Social Structure and Social Interaction

Starter In your notes, write down 5 descriptions for yourself. Try to keep these to nouns and not adjectives. Example: Ms. Manning is a teacher. NOT: Ms. Manning is knowledgeable about social studies. We will come back to these descriptions a little later, so don’t lose them!

Social Structure Society is a set of interrelated parts (which sociologists believe that?) Social structure: interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction. Sociologists describe a given social structure using two components: - Status - Role

Describing One’s Status Status: socially defined position in a group or in a society. Various types of statuses: -Ascribed status: a status assigned based on quality’s beyond someone’s control. Based on inherited traits or age (i.e. race, heritage, gender). -Achieved status: have control over and reached through effort; based on skills, ability or knowledge (i.e. basketball player, salutatorian). -Master status: the one status that tends to rank above the others and has the greatest role in determining one’s social identity.

Changes in Status Can add to an individual’s achieved status. Other achieved statuses do not go away, though, so possibilities are endless. An individual’s master status can change over time. What defines you now may not define you in years. ▫For example, was Albert Einstein always known as a Nobel Price winner? What could be an example of his master status when he was 12?

Roles Role: the behavior, rights and obligations expected of someone occupying a given status. ▫Ralph Linton: “You occupy a status, but you play a role.” Reciprocal roles: corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses (i.e. husband and wife). Role expectations: socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role. Role performance: actual role behavior; may not match with the expectation.

Roles (cont’d) With a single status, there can be many roles to perform. The many roles attached to a single status are known as a role set. Sometimes these role sets are contradictory to the many statuses we occupy. The difficulty associated with trying to fulfill many role sets is known as role conflict. Role strain: happens when an individual has difficulty meeting the expectations of a single status.

Social Institutions When statuses and roles are organized to meet the basic needs for society it becomes known as a social institution. Examples of social institutions include: family, friends, education, religion, the economy, etc.

Social Interactions Interactions take many forms. These forms are: ▫Exchange ▫Competition ▫Conflict ▫Cooperation ▫Accomodation

Methods of Interaction Exchange: interactions based on return for actions. ▫All have reciprocity: idea that there is a given take in all relationships. Exchange Theory: people are motivated by self-interest; this self-interest determines interactions. M&feature=related

Interaction (cont’d) Competition: two or more people or groups oppose one another to achieve a goal. Conflict: deliberate attempt to control via force, opposition or harm. Cooperation: two or more people or groups work to achieve a goal that benefits more than one. Accommodation: state of balance between conflict and cooperation. ▫Four forms: compromise, truce, mediation and arbitration.