Chapter 4
Social Structure and Interaction in
Everyday Life
Chapter Outline
 Social Structure: The Macrolevel
Perspective
 Components of Social Structure
 Societies: Changes in Social Structure
 Social Interaction: The Microlevel
Perspective
 Changing Social Structure and
Interaction in the Future
Social Structure and
Interaction
 Social structure is the framework of
societal institutions (politics, and religion)
and social practices (social roles) that
make up a society and establish limits on
behavior.
 Social interaction is the process by
which people act toward or respond to
other people and is the foundation for all
relationships and groups in society.
How Much Do You Know
About Homeless Persons?
 True or False?
 Most homeless people choose to be
homeless.
How Much Do You Know
About Homeless Persons?
 False.
 Less than 6% of all homeless people are
that way by choice.
How Much Do You Know
About Homeless Persons?

True or False?

Homeless people do not work.
How Much Do You Know
About Homeless Persons?
 False.


Many homeless people are among the
working poor.
Minimum-wage jobs do not pay enough to
support a family or pay inner-city rent.
How Much Do You Know
About Homeless Persons?

True or False?

Most homeless people are mentally ill.
How Much Do You Know
About Homeless Persons?
 False.
 Most homeless people are not mentally ill;
estimates suggest that about 1/4 of the
homeless are emotionally disturbed.
Polling Question

People who are better off should help
friends who are less well off.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Strongly agree
Agree somewhat
Unsure
Disagree somewhat
Strongly disagree
Social Structure
Framework
Components of Social
Structure




Status
Roles
Groups
Social Institutions
Status
 A socially defined position in society
characterized by certain expectations,
rights, and duties.
Status
 Ascribed status
 Social position based on attributes over
which the individual has little or no control,
such as race/ethnicity, age, and gender.
 Achieved status
 Social position that a person assumes as a
result of personal choice, merit, or direct
effort.
Status
 Master status is the most important
status that a person occupies.
 Status symbols are material signs that
inform others of a person’s specific
status.
 Example:
 Wearing a wedding ring proclaims that a person
is married.
Polling Question

If you could change one of the following
in our society, which would you
change?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Prejudice
Sweat shops
Media censorship
The speed limit
The income distribution to be more equal
Roles
 Role Expectation
 A group or society’s definition of the way a
specific role ought to be played.
 Role Performance
 How a person actually plays a role.
Roles
 Role Conflict
 Occurs when incompatible demands are
placed on a person by two or more statuses
held at the same time.
 Role Strain
 Occurs when incompatible demands are
built into a single status that the person
holds.
Stages of Role Exit
 When people leave a role central to their
identity: (ex. retirement)
1. Doubt
2. Search for alternatives - separation, leave of
absence.
3. The turning point - take an action.
Social Groups
 A social group consists of two or more
people who interact frequently and share
a common identity and a feeling of
interdependence.
 Primary groups - Family, close friends,
school or work-related peer groups
 Secondary - Schools, churches,
corporations
Formal Organization
 A highly structured group formed for the
purpose of completing certain tasks or
achieving specific goals.
 Many of us spend most of our time in
formal organizations such as colleges,
corporations, or the government.
Who Are the Homeless?
Social Institutions
 A social institution is a set of organized
beliefs and rules that establishes how a
society will attempt to meet its basic
social needs.
Five Basic Social
Institutions





