1. Statuses and Roles

2. Status: defined position in society Ascribed (born with, reached a certain age) Achieved (through your efforts) Master status (defines you)

3. Roles: behaviors (rights, obligations) expected of someone with a certain status

4. Role expectation: behaviors of a person performing certain roles (doctors should know medicine) Role performance: actual role behavior (parents should nurture, but sometimes ignore children)

5. Role set: different roles attached to a single status

6. Role conflict: filling the role of one status makes it difficult to fill others Role strain: difficulty meeting the roles of one status

7. Social institutions: set of organized beliefs and rules that establish how a society will meet basic social needs