Slide 1
Sociology in Modules
chapter
five
Richard T. Schaefer
1st Edition
Social Interaction, Social
Structure, and Groups
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
Social Interaction,
Social Structure, and
Groups
5
•Module 16: Social Interaction and Social Structure
•Module 17: Social Structure in Global Perspective
•Module 18: Understanding Groups
•Module 19: Understanding Organizations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
A Look Ahead
█
█
█
What determines a
person’s status in society?
How do our social roles
affect our social interactions?
What is the place of social institutions
such as the family, religion, and
government in our social structure?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 4
Statuses
█
Status: Socially defined positions
within a large group or society
– Person can hold more than
one status at same time
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Module 16
Slide 5
Social Roles
█
Social role: Set of expectations for
people who occupy a given status
Role conflict: When incompatible
expectations arise from two or more
social positions held by same person
█ Role strain: Difficulties that arise when
same social position imposes
conflicting demands and expectations
█
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 6
Social Roles
█
Role exit: Process of disengagement
from a role that is central to one’s identity
to establish a new role
– Doubt
– Search
for alternatives
– Action stage
– Creation of a
new identity
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 7
Social Institutions
Social institution: Organized pattern of
beliefs and behavior centered on basic
social needs
█ Functionalist view
█
1. Replacing personnel
2. Teaching new recruits
3. Producing
and distributing
goods and services
4. Preserving order
5. Providing and
maintaining a
sense of purpose
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 8
Social Institutions
█
Conflict view
– Major institutions help maintain
privileges of most powerful
individuals and groups within society
– Social institutions have
inherently conservative natures
– Social institutions operate in
gendered and racist environments
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 9
Social Institutions
█
Interactionist view
– Social institutions
affect everyday behavior
– Social behavior
conditioned by
roles and statuses
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Module 16
Slide 10
Social Networks
█
Social network: Series of social
relationships that link a person directly to
others, and indirectly links him or her to
still more people
– Networking: Involvement in social
network; valuable skill when job-hunting
– Can center on any activity
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 11
Virtual Worlds
█
With advances in technology, people can
maintain social networks electronically
– FaceBook and MySpace first stage in
creation of alternative forms of reality
– Virtual life can migrate into real life
– Online socializations may not necessarily
reinforce people’s prejudices
– Help preserve real-world networks
interrupted by war or other dislocations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 12
Research Today
█
Social Networks and Smoking
– Do smokers and nonsmokers tend
to cluster in separate groups? If
you have tried to quit, or quit
smoking, did your cluster of friends
and family help or hinder you?
– Besides public health campaigns,
what other applications can you
think of for social network research?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 16
Slide 13
Figure 16-1: Social Statuses
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Module 16
Slide 14
Table 16-1: Sociological
Perspectives on Social Institutions
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Module 17
Slide 15
Social Structure in
Global Perspective
█
Modern societies are complex
– Durkheim’s Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
– Tönnies Gemeinschaft
and Gesellschaft
– Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 16
Durkheim’s Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
█
Division of Labor ([1893] 1933)
– Mechanical Solidarity: Collective
consciousness that emphasizes group
solidarity, implying all individuals perform
the same tasks
– Organic Solidarity: Collective
consciousness that hinges on the need
society’s members have for one another
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 17
Tönnies Gemeinschaft
and Gesellschaft
█
█
Gemeinschaft (guh-MINE-shoft): Small
community in which people have similar
backgrounds and life experiences
Gesellschaft (guh-ZELL-shoft): Large
community in which people are strangers
and feel little in common with other
community residents
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 18
Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
█
Human societies undergo process of
change characterized by dominant
pattern known as sociocultural evolution
– Society’s level of technology critical
• Technology: “Cultural information
about the ways in which the material
resources of the environment may
be used to satisfy human needs and
desires” (Nolan and Lenski 2006:361)
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 19
Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
█
Preindustrial Societies
– Hunting-and-gathering society:
People rely on whatever foods
and fibers are readily available
– Horticultural societies:
People plant seeds and crops
– Agrarian societies: People are
primarily engaged in production of food
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 20
Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
█
Industrial societies: societies
that depend on mechanization to
produce its goods and services
– People depend on mechanization
to produce goods and services
– People rely on inventions
and energy sources
– People change function of
family as a self-sufficient unit
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 21
Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
█
Postindustrial and Postmodern Societies
– Postindustrial society:
Economic system engaged
primarily in processing and
controlling information
– Postmodern society:
Technologically
sophisticated society
preoccupied with consumer
goods and media images
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 17
Slide 22
Table 17-1: Comparison
of the Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
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Module 17
Slide 23
Table 17-2: Stages of Sociocultural Evolution
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Module 18
Slide 24
Types of Groups
█
Group: any number of people with similar
norms, values, and expectations who
interact on a regular basis
– Primary group: small group with intimate,
face-to-face association and cooperation
– Secondary group: formal, impersonal
groups with little social intimacy
or mutual understanding
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 18
Slide 25
Types of Groups
█
In-groups and Out-Groups
– In-groups: any groups or categories to which
people feel they belong
– Out-groups: any groups or categories to
which people feel they do not belong
Conflict between in-groups and
out-groups can turn violent on a
personal as well as political level
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 18
Slide 26
Types of Groups
– Reference group: any group that
individuals use as standard for
evaluating their own behavior
• Reference groups set and enforce
standards of conduct and belief
• Often two or more reference groups
influence us at the same time
Coalitions: temporary or
permanent alliances geared
toward common goal
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Module 18
Slide 27
Research in Action
█
The Drinking Rape Victim:
Jury Decision Making
– Have you ever served on a jury? Were you
aware of jurors who made up their minds early
in the trial, despite the judge’s instructions?