Family
Religion
Education
Economy
Government or politics
Functionalists: Five Tasks
of Social Institutions
1. Replacing members.
2. Teaching new members.
3. Producing, distributing, and consuming
goods and services.
4. Preserving order.
5. Providing and maintaining a sense of
purpose.
Durkheim's Typology of
Social Solidarity
 Social solidarity is based on social
structure which is based on division of
labor.
 Mechanical Solidarity - people are united
by traditions and shared values.
 Organic Solidarity - people are united by
mutual dependence on one another.
Tönnies: Gemeinschaft
and
Gesellschaft
 Sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–
1936) used the terms Gemeinschaft and
Gesellschaft to characterize the degree
of social solidarity and social control
found in societies.
 He was especially concerned about what
happens to social solidarity in a society
when a “loss of community” occurs.
Gemeinschaft Societies
 A Gemeinschaft society would be made up of
the various family trees and how they are
related to one another.
Gesellschaft Societies
 A Gesellschaft society would be made up of clumps of
trees, each has a specialized relationship and may not
be committed to the others.
Industrial and
Postindustrial Societies
 Industrial societies are based on technology
that mechanizes production.
 People who are unemployed do not share the same
status markers as those who have jobs.
 A postindustrial society is one in which
technology supports a service and information
based economy.
 They are characterized by an economy in which
large numbers of people provide or apply
information or are employed in service jobs.
Social Construction of
Reality
 The process by which our perception of
reality is largely shaped by the subjective
meaning that we give to an experience.
 This meaning strongly influences what
we “see” and how we respond to
situations.
Social Construction of
Reality
 Definition of the situation  We analyze a social context in which we find
ourselves, determine what is in our best
interest, and adjust our attitudes and actions
accordingly.
 Self-fulfilling prophecy
 A false belief or prediction that produces
behavior that makes the original false belief
come true.
Ethnomethodology
 The study of the commonsense knowledge
people use to understand situations.
 Sociologist Harold Garfinkel (1967) initiated
this approach and coined the term:
 ethno for “people” and methodology for “a system
of methods.”
 He was critical of mainstream sociology for not
recognizing the ongoing ways in which people
create reality and produce their own world.
Dramaturgical Analysis
 The study of social interaction that
compares everyday life to a theatrical
presentation.
 Members of our “audience” judge us and
are aware that we may slip and reveal
our true character.
Dramaturgical Analysis
 Impression management
 People’s efforts to present themselves in ways that
are favorable to their own interests or image.
 Face-saving behavior
 Strategies to rescue our performance when we
experience a potential or actual loss of face.
Nonverbal Communication






Facial expressions
Head movements
Eye contact
Body positions
Touching
Personal space
Functions of Nonverbal
Communication
 Supplements verbal communication.
 Regulates social interaction.
 Establishes the relationship among
people in terms of their power over one
another.
Personal Space
 The immediate area surrounding a
person that the person claims as private.
 Our personal space is contained within
an invisible boundary surrounding our
body, much like a snail’s shell.
Social Interaction: The
Microlevel Perspective
Social interaction and
meaning
Forms of social interaction have shared meanings
that vary based on race/ethnicity, gender, and
social class.
Social construction of
reality
How our perception of reality is shaped by the
subjective meaning we give an experience.
Ethnomethodology
Studying the commonsense knowledge people use
to understand situations.
Social Interaction: The
Microlevel Perspective
Dramaturgical analysis
The study of social interaction that compares
everyday life to a theatrical presentation.
Sociology of emotions
We are socialized to feel certain emotions, and
we learn how and when to express them.
Nonverbal conmunication
Transfer of information without the use of
speech.
Quick Quiz
1.
________ is the process by which
people act toward or respond to other
people.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Role taking
Social interaction
Role performance
Role expectation
Answer: B

Social interaction is the process by
which people act toward or respond to
other people.
2. Being a college professor is a(n):
A.
B.
C.
D.
achieved status
tertiary status
none of the choices
ascribed status
Answer: A

Being a college professor is an
achieved status.
3. Being a homeless person is a(n):
A.
B.
C.
D.
none of the choices
tertiary status
ascribed status
master status
Answer: D
 Being a homeless person is a master
status.
4. Women who work for less pay, less
prestige, and more career roadblocks
often experience:
A.
B.
C.
D.
role conflict
role exit
role strain
role ambiguity
Answer: C

Women who work for less pay, less
prestige, and more career roadblocks
often experience role strain.
5.
Nonverbal communication regulates
our conversations.
A.
B.
True.
False.
Answer: A
 Nonverbal communication regulates our
conversations.