Ch. 3
Social Structure
I. What is social
structure?
•A. It’s the way a culture is
organized – who’s in charge,
what roles people play, and
how people treat others
•B. Social Status: The place where
an individual fits within a
group, organization or society
(doctor, professor, gangster, mom,
etc.)
– Master Status: The status that most
defines a person’s social idenity
– Role: A set of behaviors, attitudes,
obligations, and privileges that go
along with a social status
– We occupy status, we play a role
– The way two individuals interact
always depends on social statuses
and roles
What status are
these people?
What roles do
they play?
C. Levels of Social roles
•A. Microsociology: Small-scale,
everyday behaviors or face-toface interactions
•B. Macrosociology: Large-scale
arrangements – how are they
structured, and what long-term
effects do they have (ex. market
forces, how many students have a
particular major)
II. Microsociology
•A. Social Interaction: The process
of people orienting themselves to
others and acting in response to
what others do and say
– Social interaction in purposive: you
normally have a goal when you
interact with people
B. 5 Perspectives on how
social interactions work
•1. Defining the Situation
– Every situation that you’re in
requires a special role
– You prepare yourself for each role –
how you talk, act, dress (ex. You
dress differently for school and
work)
– Defining a situation is ambiguous,
so you have to leave room for
improv
• 2. Symbolic Interaction
(George Herbert Mead)
A.People act towards things on
the basis of what those things
mean to them (things = people
objects or situations)
B. We learn what things mean by
observing how other people
respond to them
C. As a result of ongoing interaction,
words, gestures, etc. take on symbolic
meanings that are shared by people
who belong to the same culture
- Symbolic Gesture: The meaning of
a gesture extends beyond the act
itself
ex. Shaking hands is more than grabbing fingers
- Role
Taking: Imagining yourself in
the other person’s place and trying to
figure out how they will react
• 3. Dramaturgical Approach
A.All of us are actors on a stage and
we, “play our role”
B. Impression Management:
People’s efforts to control what
others think about them
C. Frontstage: The place people
are required to play the role
completely (waiter at a table, professor
in a class)
D. Backstage: The places where
people can let down their act (the
kitchen for the waiter, break room, etc)
E. Eventually, you really become
roles that you play
Frontstage or backstage?
• 4. Ethnomethodology
A. Focuses on examining routines
of everyday life
- People know how to interact
because they follow norms
B. In order to figure out about
social norms, you break them
C. People depend on unspoken
rules of society to run their lives
Ethnomethodology
• 5. Social Exchange
A. Reciprocity: When someone
does something for us, we
must pay them back to keep
the social ledger equal
B. Mutual reciprocation is the
most basic form of human
interaction; it gives social life
its order and predictability
C. Social Exchange Theory is
based on Rational Choice Theory
(Adam Smith)
D. It’s also based on Behaviorism
from Psychology
- What you do is based on rewards and
punishments
Social Exchange
Poster
1. On the top of your paper, write
“Perspectives on Social Interaction”
2. Next write down each of the five
perspectives
3. Under each of the perspectives, draw a
picture to symbolize it
4. Under each symbol, in complete
sentences and in your own words, list
important information to explain each
perspective
5. Your poster should be colorful, neat, and
look like you put effort into it
III. Macrosociology
• Looking at society as a whole, rather
than one-on-one contact
• A. Social Relationships: A relatively
enduring pattern of interactions between
two or more people
B. Network: A web of social
relationships among a set of
people (or organizations) who are
linked together *East High Activity*
- Networks are important for getting jobs,
making decisions, etc
- Power in a social network is based on
how central a person is to the network
C. Social Structure
Remember role and status
1. In Macrosociology, we look at how
many people belong to a certain status
in a society.
2. Socially
Heterogeneous:
Different statuses are
relatively equal in
number
• 3. Social Inequality: Different statuses are
not equal in size (ex. A large number of
poor and a few very wealthy people)
D. Holding Society Together
1. Society: An autonomous group of
people who inhabit a common territory,
have a common culture, and are linked
to one another through routine social
interactions
- ex. countries, a church, a college,
a football team
2. Societies hold together through functional
integration
- all the different parts working together
(government, families, schools, religions,
economy…)
According to Durkheim, as long as all the
parts fulfill their role, a society runs
smoothly
• - Marx would disagree and say societies
are bound together through one group
imposing its power on other groups
Sources
• http://www.ssdec.nsw.edu.au/history/romanovs/images/s
ocstructure.jpg
• http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/es/ks/es_ks_linds
brg_1_e.jpg
• http://www.tgmag.ca/may2003/images/DISCRIMINATIO
N_ill.JPG
• http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4revels6.jp
g
• http://ramblingbob.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/libbygeo
rgecuster.jpg
• http://www.vlrc.org/images/quotes.jpg
• http://www.verderosu.ro/cheating%20death.jpg
• http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/explore/maori.jpg
• http://www.simmons.edu/i/toplevel/content/studentBigCol
lage01.jpg
• http://www.thenutritionpost.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/10/mcdonalds0.jpg
Sources
• http://www.personaltraction.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/12/student-with-pencil.jpg
• http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Vdg5PMQBuqw/SmqT8KjfHsI/
AAAAAAAAAhc/0mVhqZwRoT8/s400/Tic%2Btac%2Bto
e2.gif
• http://planetgreen.discovery.com/traveloutdoors/images/2009-06/family-dinner.jpg
• http://planetgreen.discovery.com/traveloutdoors/images/2009-06/family-dinner.jpg
• http://babyccinokids.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/01/moving-house.jpg
• http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/200
9/11/fast-food-cashier-300raw1112309.jpg