EXPLAINING ORDER & CONSISTENCY
IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
Application of Sociological Theory:
S(p)
2016-03-16
© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri, 2016
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Presentation Outline
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1. Introduction: The Central Question, Main Thesis and
Main Argument
2. Introduction: The Major Concepts
3. Order and Consistency: Facts & Evidence
4. Structure and Dynamics of Social Structure and Social
Interaction
5. Components of the Social Structure
6. Structure and Dynamics of Social Interaction
7. Changes in Social Structure and Dynamics
8. Theoretical Perspectives of Social Structure and Social
Interaction
9. Sample Midterm exam question
INTRODUCTION: Central Question
and Main Thesis
CENTRAL QUESTION:
 What explains the order and consistency in
our lives?
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MAIN THESIS: S(p)
 The dynamics of social structure and social
interaction explain the order and
consistency in human behaviour, the human
condition, and human destiny.
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INTRODUCTION: Main Argument
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Once people construct social structure (culture,
institutions, groups, statuses, roles) through their
interaction, human behaviour as well as actions,
images, identities, experiences, conditions, further
interaction, destinies, and further social interaction
are scripted by the social structure.
INTRODUCTION: Main Argument
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Stated differently,
a) In order to survive and thrive, PEOPLE living in the
physical environment generate SOCIAL
INTERACTION that initiates culture, the dynamics of
CULTURE produce SOCIAL GROUPS that construct
STATUSES and their accompanying ROLES to
manage the dynamics of group relations.
b) SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS emerge to provide the
needs of group relations.
c) SOCIAL INTERACTION in the form of individual
behavior, images, identities, experiences, and conditions
make sense only within the dynamics of the social
structure.
D) SOCIAL CHANGE, ORDER and CONSISTENCY
in human behaviour make sense on within the above
contexts.
INTRODUCTION: Major Concepts
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Social Structure
Social Interaction
Social Scripts
Culture
Social Groups
Statuses and Roles
Social Institutions
Social Transformation or Change:
– Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft, Capitalism, Socialism, communisim
– Androcentrism, Egalitarianism, Reality, Hyperreality
Dramaturgical Sociology: Front Stage and Back Stage: Impression
making and impression management
Functionalism, Social Conflict, Interactionism, Feminism, Postmodernism
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ORDER AND CONSISTENCY
IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6aL5TiIc0
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ORDER AND CONSISTENCY
IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps64xx
Jq0mg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGlqn9
GvOv8
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ORDER AND CONSISTENCY IN
HUMAN BEHAVIOR: Questions
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How was it possible for many thousands of ordinary Germans—
products of what was regarded as the most advanced civilization
on earth—to murder millions of defenseless and innocent Jews,
Gypsies, homosexuals and people with mental disabilities
systematically in German death camps? And why did the innocent
often march to gas chambers without protest?
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Conventional Answer
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ORDER AND CONSISTENCY IN
HUMAN BEHAVIOR: Answers?
Conventional answer:
 Many Nazis were evil, sadistic, or
deluded enough to think Jews and other
“undesirables” threatened the existence
of the German people. Therefore they
acted to eliminate these people.
 The innocent often marched to gas
chambers without protest because of
ignorance or fear.
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Sociological
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Answer
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Sociological Answer
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There are rhythms in our personal lives and
interaction. These rhythms are driven by the
dynamics of the social structure and
interaction
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Sociological Answer
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Like the planets of the solar system. the
Nazis committed genocide against the Jews,
Gypsies, homosexuals and people with
mental disabilities; and these innocent
victims of the genocide marched to the
gas chambers to killed because of the
dynamics of orbit-like system sociologists
call social scripts (social structure and
interaction).
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SOCIOLOGICAL ANSWER: Solar System as Metaphor for
The social structure and interaction, and orbits are a metaphor for
Social Script
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Social Orbits/Scripts (Macro and Micro Social Forces): Culture,
Political Economy (property & power), Social Closures (unequal
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prestige), Patriarchy, and Human Agency (interaction situations)
SOCIOLOGICAL ANSWER: The Reality
of Social Scripts
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Social Structure (macro social forces), particularly culture and structures
of economy, power/authority, prestige, and patriarchy tends to render
people obedient or conformists either voluntarily or involuntarily.
