Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Chapter 2 The Structure of Social Groups This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program. In Conflict and Order: Understanding Society, 11th edition

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Micro Level Social Organization –The ways in which the human conduct becomes socially organized Social conditions that constrain behavior: –Social Structure The structure of behavior in groups and society –Culture The shared beliefs of group members that unite them and guide behavior

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Micro Level Social Interaction –When the actions of one person affect another person –The most common method is through speech –Enduring social interaction is a social relationship

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Micro Level Culture –The shared beliefs of a group’s members that serve to guide conduct –Common expectation about how people should act are called norms –Criteria for judging what is appropriate, correct, moral and important are the values of a group –The expectations that group members have of individuals occupying the various positions within the group are social roles

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Micro Level Norms –Rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behaviors Folkways are minor rules Mores are important norms Status –The positions each societal member occupies –A master status is a status that has exceptional significance for social identity.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Micro Level Role –The behavioral expectations and requirements attached to a position in a social organization Reasons for varied behavior within a role –Personality variables can account for variations in the behavior of people holding identical statuses –The occupants of a status may not receive a clear, consistent message about which behavior is expected –The statuses we occupy may have conflicting demands on our behavior due to multiple group memberships

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Micro Level Social Control –Social groups universally demand conformity to some norms. –Mechanisms of social control can occur subtly in the socialization process, in the form of rewards, or can be public. –Sanctions are social rewards or punishments for approved or disapproved behavior.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Primary and Social Groups Social Group –An organization created through enduring and patterned interaction Primary Group –Groups whose members are most intimately involved with each other Secondary Group –Formally organized, task oriented, and relatively nonpermanent groups

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Bureaucracy: The Ultimate Social Group A bureaucracy is a hierarchical formal organization characterized by rationality and efficiency The increasing bureaucratization of social life is called McDonaldization, as coined by George Ritzer. There is the danger that Max Weber feared from the “iron cage” of rationality.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Power of the Social Group The Group Affects the Probability of Suicide –Emile Durkheim’s Suicide One’s attachment to social groups affects the probability of suicide. Types of Suicide –Egoistic suicide –Altruistic suicide –Anomic suicide

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Power of the Social Group The Group Affects Perceptions –Apparently, our wish to conform is so great that we often give in to group pressure. The Group Affects Convictions –Sectarians with group support maintain their conviction despite contrary evidence. The Group Affects Health and Life –Membership in a group may have an effect on one’s health and even on life itself. The Group Affects Behavior –The group can alter the behavior of members, even behaviors that involve basic human drives.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Figure 2.1 – Process of Social Organization Source: This scheme is adapted from that developed by Marvin E. Olsen, The Process of Social Organization, 2 nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976)

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Societal or Macro Level Society –An aggregate of people, united by a common culture, who are relatively autonomous and self-sufficient and who live in a definite geographical location

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Society as a Social System Society is a social system composed of interdependent parts that are linked together into a boundary-maintaining whole. Culture explains much individual and group behavior as well as the persistence of much of social life. Social Stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of people in terms of power, prestige, and resources. Social Institutions are social arrangements that channel behavior in prescribed ways in the important areas of social life.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007