SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
• Network of interrelated statuses
and roles that guides our
interaction
• Status = position
• Role = behavior
STATUSES:
• We each hold multiple positions within society:
• i.e.: teacher, mother, wife, daughter, aunt, etc.
• Some statuses are assigned and are beyond our control (ascribed)
• i.e.: daughter, aunt
• Some statuses are gained or acquired through effort (achieved)
• i.e.: teacher, mother
• For most people, one or two statuses are particularly important and
define who we are …they give us our identity. (Master Status)
• These change over the course or our lives.
ROLES:
•
Bring a status to life
•
All have a corresponding roles (Reciprocal Roles) that define the
patterns of interaction between related statuses.
• i.e.: teacher – student, lawyer – client , etc.
•
Socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a
role are call role expectations
• i.e.: teacher is expected to teach, student is expected to pay
attention
•
In reality, however, people’s role performance (their actual role
behavior) often does not match the behavior expected by society.
Roles cont.…
• Within a single status you may have multiple roles to perform.
This is referred to as a role set
• Because we hold more than one status and each of these has
multiple roles attached… the often contradictory expectations
with and between our role sets can lead to:
• Role Conflict = more than one status involved
• Role Strain = single status involved
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS:
• System of statuses, roles, values and norms that is
organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of
society:
• Basic needs include:
• Physical and emotional support
• Transmitting knowledge
• Producing goods and services
• Maintaining social control
• Five major social institutions:
• Family
• Economy
• Politics
• Education
• Religion