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Social Interaction (micro social forces) of individuals and groups tends to produce
culture and structures that guide peoples’ definitions and responses to situations,
SOCIOLOGICAL ANSWER:
The Story of the Social Structure
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The facts of contemporary history are also
facts about the success and failure of
individual men and women. When a society
is industrialized, a peasant becomes a
worker; a feudal lord is liquidated or
becomes a businessman. When classes rise
or fall, a man is employed or unemployed;
when the rate of investment goes up or
down, a man takes new heart or goes broke.
When wars happen, an insurance salesman
becomes a rocket launcher, a store clerk, a
radar man; a wife lives alone; a child grows
up2016-03-16
without a father (C. Wright Mills 1959:
Sociological Imagination).
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SOCIOLOGICAL ANSWER:
The Science of the Social Structure
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SOCIAL INTERACTION of
PEOPLE stabilizes into
RELATIONSHIP or SOCIAL
STRUCTURE which then shapes
further social interaction.
“All social interaction takes place
within a social structure--a series of
predictable relationships composed
of various positions that people
occupy” (Witt & Hermiston 2010,
p. 91). That is, “ordered
interrelationships between the
different
elements of a social
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system (Tepperman 2015, p. 105).
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SOCIOLOGICAL ANSWER:
Summary: Social Scripts
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Once people construct social
structure through their
interaction, human behavior
as well as actions, images,
identities, experiences,
conditions, further
interaction, and destinies are
scripted by the social
structure.
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SOCIOLOGICAL ANSWER:
Summary: Social Scripts
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Like in the solar system,
order is the key to
maintaining [the
homeostasis of] social
structures, according to the
functionalist paradigm
(Tepperman 2015, p. 109).
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All social interaction creates the social structure which in turn
organizes social interaction.
CULTURE
Statuses & Roles
Ascribed
Achieved
INTERACTION
as well as INDIVIDUAL & GROUP
BEHAVIOR,
IMAGES, IDENTITIES,
EXPERIENCES, CONDITIONS,
Mass Media
Social Institutions
Secondary
Social Groups
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CULTURE
COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
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1. CULTURE: Everything people create and
share as members of society.
2. SOCIAL GROUPS: People connected
together and having awareness of their
connectedness.
3. STATUSES: Social positions people occupy
4. ROLES: acting or playing out organized or
negotiated scripts that accompany social
positions.
5. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: Organized patterns of
rules/norms, values, beliefs, functions and interaction
centered on basic social needs of people.
THE GENESIS & EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
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In order to survive and thrive, PEOPLE living
in the physical environment generate SOCIAL
INTERACTION that initiates culture, the
dynamics of CULTURE produce SOCIAL
GROUPS that construct STATUSES and their
accompanying ROLES to manage the dynamics
of group relations.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS emerge to provide
the needs of group relations.
SOCIAL INTERACTION, individual behavior,
images, identities, experiences, and conditions make
sense only within the dynamics of the social structure.23
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THE POWER OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
“Couple-centric”
Culture
“Couple-centric”
Social Interaction
Physical
Environment
“Couple-centric”
behaviors, images,
identities, experiences,
and conditions
“Where are the Single ladies
and Gentlemen?
(Read Teppreman 2015, p. 104)
“Couple-centric”
Social Institutions
“Couple-centric”
Social Groups
CULTURE
SYMBOLS
ARTIFACTS
CLOTHING &
DECORATIONS
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RITUALS
VALUES &
BELIEFS
TECHNOLOGY
NORMS
INFRASTRUCTURE
FOOD &
ENTERTAINMENT
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 SOCIAL
GROUPS
SOCIAL GROUPS
PRIMARY (Informal Relationships):
Involuntary & Voluntary; Usually small
 SECONDARY (Formal Relationships):
Involuntary & Voluntary; Usually large
 INFORMAL RELATIONS in Secondary
Groups:
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– CLIQUES
– NETWORKS
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SOCIAL GROUPS: NETWORKS
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Connections with people in same and/or different social
circles in both the concrete/real and virtual worlds:
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Social Networks as a Resource:
– shaping our economic/employment,
marriage, political, academic, and social
opportunities.
