CHAPTER 5: SOCIETY, SOCIAL
STRUCTURE, AND INTERACTION
SOCIAL STRUCTURE: MACRO-LEVEL

The complex framework of societal institutions, and the social
practices that make up a society and organize/ establish
limits on people’s behavior


Politics as an institution, with laws and roles as social practices
Social structure helps us make sense of our environment, like
a map for our endeavors
It also creates boundaries, or groups, that include/exclude
certain individuals
 Social Marginality (Coined by Robert Park)


Social Marginality results in stigmatization, or attributing symbols
that devalue a person’s social identity
SOCIAL STRUCTURE: FRAMEWORK
SOCIETY
Social
Institutions
Traditional
• Family
• Religion
• Education
•
Government
• Economy
Statuses And Roles
Emergent
• Sports
• Mass Media
• Science/Medicine
• Military
Ascribed
Status
• Race/Ethnicity
• Age
• Gender
• Class
Social Groups
Primary Groups
• Family Members
• Close Friends
• Peers
Secondary Groups
• Schools
• Churches
• Corporations
Achieved Status
• Occupation
• Education
• Income Level

A Status is a socially defined position in a group or
society, characterized by certain expectations,
rights, and duties
 To determine who you are, you derive your
identity from the status you occupy

One’s status is the
closest position to
the individual; as it
is the most personal,
or microscopic, on
the social structure
scale
There are two types of statuses, ascribed and
achieved


Ascribed is a social position conferred at birth, or
is received involuntarily based on attributes the
individual has little to no control of; such as race,
age, gender, physical features, etc.
Achieved is a social position that a person
assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice,
merit, or direct effort; such as profession, wife,
volunteer, etc.
 A Master Status refers to the most important
status to the individual (Coined by Everett
Hughes:1945)
Certain material symbols can also signify status
 Like owning a Rolls-Royce, or designer clothes,
jewelry, etc.
STATUSES



A role is essentially a
status in play; it is the
dynamic, or the active
component of the status
(We may occupy a status,
but we play a role)
Role expectation is a group’s or society’s definition
or the way that a specific role ought to be played
 Whereas role performance is how the person
actually performs the role
Role conflict, strain, and exit
 Role Conflict occurs when incompatible role
demands are placed on a person by two or
more statuses held at the same time


Role Strain occurs when incompatible
demands are built onto a single status that the
person occupies


The performing of multiple roles often results in
role conflict, like mixing personal and
professional life
Work inequality, occupation, and sexual
orientation are often associated with role strain
Role Exit occurs when people disengage from
social roles that have been central to their self
Complementary
and Ambiguous roles
Complementary roles
refer to the existence of
the role in context of
others, i.e. for you to be a
professor you must have
students (who
themselves accept the
role of student)
•
ROLES

A Role is a set of behavioral expectations
associated with a given status
 One is expected to behave differently when
considering income differences for instance
Ambiguous roles occur
when role expectations
become unclear, or have
indefinite answers
•
For example: When do
the parents definitively
stop supporting the
child? (financially)
GROUPS

A Social group consists of two or more people
who interact frequently and share a common identity
and a feeling of inter-dependence
 Primary group


Secondary group




Is a small, less specialized group in which members engage in faceto-face, emotion based interactions over an extended period of time
Is a larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more
impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time
A formal organization is a highly structured group formed for the
purpose of completing certain tasks or goals
Social solidarity refers to a group’s ability to maintain itself in the
face of obstacles.
 Things like social bonds, attractions, and forces hold the
members in interaction over a period of time.
More In-depth in Chapter 6: Groups and Organizations
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

A Social Institution is a set of organized
beliefs and rules that establishes how a society
will attempt to meet its basic and social needs


All societies undergo similar processes, but with the onset of
the modern era, there are additional institutions; such as,
mass media, science and medicine, and the military
Functional theorists emphasize that social institutions
exist because they perform five essential tasks
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Replacing members
Teaching new members
Producing, distributing, and consuming goods
Preserving order
Providing and Maintaining a sense of purpose
SOCIETIES, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIOCULTURAL
CHANGE
Hunting
and
Gathering
Control of
Surplus
Inheritance
Industrial
Post-industrial
Animal
drawn plows
and
equipment
Invention of
steam engine
Computer and “hightech” society
Hunting game,
gathering roots
and berries
Planting crops,
domesticating
animals
Laborintensive
farming
Mechanized
production of
goods
Information and
service economy
None
Men begin to
control societies
Men who
own land or
herds
Men who own
means of
production
Corporate
shareholders, and
high-tech
entrepreneurs
None
Sharedpatrilineal and
matrilineal
Patrilineal
Bilateral
Bilateral
None
Increasingly by
men
Men- to
ensure
legitimacy of
heirs
Men- but less
so later in this
stage
Mixed
Relative equality
Decreasing into
pastoralism
Low
Low
Varies by class, race,
and age
Control over
Procreation
Women’s
Status
Agrarian
Use of hand tools,
primitive farming
Change
from prior
society
Economic
System
Horticultural
and
Pastoral
DURKHEIM ON SOCIAL SOLIDARITY

Emile Durkheim believed that the social solidarity of
societies rested on the division of labor
The division of labor refers to how the various tasks of a society
are divided up and performed
 He categorized societies as having either mechanical or organic
solidarity



Mechanical Solidarity is the social cohesion of preindustrial
societies, in which there is minimal division of labor and people feel
united by shared values and common social bonds
 Because people more or less have a sense of automated belonging
with little specialization required to perform tasks
Organic Solidarity is the social cohesion found in industrial (and
perhaps post-industrial) societies, in which people perform very
specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual dependence
 Because the laborers rely on one another to function, like a living
beings organs, they rely on practical considerations instead of
moral considerations
TÖNNIES ON SOCIAL SOLIDARITY

Ferdinand Tönnies used the terms Gemeinschaft and Gesselschaft
to characterize the degree of social solidarity in societies
 Gemeinschaft is a traditional society in which social
relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship and
kinship and on inter-generational stability


Literally translated as “commune” or “community”
Gesselschaft is a large, urban society in which social bonds are
based on impersonal and specialized relationships, with little
long-term commitment to the group or consensus on values

Literally translated as “association,” as in based on achievement not
social basis
SOCIAL INTERACTION: MICRO-LEVEL
PERSPECTIVE
Social Interaction
and Meaning
Social Construction
of Reality
Ethno-methodology
Dramaturgical
Analysis
Sociology of
Emotions
Nonverbal
Communication
In a given society, forms of social interaction have shared meanings, although
these may vary to some extent based on race/ethnicity, gender, and social class.
The process by which our perception of reality is largely shaped by the subjective
meaning that we give to an experience.
Studying the commonsense knowledge that people use to understand the
situations in which they find themselves makes us aware of subconscious social
realities in daily life.
• Used by Garfinkel, typically used breaching experiments to uncover realities
The study of social interaction that compares everyday life to a theatrical
presentation– it includes impression management (people’s efforts to present
themselves favorably to others).
• Used particularly by Goffman
We are socialized to feel certain emotions and we learn how and when to express
(or not express) them.
The transfer of information between persons without the use of speech, such as by
facial, expressions, head movements, and gestures.
REFERENCES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
o
o
o
Sociology In Our Times (Seventh Edition)
o By: Diana Kendall
Notes incorporated
o By: James V. Thomas, NIU Professor (Emeritus)
o Formatted By: Jacob R. Kalnins, NIU student
Pictures Incorporated
o Clip Art (PowerPoint: 2007)
o Google Images: Sociology In Our Times