– Is a jury a typical small group?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 18
Slide 28
Table 18-1: Comparison
of Primary and Secondary Groups
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Module 19
Slide 29
Formal Organizations
and Bureaucracies
█
Formal organization: group designed
for a special-purpose and structured
for maximum efficiency
– In U.S., formal organizations
fulfill enormous variety of
personal and societal needs
– Ascribed statuses can
influence how we see
ourselves within
formal organizations
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 30
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy: component of formal
organization that uses rules and
hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency
█ Ideal type
Weber emphasized basic
bureaucracy:
similarity of structure and
construct
process found in dissimilar
enterprises of
or model for
religion, government,
evaluating
education, and business
specific cases
█
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 31
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
█
Ideal type bureaucracy
1. Division of labor
2. Hierarchy of authority
3. Written rules and regulations
4. Impersonality
5. Employment based on
technical qualifications
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 32
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
█
Division of labor
– Specialized experts perform specific tasks
• Fragmentation of work can remove
connection workers have to overall
objective of the bureaucracy
– Alienation: condition of estrangement or
dissociation from the surrounding society
– Trained incapacity: workers become so
specialized that they develop blind spots
and fail to notice obvious problems
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 33
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
█
Hierarchy of Authority
– Each position under supervision
of higher authority
█
Written rules and regulations
– Rules and regulations ensure uniform
performance of every task and offer continuity
Goal displacement: when rules and
regulations overshadow larger goals of
organization and become dysfunctional
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 34
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
█
Impersonality
– Bureaucratic norms dictate that
officials perform duties without personal
consideration to people as individuals
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 35
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
█
Employment based on qualifications
– Peter Principle: every employee within a
hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level
of incompetence (Peter and Jull 1969)
– McDonaldization: “process by which
the principles of the fast-food restaurant
are coming to dominate more and more
sectors of American society as well
as of the rest of the world”
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 36
Table 19-1: Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 37
Sociology in
the Global Community
█
McDonald’s and the Worldwide
Bureaucratization of Society
– Do you patronize McDonald’s and other
fast-food establishments? What features
of these restaurants do you appreciate?
– Analyze life at your college using
Weber’s model of bureaucracy. What
elements of McDonaldization do you see?
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 38
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
█
Bureaucratization as Process
– Bureaucratization: process by which
group, organization, or social movement
becomes increasingly bureaucratic
• Can take place within small group settings
█
Oligarchy: Rule by a Few
– Iron Law of Oligarchy: even a democratic
organization eventually develops into a
bureaucracy ruled by a few
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 39
Bureaucracy and
Organizational Culture
Classical theory: (also known
as scientific management
approach) Workers motivated
almost entirely by economic rewards
█ Human relations approach: Role of
people, communication, and participation
within a bureaucracy emphasized
█
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 40
The State of the Unions
– What diminished the importance
of organized labor unions?
• Membership dropped from 39% of private
sector workers in 1954 to 12.3% in 2009
– Have unions perhaps outlived their usefulness
in a rapidly changing global economy
dominated by the service industry?
– Labor unions: organized workers sharing
either the same skill or the same employer
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 41
The State of the Unions
█
Understanding the Issue
– Decline of labor unions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Changes in type of industry
Growth in part-time jobs
Legal system
Globalization
Employer offensives
Union rigidity and bureaucratization
– 2008 economic downturn had consequences
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 42
The State of the Unions
█
Applying Sociology
– Marxists/functionalists view unions as
logical response to emergence of
impersonal, large-scale, formal, and
often alienating organizations
– Conflict theorists note the longer
union leaders are in office the
less responsive they are to the
needs and demands of rank and file
– Many union employees have role conflict
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 43
The State of the Unions
█
Initiating Policy
– U.S. unique in allowing employers to actively
oppose employee’s right to organize
• Major barrier to union growth exists
in 22 states with right-to-work laws
• Union power waning on the national level
• In Europe, labor unions tend to
play major role in political elections
• Unions play a lesser role in U.S. politics
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 44
Figure 19-1: Labor Union Membership Worldwide
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Module 19
Slide 45
Figure 19-2: Union Membership in the United States
© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.