– Social Networks as a Liability:
– Damaging Gossips, Scandals, Constraints,
and relationships that limit the range and
quality of our opportunities.
Our social networks constitute our net worth
SOCIAL NETWORK:
ADOLESCENT SEXUAL NETWORKS: RESOURCE OR LIABILITY?
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At “Jefferson High” there are extensive
network of romantic and sexual
relationships that occurred over an 18month period. Though most of the
teenagers had had just one or two
partners, 288 of the 832 students
interviewed were linked to a giant sexual
network (Bearman, Moody and Stovel
2004).
Resource or Liability?
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 SOCIAL
STATUS
STATUS: Socially Defined Position
within a group/society
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THE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL POSITIONS
Master
Status
Status Set
STATUS
(ASCRIBED & ACHIEVED)
Status
Symbol
Your Social Status determines your access to valued resources in your society
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Structure of Social Statuses
Status Set: The many and sometimes conflicting social
positions one holds (Schaefer & Haaland 2006, p. 97)
 Master Status: What others view as one’s overall social
position. It is a status that dominates others in one’s status
set and thereby determines one’s general position within
society. For example, Arthur Ashe who died of AIDS in
1993, had a remarkable career as a tennis star; but at the
end of his life, his status as a well known personality with
AIDS may have outweighed his statuses as retired athlete,
an author, and a political activist. Throughout the world
many people with disabilities find that their status as
“disabled” is given undue weight, which overshadows their
actual ability to perform successfully in meaningful
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employment (Ibid.).
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Structure of Social Statuses
Daughter
20 years old
Aboriginal
Sister
Female
Student
Classmate
Roommate
Source: Schaefer & Haaland
2006, p. 97)
Teammate
Employee
Friend
Structure of Social Statuses
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Ascribed Status: Social Position society assigns
to a person without regard for the person’s unique
talents or characteristics. Examples are racial
background, ethnicity, gender, age. In most cases
one can do little to change an ascribed status
(Shaefer & Haaland 2006, p. 67).
Achieved Status: Social Position one occupies
largely through ones own efforts. Examples are
bank president, prison guard, lawyer, pianist,
convict, social worker (ibid.).
Status Symbol: Usually a sign to identify one’s 35
QUIZ #1
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The latest Canadian census data show that the face
of poverty in Canada is an Aboriginal female
living on reserve. What social position does this
representation suggest?
– A) Achieved Status
– B) Ascribed Status
– C) Status Inconsistency
– D) Status Deflation
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QUIZ #2
Ellen Bains has observed that in most party
and social interaction situations in Victoria,
people want to know what she does for
living. This suggests that in Victoria one’s
job or occupation or profession
constitutes…
 A) a status set
 B) a status symbol
 C) a master status
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ROLE
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG
STATUS, ROLE AND IDENTITY
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ROLE/IDENTITY AS DYNAMIC SIDE OF STATUS (pp. 144,
148, 293, and 294 of Ravelli & Webber 2014).
Role
Expectation
STATUS
Role
Conflict
Role
Making
ROLE
Role
Playing
Role
Performance
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Role
Strain
IDENTITY
Role
Taking
Role
Exit
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ROLE CLASH: ROLE CONFLICT AND
ROLE STRAIN
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ROLE CONFLICT:
– Incompatible expectations arising from two
or more social positions held by the same
person.
ROLE STRAIN:
– The difficulty arising from one (the same)
social position creating conflicting demands
and expectations on the person holding this
one position.
ROLE EXIT:
– Process of disengagement from a social expectation
that is central to one’s self-identity in order to
establish a new role and identity: E.G: Ex-convicts,
divorcees, recovering alcoholics, ex-nuns, former
doctors, retirees, and transsexuals.
