March 25th
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Sign in, participation cards
Hand in mini-exam #3
Pick up Reading Questions
Lecture 8: Social Structure & Organization
Homework:
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Introduction to Sociology: Chapter 6
Threads: Chapter 2
Take 10 minutes & answer the following:
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Describe your day yesterday from the time
you got up till you went to bed:
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Where did you go?
What did you do?
Why?
Your social connections
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Who can you depend on in your life? Why?
What makes you feel connected to others?
Lecture 8
Social Structure & Organization
Social Structure
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The social structure of a society – how
society is organized – shapes how we are
connected to others
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Social institutions – family, economy, education
Patterns of behavior and expectations
Social groups and social networks
Social Groups
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As society becomes organized more
rationality we shift social life from Primary
groups
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Small, face-to-face, intimate, enduring sense of
commitment
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Family
To Secondary groups
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Large, impersonal with weak ties and short
relationships
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Work & school
Describe your day…
Social Networks & Social Capital
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Social Networks: formal and informal ties
that link people together
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Social capital: the social knowledge and
connections that enable people to accomplish
their goals and extend their influence
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Mutual obligation
Trustworthiness
Types of Social Capital
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Bridging Social Capital – outward looking and
inclusive
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Unifies people across social boundaries
Ex: Interfaith religious groups
Bonding Social Capital – inward looking and
exclusive
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Reinforces identities among homogeneous groups
Ex: Fraternities and Sororities
Your Social Connections…
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Who can you depend on in your life? Why?
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What makes you feel connected to others?
How does technology affect our social
capital and our connections to others?
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According to the text book, technology, such
as the Internet, allows us to extend our social
networks around the world to reach like
minded people
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What effect has technology had on your
social connections?
Group Work
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How do Internet social networking websites like
MySpace & Facebook affect our social capital and
our connections to others?
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Group 1: Argue that it is positive
Group 2: Argue that it is negative
How do cell phones and text-messaging (twitter?)
affect our social capital and our connections to
others?
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Group 3:Argue that it is positive
Group 4: Argue that it is negative
“Returning to our original research question, we can
definitively state that there is a positive relationship
between certain kinds of Facebook use and the
maintenance and creation of social capital. Although
we cannot say which precedes the other, Facebook
appears to play an important role in the process by
which students form and maintain social capital . . .
Our participants overwhelmingly used Facebook to
keep in touch with old friends and to maintain or
intensify relationships characterized by some form of
offline connection such as dormitory proximity or a
shared class. “
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Ellison et al. The Benefits of Facebook ‘Friends:’ Social
Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social
Network Sites
Moving beyond social categories of
difference?
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The book argues that this networking allows
people to connect based on shared interests
without the social influence of class,
race/ethnicity, gender, and other social
categories
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Do you think this is true?
Rationalization
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Rationalization: process by which thought
and action are no longer rooted in emotion,
tradition, but become rooted in ‘value-rational’
thought and action
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Value –system (culture)
Institutional Organization
The Cow
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Hindus – symbol of everything alive
McDonalds – “means to an end”
McDonaldization of Society
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McDonaldization: “process by which the
principles of the fast food restaurant are
coming to dominate more and more sectors
of society” – George Ritzer
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Efficient
Quantification
Predictability
Non-human Technology
Efficiency
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Efficiency is the choosing the fastest means to an
end, with the least amount of cost or effort.
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The idea of efficiency is specific to the interests of
the industry or business, but is typically advertised
as a benefit to the customer.
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Examples: the drive-up window, self-serve gasoline, ATM's,
The customer often ends up doing the work that
previously was done for them.
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We end up spending more time, being forced to learn new
technologies, remember more numbers, and often pay
higher prices
Quantification & Calculation
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Quantification “involves an emphasis on things that
can be calculated, counted, quantified.
Quantification refers to a tendency to emphasize
quantity rather than quality. This leads to a sense
that quality is equal to certain, usually (but not
always) large quantities of things." (Ritzer 1994:142)
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Examples of this element include: the "Big Mac," the
Whopper," "Big Gulp," Wendy's "Biggie Meals,"
The credentialing process.
Predictability
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Predictability refers to the attempt to
structure our environment so that surprise
and difference do not encroach upon our
sensibilities. Rational people need to know
what to expect.
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They want to be sure that the fun, satisfaction,
taste, and benefits they received last week in
Cincinnati will be repeated next week in San
Diego. A Big Mac is a Big Mac is a Big Mac.
Non-human Technology
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Non-human Technology: Everything is prepackaged, pre-measured, automatically controlled.
The human employee is not required to think, just
follow the instructions and push a button now and
then.
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"The next step in this development is to have the customer
do the scanning,..." (Ritzer 1994:150).
What this means is that the skills and capabilities of
the human actor are quickly becoming things of the
past. Who we are and how we interact is becoming
defined by our dependence upon and subordination
to the machine.
Irrationality
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Rational systems → irrational outcomes
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"Most specifically, irrationality means that
rational systems are unreasonable systems.
By that I mean that they deny the basic
humanity, the human reason, of the people
who work within or are served by them." –
George Ritzer
A social problem?
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How do you think McDonalidization affects
our connections social capital and
connections to others?
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Bridging & Bonding Social Capital?