Chapter 4, Social Structure and
Social Interaction
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Social Structures
Types of Societies
When Institutions Die: The Tragedy of the
Ojibwa
Chapter 4, Social Structure and
Social Interaction
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Social Interaction and Everyday Life
Identity Work
A Case Study of Identity Work: The Homeless
Where This Leaves Us
Social Structure
Recurrent patterns of relationships that revolve
around:
 Status
 Role
 Institutions
Five Basic Human Institutions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Family, to rear children.
Economy, to produce and distribute goods.
Government, to provide defense.
Education, to train new generations.
Religion, to supply answers about the
unknown or unknowable.
Structural-functional
Theory of Institutions
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The order and stability institutions provide
offers people a “liberating dependence.”
Patterned solutions are present for the most
common of everyday problems.
Conflict Theory of Institutions
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Patterned norms hold people in thrall to norms
that may only oppress us.
Stability and order, for example, may require
the oppression of women and the inequality of
socially defined races.
Hunting, Fishing
and Gathering Societies
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Economically the least complex.
Division of labor is based on age and sex.
Economic activity is an adaptation to the
natural environment, and does not produce
surpluses.
Horticultural Societies
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Began when people began to cultivate crops.
Allowed some in the society to pursue art,
writing, and warfare.
Status hierarchy began to develop.
Agricultural Societies
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Began 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.
Surpluses became far greater and a complex
class system developed.
Kings, priests, merchants, soldiers, and
peasants were among the new social classes.
Industrial societies
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Arose only a few hundred years ago.
Animal and human labor was replaced by
complex energy technologies.
A new class order reflected a highly specialized
division of labor.
The Tragedy of the Ojibwa
Ojibwa society before 1963:
 Retained the way of life of a hunting and
gathering society.
 Centered on the family.
 Almost no contact with whites.
The Tragedy of the Ojibwa
In 1963, Ojibwa society changed forever:
 Canadian government moved them from
reservation lands to a prepared community.
 The result was a collapse of institutions that
depended on their traditional ways.
 A 1999 decision allowed their land to be clear
cut. Their future remains uncertain.
Sociology of
Everyday Life: Assumptions
1.
2.
The problematic nature of culture. Roles
must be negotiated to go along with the
general cultural script.
The dialectic. Human interactions are a
dialectic between human expression and
social forces of restraint.
Sociology of
Everyday Life: Assumptions
3.
4.
Biography. As social actors bring unique
biography to each interaction, those
interactions tend to be unique.
Thick description. A sociological technique
for describing why actors did what they did,
and what it meant to them.
Two Ways of Avoiding Blame
1.
2.
Accounts. Tell stories to justify behavior.
Sometimes, they are excuses; sometimes,
they are justifications.
Disclaimers. Efforts to evade blame or
judgment before an act. We explain that is not
our fault, but….
Case Study: The Homeless and
Self-esteem
1.
2.
3.
Role distancing keeps us from being too
closely associated with a status. (I’m not like
the others.).
Role embracement is putting the best face
on one’s lot and standing up for it.
Storys of how important one used to be, or to
foretell better days ahead.