ROLE CLASH ILLUSTRATED
You
You
Daughter
or Son
Friend
Student
Worker
Visit mom
in hospital
Go to 21st
Birthday
party
Prepare for
tomorrow’s
exam
Come in for
emergency
overtime
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Role
Conflict
Student
Do
well
Not make
others
feel bad
Role
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Strain
QUIZ #3
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Anita Bradford, a sociology major, had the
privilege to meet Tiger Woods, the famous
professional golfer. Anita asked Mr. Woods to
do her a favour by teaching her how to golf.
Tiger’s response was, “I love playing golf but I
hate to teach it to others.” From her knowledge
in sociology, Anita concludes that this response
of Mr. Woods’ represents……………
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A) Role strain
B) Role Exit
C) Role Conflict
D) Role ambiguity.
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QUIZ #4
Ameto Guluu is experiencing a confusion.
He loves his girlfriend, Amie, but his
mother hates Amie. Which of the
following concepts would help you to
correctly represent Ameto’s situation
sociologically?
 A) Role Exit
 B) Role strain
 C) Role Conflict
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 D) Role ambiguity
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 SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
– THE WEB OF ENDURING, PREDICTABLE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
THAT EXISTS TO MEETCOMMON HUMAN NEEDS.
RELIGION
EDUCATION
ECONOMY
FAMILY
HEALTH
LEISURE
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POLITICS
MEDIA
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SOCIAL INTERACTION STRUCTUREL
– FRONT STAGE
– BACK STAGE
SOCIAL INTERACTION
Responses of people to others/objects on the
basis of their interpretation/subjective
definition of the symbolic meanings of the
actions of others/objects.
 There is a structure to social interaction:
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– Social interactions is about presentation of the
self in front stages and back stages.
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SOCIAL INTERACTION: THE INFLUENCE OF STRUCTURE:
PRESENTATION OF THE SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE:
Front Stage: Costumes; MASKS
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SOCIAL INTERACTION
INFLUENCE OF STRUCTURE
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FRONT STAGE: THE FAKE OR HYPERREAL SELF
On the front stage the individual is
usually not of her/his real self. She/he is
phony, faking through and through.
She/he is in “deep acting”.
 In effect, on the front stage, interacting
individuals wear MASKS
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Because the front stage is multiple, societal
members should have multiple masks or
“multiple personalities”. They should become
social chameleons or they are labeled
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DEVIANTS.
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SOCIAL INTERACTION: THE INFLUENCE OF STRUCTURE
BACK STAGE: Putting Away Masks
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SOCIAL INTERACTION:
INFLUENCE OF STRUCTURE
BACK STAGE: THE REAL SELF
 Where the individual can put away the masks and
be of her/his real self.
 At the back stage the individual recuperates from
the fractures, burns and bruises sustained from
front stage performances.
 Individuals who are unable to put away the front
stage masks when they enter the back stage
become disconnected from their true feelings;
cause emotional stress to their loved ones; may
suffer nervous breakdown or experience mental
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problems and thus go through life feeling
miserable.
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SOCIAL INTERACTION: THE INFLUENCE OF STRUCTURE
Oversharing: The Presentation of the Self
in the Internet Age
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People ‘overshare’ when they interact with others through
the screens of computers and smartphones. Oversharing
means to divulge more of their inner feelings, opinions and
sexuality than they would in person, or even over the
phone. Text messaging, Facebooking, tweeting, camming,
blogging, online dating, and Internet porn are vehicles of
this oversharing, which blurs the boundary between public
[front stage] and private [back stage] life...we are much
more public about what used to be private. (Ben Agger
2012).
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
CHANGES IN SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND INTERACTION
CHANGES IN SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIAL
INTERACTION
 CHANGE PROCESSES & HOMEOSTASIS:
1. FUNCTIONALISM:
– Through evolution there is change from a traditional society characterized by
MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY or GEMEINSCHAFT (close-knit community
that focuses on informal relationships) to a modern society characterized by
ORGANIC SOLIDARITY or GESELLSCHAFT (impersonal mass society
that focuses on formal relationships).
