Notes Soc Chapter 3

SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
CHAPTER 3
Social Structure
Section 1: Building Blocks of Social Structure
Section 2: Types of Social Interaction
Section 3: Types of Societies
Section 4: Groups Within Society
Section 5: The Structure of Formal Organizations
Objectives:
 Identify and describe the two major
components of social structure.
 Analyze how these two components
of social structure affect human
interaction.
Major Components of Social Structure
 Social Structure -the network of interrelated
statuses and roles that guide human interaction,
give society its enduring characteristics and make
patterns of human interaction predictable
 Status – a socially defined position in a group or in
a society and has attached to it one or more roles
 Role – the behavior expected of someone
occupying a particular status
Roles, Status, and Human Interaction
 People’s particular roles and statuses affect how they relate
to one another.
 Statuses are ways of defining where individuals fit in society
and how they relate to others
 ascribed status – assigned according to qualities beyond a
person’s control
 achieved status – acquired through individuals own direct
efforts
 master status – one status tends to out-rank others, plays
the greatest role in one’s life and determining social identity
 Roles are the components of social structure
that bring statuses to life.
 reciprocal roles – corresponding roles that
define the patterns of interaction between
related statuses
 role expectations – socially determined
behaviors expected of a person performing a
role
 role performance – actual role behavior, does not
always match expectations
 role set – the different roles attached to a single
status
 role strain – occurs when a person has difficulty
meeting the role expectations of a single status
 role conflict – occurs between two statuses when
trying to fulfill expectations
 Role exit:
 Statuses and their related roles
determine the structure of groups in
society.
 social institution – statuses and roles are
organized to satisfy one or more of the
basic needs of society
Objectives:
 Identify the most common types of
social interaction.
 Distinguish between types of
interactions that stabilize social
structure and those that can disrupt it.
Common Types of Social Interaction
 When playing a role, must interact with others
 Interactions either change or stabilize society
 1. exchange – interacting in an effort to receive a
reward or a return for one’s actions
 reciprocity – you do something for someone
else, they owe you something in return
 exchange theory – people are motivated by self-
interest in their interactions
 2.Competition – two or more people or groups in opposition to
achieve a goal that only one can attain
 positive means of motivating people to perform roles society asks
 can also lead to psychological stress, lack of cooperation in social
relationships, inequality, and conflict
 3. Conflict – the deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to
oppose someone else, or to harm another person
 sources of conflict: war, within group, legal disputes, clashes
over ideology
 positive effects: reinforces group boundaries, strengthens group
loyalty, draw attention away from internal problems, lead to
social change

 4. Cooperation – two or more people or
groups working together to achieve a goal
that will benefit more than one of them
 5. Accommodation – a state of balance
between cooperation and conflict, a
compromise, truce
Interactions That Stabilize and Disrupt

 Competition and Conflict – disrupt social
stability
 Accommodation, Exchange, and
Cooperation stabilize social stability
Objectives:
 Identify and describe the types of
societies that exist in the world today.
 Explain the roles individuals play in
these models of group systems.
Types of Societies
 role behavior takes place in groups
 group – set of people who interact on the basis of
shared expectations and who possess some degree
of common identity
 largest and most complex groups are societies
 Sociologists classify societies according to
subsistence strategies.
 subsistence strategies – way a society uses
technology to provide for the needs of members
Types of Societies
 Preindustrial – food production is the main economic
activity and can be subdivided according to the level
of technology and the method of producing food
 hunting and gathering, pastoral societies, horticultural
society, agricultural society
 Industrial – emphasis shifts from the production of
food to the production of manufactured goods made
possible by changes in production methods
 leads to urbanization
 Postindustrial – much of the economy is involved in
providing information and services
 73% of Americans
 SmartNotebook Activity
Objectives:
 Summarize the major features of

primary and secondary groups.
 Identify the purposes that groups
fulfill.
What is a group?
 A group has 4 major features:
 two or more people, interaction among members,
shared expectations, common identity
 These distinguish a group from an aggregate or social
category
 aggregate – people gathered in the same place at the
same time, but lack organization or patterns
 social category – classifying people according to a
shared trait or common status
Types of Groups
 Features of Primary Groups:
Interact over a long period of time on a
direct and personal basis
Entire self of the individual is taken into
account
Relationships are intimate and face-to-face
Types of Groups
 Features of Secondary Groups:
Interaction is impersonal and temporary in
nature
Involve a reaction to only a part of the
individual’s self
Casual and limited in personal involvement
Types of Groups
 Features of Reference Groups:
 group with whom individuals identify and whose
attitudes and values they adopt
 Features of In-Groups and Out-Groups
 in-group – group that a person belongs to and
identifies with
 out-group – any group that the person does not
belong to or identify with
Types of Groups
 Features of E-communities
 e-community – people interact with one
another regularly on the Internet
 Features of Social Networks
 social network – web of relationships that is
formed by the sum total of a person’s
interactions with other people
Purposes of Groups
 Select leaders – people that influence the attitudes and
opinions of others
 instrumental leaders – task oriented
 expressive leaders – emotion oriented
 Define their boundaries – so that members can tell who
belongs and who does not
 Set goals, assign tasks, and make decisions
 Control their members’ behavior – if members violate
groups norms, the group cannot survive long
Objectives:
 Explain how bureaucracies are
structured.
 Evaluate the effectiveness of
bureaucracies.
What are Formal Organizations?
 Sociologists use the term formal organization to
describe a large, complex secondary group that has
been established to achieve specific goals.
 Most organizations are structured in the form of a
bureaucracy.
 bureaucracy – a ranked authority structure that operates
according to specific rules and procedures
 Bureaucracies were created to rationally organize
groups to complete a set of goals
Weber’s Model
 Division of Labor
 work is divided among specialists in various positions,
expected to complete specific task
 Ranking of Authority
 clear-cut lines of authority, each is responsible to a
supervisor at a higher level
 Employment based on formal qualifications
 individuals are hired based on tests, education, or previous
experience
 Rules and regulations
 identify the responsibilities of each person
 Specific lines of promotion and advancement
 job security and seniority
Effectiveness of Bureaucracies
 Efficient at coordinating large numbers of
people, defining tasks and rewards
 Provides stability
 Can lose sight of goals, create red tape,
and result in oligarchies
 In some instances, rewards incompetence
and expands uncontrollably

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SOCIOLOGY THE STUDY OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS

Common Types of Social Interaction

Interactions That Stabilize and Disrupt

 Summarize the major features of

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