Unit 4 Social Structure
Warm Up: Make a list of all the roles you play
throughout your week. For example, right
now you are playing the role of student. See
how many different roles you can discover in
your life.
Status
 Social Structure –
network of interrelated
statuses and roles that
guide human interaction
 Status – socially defined
position in a group or
society.
 Role – the behavior,
rights and obligations
expected of someone
occupying a particular
status.
Status
 Ascribed Status –
based on a person’s
inherited traits or are
assigned automatically
when a person reaches
a certain age ( i.e. – son
or daughter, teenager)
 Achieved Status –
acquired through effort
and includes special
skills, knowledge or
abilities.
Alfonso Soriano
Status
 Master Status – this
status plays the
greatest role in
shaping a person’s
life and determining
his or her social
identity.
 Master status may
be ascribed (King) or
achieved (teacher,
CEO)
Roles
• Roles – parts we play
in life.
• Reciprocal Roles –
you have a
counterpart in this
role: Parent/Child,
Husband/Wife,
Teacher/Student, etc.
• Role Conflict – the
duties of one role
conflict with the
duties of another role.
Status and Roles
 Go back and look at the
list you made for the warm
up. Draw yourself wearing
several hats. Each hat
will represent the different
roles you play as a part of
your master status and
ascribed status. Label
the hats with the role it
represents and whether it
indicates master status,
ascribed status or
achieved status.
Types of Social Interaction
• Reciprocity – if you do
something for someone, they
owe you something back.
• Competition – two or more
people oppose each other to
achieve a goal only one can
attain.
• Conflict – attempt to control
a person by force.
• Cooperation - people work
together to attain a common
goal (completion of the
webquest.)
• Accommodation – you give a
little, you take a little (i.e.
compromise)
Types of Societies - Preindustrial
• Hunting and Gathering
Societies – before
agriculture (nomadic,
simple tools)
• Pastoral – sheep herders,
etc. (nomadic, complex
tools) – some division of
labor
• Horticultural – agricultural,
complex tools, settled
villages.
• Agricultural – larger cities
and populations, complex
technology and social
structure, trading and barter
Types of Societies - Industrial
• Emphasis shifts from
food production to
production of
manufactured goods.
• Population size
increases because of
increased food
production
• Urbanization – move
from farms to cities.
Types of Societies - Postindustrial
• Much of the economy is
involved in provided
information and
services.
• Standard of living and
quality of life improve as
wages go up.
• Rights of individuals and
personal fulfillment
become more important.
Groups within Society
•
Groups have four
major features:
1. Consists of 2 or more
people
2. Must be interaction
among members
3. Members have shared
expectations
4. Possess some sense of
common identity
Groups within Society
Types of Groups
1. Primary Group – Small group which interacts over a long
period of time. Each individual matters deeply. (family)
2. Secondary Group – Interaction is impersonal and temporary.
(small group in a class room)
3. Reference Group – People usually perform their social roles
and judge their own behaviors according the standards set by
a particular group. (Religion)
4. In Group – Group a person belongs to. (Us)
5. Out Group – Group a person does not belong to nor identify
with. (Them)
6. E-Communities – Virtual communities (MySpace)
7. Social Networks – Web of relationships formed by the sum
total of a persons interactions with other people.
Groups within Society
Make a list of the groups to
which you belong. Then, find
another person in class who
belongs to three or more of the
same groups you do! Write
down their names in your
notes.
Graphic Organizer:
Characteristics of Bureaucracy
Characteristic Definition
Division of Labor
Ranking of
Authority
Employment
based on formal
qualifications
Rules and
Regulations
Specific lines of
promotion and
advancement
Example
Field Study: Webquest
• The field study this time is a webquest.
• The title is “Logging On and Fitting In –
A Sociological Field Guide to Virtual
Communities”
• The web address is
http://webquest.org/questgarden/lesson
s/30260-060713082731
• You will have one extra class day to
work on this.
Warm Up:
September 27, 2006
Continue with your Field Study:
Webquest. There is a quiz over
Unit 4 at the end of the period.
• The field study this time is a webquest.
• The title is “Logging On and Fitting In –
A Sociological Field Guide to Virtual
Communities”
• The web address is
http://webquest.org/questgarden/lesson
s/30260-060713082731
“Logging On and Fitting In –
A Sociological Field Guide to
Virtual Communities”
Some sociologists have suggested that computer
technology – most notably the internet – has given rise to a
new type of group. In an e-community or virtual community,
people interact regularly with one another on the internet,
often through the use of newsgroups. Most newsgroups are
little more than sites for members to discuss issues of
common interest. However, some seem like primary groups.
Members exhibit behaviors similar to those of real world
primary groups. They argue, engage in intellectual
discussions, exchange knowledge, share intimate details of
their lives, and even form romantic relationships.
“Logging On and Fitting In –
A Sociological Field Guide to
Virtual Communities”
In this webquest, you will explore some of the virtual communities of
the 21st Century, a new and growing social "group. " In teams of four,
you will each investigate one aspect of the virtual world.
One sociological fundamental is the idea of the "group." A "group"
is composed of people who share several features; including regular
contact with one another, a shared way of thinking and
feeling, common interests and a genuine concern for each other and
one another's behavior. Before the internet, groups were primarily the
family, the workplace or school, and the general community. In the 21s
Century, groups now must include all of those increasing interactions
people have with one another online. In his book The Virtual
Community (1993), Howard Rheingold first brought the world's
attention to the idea of virtual, or E-communities:
“Logging On and Fitting In –
A Sociological Field Guide to
Virtual Communities”
"The idea of a community accessible only via my
computer screen sounded cold to me at first, but I learned
quickly that people can feel passionately about e-mail and
computer conferences. I've become one of them. I care
about these people I met through my computer, and I care
deeply about the future of the medium that enables us to
assemble. . . . Finding the WELL (an early e-community),
was like discovering a cozy little world that had been
flourishing without me, hidden within the walls of my
house; an entire cast of characters welcomed me to the
troupe with great merriment as soon as I found the secret
door. Like others who fell into the WELL, I soon
discovered that I was audience, performer, and
scriptwriter, along with my companions, in an ongoing
improvisation. A full-scale subculture was growing on the
other side of my telephone jack, and they invited me to
help create something new."