Chapter 4 Social Structure
Vocabulary and Key People
Ch. 4 Sections 1+2
Defined Terms :
Social Structure – Network of interrelated
statuses and roles that guides human
interactions.
Status – Socially defined positions in a
group in a society.
Role – Behavior – the rights and
obligations – expected of someone
occupying a particular status.
Ascribed Status – Status assigned
according to standards that are beyond a
person’s control. Age, sex, family history
and race are examples.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Achieved Status – Status acquired by an
individual on the basis of some special
skill, knowledge, or ability.
Master Status – Status that plays the
greatest role in shaping a person’s life and
determining his or her social identity.
Reciprocal Roles – Corresponding roles
that define the patterns of interactions
between related statuses.
Role Expectations – Socially determined
behaviors expected of a person performing
a role.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Role Performance – Actual behavior of a
person performing a role.
Role Set – different roles attached to a
single status.
Role Conflict- Situation that occurs when
fulfilling the expectation of one role makes
it difficult to fulfill the expectations of
another role.
Role Strain – Situation that occurs when a
person has difficulty meeting the
expectations of a single role.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Social Institution – System of statuses, roles,
values, and norms that that is organized to satisfy
one or more of the basic needs of society.
Exchange – Individuals, groups, or social
interactions undertaken in an effort to receive a
reward in return for actions.
Reciprocity – Idea that if you do something for
someone, they owe you something in return.
Exchange Theory – Theory that holds that people
are motivated by self-interests in their interactions
Competition – Interactions that occurs when two
or more persons or group oppose each other to
achieve a goal that only one can attain.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Conflict – Deliberate attempt to oppose, harms,
controls by force, or resists the will of another
person or persons.
Cooperation – Occurs when two or more people
or groups work together to achieve a goal that will
benefit more than one person.
Accommodation – State of balance between
cooperation and conflict.
Georg Simmel – Sociologist – Identified four
sources of conflict.
A. War
B. Disagreement with in groups
C. Legal Disputes
D. Clashes over Ideology
Chapter 4 Section 3
Defined Terms :
Group – Set of two or more people who interact
on the basis of shared expectations and who
possess some degree of common identity.
Subsistence Strategies – Ways in which a
society uses technology to provide for the needs
of its members.
Preindustrial Society - Type of societies in
which food productions- carried out through the
use of human and animal labor is the main
economic activity.
Hunting and Gathering Societies – Type of
society characterized by the daily collection of
wild plants and the hunting of wild animals as
the main form of subsistence.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Pastoral Society – Type of society
characterized by a reliance on domesticated
herd animals as the main form of subsistence.
Division of Labor – Specialization by
individuals or groups in the performance of
specific economic activities.
Horticultural Society – Type of society
characterized by a reliance on vegetables grown
in garden plants as the main form of
subsistence.
Agricultural Society – Type of society
characterized by the use of draft animals and
plows in the tilling of fields.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Barter – Practice of exchanging one
good for another.
Industrial Societies – Type of Society in
which the mechanized production of
goods is the main economic activity.
Urbanization – Concentration of the
population in cities.
Postindustrial Society – Type of society
in which economic activities centers on
the production of information and
provision of services.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Mechanical Solidarity – Close-knit-social
relationships common in Preindustrial societies
that result when a small group of people share
values and perform the same task.
Organic Solidarity – Impersonal social
relationships, common in Industrial societies that
arise with increased job specialization.
Gemeinschaft – Societies in which most
members know one another, relationships are
close, and activities center on the family and the
community.
Gesellschaft – Societies in which social
relationships are based upon need rather than
on emotions, relationships are impersonal and
temporary and individual goals are more
important than group goals.
Chapter 4 Section 4
Defined Terms :
Aggregate – Groups of people gathered
in the same place at the same time who
lack organization or lasting patterns of
interactions.
Social Category – Group of people who
share a common trait or status.
Dyad – Group with two members.
Triad – Three- person group.
Small Group – Group with few enough
numbers that everyone is able to interact
on a face to face bases
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Formal Group – A group in which the
structure, goals, and activities of the
group are clearly defined.
Informal Group – A group in which there
is no official structure or established rules
of conduct.
Primary Group – Small group of people
who interact over a relatively long period
of time on a direct and personal basis.
Secondary Group – Group in which
interaction is impersonal and temporary
in nature.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Reference Group – Any group with whom
individuals identify and who’s attitudes and
values they often adopt.
In-Group – Group that an individual belongs to
and identifies with.
Out-Group – Any group that an individual does
not belong to or identify with.
E-Community – A community of people who
interact through the internet or other electronic
communications.
Social Network – Web relationships that is
formed by the sum total of an individual's
interactions with other people.
Defined Terms : (Continued)
Leaders – People who influence the attitudes
and opinions of others.
Instrumental Leaders – Leaders who are taskoriented.
Expressive Leaders – Leaders who are
emotion- oriented
Chapter 4 section 5
Defined Terms
Formal Organization – Large, complex
secondary group that has been established to
achieve specific goals. (Examples: Schools,
businesses, political and religious and youth
organizations, and labor unions)
Bureaucracy – Ranked authority structure that
operates according to specific rules and
procedures.
Rationality – The process of subjecting every
feature of human behavior to calculations,
measurement, and control.
Voluntary Association – Non profit association
formed to pursue some common interest.
Iron Law of Oligarchy – Tendency of
organizations to become increasingly dominated
by small groups of people.