Micro theory of roles (2/12) Complete Murray Micro-theory: roles and nets The power of roles

Quiz scores F D C B A TO BE UPDATED

Criticisms of Murray Even if his argument comes to correct conclusions, it is clearly flawed: 1. Technically, the data do not establish what they purport to establish. 2. Conceptually, the variables are not valid measures of “government” and “no government” 3. The general method ignores reciprocal and functional relations of programs and problems.

Some technical Problems with Murray’s analysis 1: What range of speed is involved? The lowered speed limit was not designed to reduce fatalities, and no one thought it would do so. 2: What highways? The lower speed limits were only on the interstates. Most fatalities are local. Murray’s data is not confined to interstates. 3. Better cars, better highways, and inspections (which Murray thinks lowered fatalities) are almost certainly the result of the kinds of policies he opposes. Pinto’s were profitable.

A general issue of validity The notion that speed limits are the main role or function of government is extraordinarily narrow. The improvement of roads and of safety, which Murray believes drove the progressive decline of fatalities per mile was a function of government programs. The provision of infrastructure is a public good; even toll highways require government.

A more general issue of method Murray confines his analysis to 2 variables with no feedbacks –assuming that limits affect fatalities, but fatalities cannot affect limits. –This is analogous to a classic fallacy –That fire engines do not decrease fire damage. –Looking at functional feedbacks avoids the fallacy. i.e. To know whether the association of programs to policies should be positive or negative would be to estimate the size of the arrows. Social Problems Social Policies Social Problems +-

The fire engine fallacy Suppose one were to decide on whether to have a public fire company by seeing whether there was greater or lesser damage when there were more fire engines. But when there are more fire engines, there is more damage. Fire engines do not cause damage, but they respond to functional need: larger fires. If policies are effective, but not totally effective, they will be positively associated with problems.

A General issue of Libertarianism Many of the proposals of Libertarians, like Murray, are an attempt to go back to the kind of social structure of the 19 th c. There was little government and lots of mutual aid (e.g. bucket brigades for fires.) One cannot go back to little house on the prairie But the Great San Francisco Fire shows the dysfunctionality of relying on private fire companies and bucket brigades in a modern city.

Micro- and macro- structures Micro-structure is often defined as the analysis of face-to face interactions and thus the immediate social constraints on individual choices. The two main approaches are in terms of roles and in terms of networks. Both roles and networks require an analysis of social structures to be understood. E.g. cashing a check or a jury trial

Two main approaches to micro- structure Roles: Look at social structure as a set of “jobs” with “functional requirements” and normative expectations. –Benny’s gang, KOS, can also be analyzed as a set of normatively governed roles. Network: Look at social structure as a set of connections of different kinds between namable individuals. –Networks are key to how blood feud’s start and to how blood feuds can stop.

Roles: expectations and functions as self-maintaining If the particular person in a role dies or fails to fulfill the role, then they will be replaced. The role is independent of the person. Eg. A ‘job’ But the person living in poverty may be a social slot as well, –either because the no. of persons > the no. of jobs –or because more than ½ of hungry families have a full time worker.

The role structure: Student Other examples: a job, a jury trial, KOS, a church.

Networks as self-reinforcing Often the people you hang around with Bring you into contact with those Who reinforce the ideas and behaviors That lead to your hanging with them. –“Birds of a feather, flock together.” –But if you flock with those birds, you will develop those feathers. –E.g. Alcoholics Anonymous: to maintain sobriety, you have to change people, places and things.

The network of Sociology professor Any network is as unique as a fingerprint

Micro-structures of Roles A social structure can be analyzed as a set of statuses each of which has a pattern of appropriate behavior (role). * role –“Appropriate”means that some kind of sanctioning control will be exerted for inappropriate behavior. –Roles are in sets, so that the other roles in a given set often exert pressures to behave appropriately. –The society as a role structure was the basis of a functional, normative conception of the social system. –The roles and statuses exist independently of the person occupying them, as a “job” in a company may exist even if it is vacant.

Example: a jury trial and the development of the law Someone called to jury duty may occupy the status of “juror” at the same time they occupy many other statuses (male, student) Role strain occurs when the expectations of different members of a set are inconsistent. Role conflict occurs when the statuses occupied by an individual push him/her in different directions. Functionalists analyze social structure as a normatively integrated set of roles, Governed by norms and values.

Debated norms Often there is considerable debate about what are the real “norms” that operate. A jury trial operates under norms of equality before the law, that is blind to class or race. Colin Ferguson and Bernard Goetz both shot a number of people and both used the defense of a fear-and-rage. Ferguson was found guilty, and Goetz acquitted. Why? What are the roles and strains operating on the development of race relations in the US?

Roles: institutional racism If you worked at Auschwitz, would you incinerate Jews? Probably, and if not you would be replaced. Was there anyplace in Nazi Germany that you would work that was not part of the system of incinerating Jews? No. Germany was institutionally racist in The concept of institutional racism is that often the ordinary operation of businesses, farms, schools, courts, etc. can lead to discriminatory, racist behavior that is motivated by ordinary profit, self- interest, etc.

The Power of roles: Stanley Milgram’s** Stanley Milgram’s** Obedience test: Stanley Milgram’s** Will ordinary Americans, today, administer apparently lethal shock to an innocent person because they are told to do so? Germans were “just following orders?” How powerful is this? Milgram’s presumption was that Germans would and Americans would not. His finding was that Americans would.

The Players The experimentor: Milgram himself, in a white lab-coat The “learner:” ostensibly one of the subjects, chosen at random; actually a trained actor. The “teacher:” the true subject: a college student or person from the community who is taking part in “an experiment on learning”

The procedure The “learner” (who has said he has a heart condition) is strapped into an electric chair in another room, connected by sound. The “teacher is instructed to continue increasing levels of shock past “Danger” “Extremely high shock” and “500 Volts”. Prompts: only “The experiment requires that you continue.” “You must continue.”

The findings: After the “learner” not only is screaming, but falls dead silent, most “teachers” are very uncomfortable. Would you continue administering shock? Or would you refuse? Most subjects continued, even under variations designed to increase resistance.

A key issue for the relation of norms to nets: When there are several subjects reacting to a single authority, the dynamic becomes very complex. The actions and ideas of the other subjects can enormously increase or they can undermine the authority of the experimentor. Actual authority is often an unstable dynamic