives at birth or take involuntarily later in life.
This status with no choice. This kind of status is more
likely to exist in closed society
• Achieved status: refer to a position a person takes on
voluntarily with ability and effort. This status happens in
open society.
• High prestige statuses are more likely for richer, while
poorer people are more likely to hold lower statuses such
as unemployed, criminal

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

•
 Master Status

• Master status:
– Involves special importance for social identity, shaping
a person's life
• Master status is a status that has special importance for
social identity, often shaping a person’s entire life.
• For most people a job is a master status because it relates
to social background, education and income.
• Master status can be positive or negative. For example:
disable people, women status

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Social Structure: Role

• Role: Behavior
expected of
someone who holds
a particular status
“Holding status but
play a role”.
• Role set: Roles
attached to a single
status

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

 Social Role Conflict and Role Strain
• Role conflict
– Involves roles connected to two or more statuses
• Example
– A police officer who catches her own son using drugs at home
– Roles: Mother and police officer
• Role strain
– Involves roles connected to a single status
• Example
– Manager who tries to balance concern for workers with task
requirements
– Roles: Office manager and fellow worker
Give one example of role conflict and role strain!!
Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved
 Role exit

• Role exit
– Involves disengaging from social roles
• Process of becoming an “ex” : Many reasons to exit a role:
– No ability to continue or move up to higher status
– Can be very traumatic without proper preparation
– Can contribute to doubts about ability to continue with a
certain role
– Involves examination of new roles that lead to a turning point

• Status and role vary by culture.

Try to think of roles a woman in Vietnam has to perform? How
about a woman in Western culture?

Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved