Social Structure and Social Interaction Chapter Four Henslin’s Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach ((Rubinfield and Zumpetta) )

Levels of Sociological Analysis: Macrosociology – the focus is on the large scale features of social life. Funtionalists/Conflict Theorist utilize macrosociology when they study the larger features of society and social life. Microsociology – focuses on social interactions. Symbolic Interactionalists utilize microsociology focusing on face to face social interactions and studying how people define their worlds and how that definition influences their behavior.)

What is Social Structure? Social Structure consists of culture, social class, roles, groups, social institutions uniting to form the foundation for how we view the world.

What are Social Institutions? Social Institutions are the standard means that a society develops to meet its basic needs.

Social Institutions in Industrialized Societies include: The Family Religion Law Politics Economics Education Medicine Science Military Mass Media is quickly becoming a tenth social institution in the US.

What holds society together? Emile Durkheim postulated that in an agricultural society people are united by mechanical solidarity (similar views and feelings) With industrialization comes organic solidarity (people depend on one another to do their job)

Stereotypes and social behavior: When we first meet someone, we classify them according the their ‘visible’ characteristics. Our preconceived ideas about those characteristics guide our behavior towards them and may influence the person to behave in way to reinforce our stereotypes.

Distance Zones and Personal Space All cultures exhibit various degrees of need for personal space bubbles. In the United States, we typically use four different ‘distance zones’: Intimate Personal Social Public

Erving Goffman’s Dramaturgy: Goffman developed Dramaturgy, which analyzes everyday life in terms of the stage. Centered around the concept of impression management which are our attempts to control the impressions we make on others. using sign-vehicles such as appearance and manner. Our performance often calls for teamwork and face-saving behavior.

What is a Social Construct of Reality? Social Constructs are how we create our views of the world, which in turn impact our actions and behaviors. Ethnomythodology is the study of how people make sense of everyday life by trying to uncover background assumptions, which are our basic ideas about the way life is.

Why are both levels of analysis needed? Because each focuses on different aspects of the human experience, both microsociology and macrosociology are needed to understand social life. ******