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2. S0CIAL CONFLICT:
– From PRE-CAPITALIST society to CAPITALIST SOCIETY, and eventually
to COMMUNIST society through a SOCIALIST revolution.
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3. INTERACTIONISM:
– Constant and multidirectional micro changes
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4. FEMINISM:
– From Androcentrism to Egalitarianism.
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5. POSTMODERNISM:
– From Hyperreality constructed by Cultural Hegemony to Reality made possible
2016-03-16by Equalitarian Cultural Pluralism or Multiculturalism.
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
GEMEINSCHAFT TO GESELLSCHAFT
FUNCTIONALISM:
 GEMEINSCHAFT & MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY:
– Close-knit Community: Homeostasis provided by
tradition and collectivist practices focusing on
primary or informal relations. That is, the local, the
personal and the intimate or face-to-face contacts
such as family, kinship, friendship and community.
 GESELLSCHAFT & ORGANIC SOLIDARITY:
– Impersonal Mass Society: Homeostasis provided by
“large-scale, impersonal, economically based, and
utility-driven marketplace with no foundational
sense of virtue, morality or home” (Butin 2010, p.
115), but rather individualistic values focusing on
impersonal or secondary or formal relations such as
occur at the workplace, school, bureaucratic public
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domains.
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GEMEINSCHAFT TO GESELLSCHAFT
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According to the functionalist paradigm,
social systems (gemeinschaft and
gesellschaft) persist independently of the
efforts and intentions of individuals; they
force us to conform whether we are aware
or unaware, willing or not (Tepperman
2015, p. 108).
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QUIZ #5
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Scotia Bank has employed you as a sociologist
to use your knowledge to help it advertise its
products/services as if the bank has an informal
relations with customers. What sociological
concept would best capture this proposition of
the bank?
A) Social Closure
B) Gesellschaft
C) Gemeinschaft
D) Androcentrism
E) Capitalism
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QUIZ #6
I received this email in October 2014 from the LG
Corporation: “Dear Francis,
Thank you for signing up for Life's Good News. We're
very excited to have you as a part of the LG family.
You'll be receiving exclusive access to LG news, special
offers, as well as tips, tricks and everything in between.
Check your inbox soon, we'll be sending our next issue
out shortly.” What sociological concept of social change
does this email contradict?
 A) Social Closure
 B) Gesellschaft
 C) Gemeinschaft
 D) Androcentrism
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 E) Capitalism

PRE-CAPITALISM THROUGH
CAPITALISM TO COMMUNISM
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SOCIAL CONFLICT:
PRE-CAPITALISM: This social structure is
characterized by:
– Inequalities based on ascription
– lack of individual freedom.
CAPITALISM: This social structure is
characterized by
– Class struggles: social inequality, violence,
crime, alienation, stress and rhetoric of
individual freedom
COMMUNISM: This social structure is characterized
by
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– Classlessness: social equality and absolute individual 59
freedom.

ANDROCENTRISM TO
EGALITARIANISM
FEMINISM
 ANDROCENTRISM:
– Male dominance causing inequality and
oppression against girls and women.
 EGALITARIANISM:
– Equity (perfect equality) and absolute
individual freedom and empowerment

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HYPERREALITY TO REALITY
POSTMODERNISM:
 Hyperreality



constructed by Cultural Hegemony
Reality
 made possible by Equalitarian
Cultural Pluralism or
Multiculturalism.
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 THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVES
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL
STRUCTURE AND INTERACTION
FUNCTIONALISM SOCIAL CONFLICT
Homeostasis:
-Emphasizes
the importance
of social order.
Sees social
structure,
particularly
culture, and
interaction as
carrying out the
key tasks in this
regard.
INTERACTIONISM
&
POSTMODERNISM
Political
Economy &
Human Agency:
Social Closures:
-Emphasize
-Emphasizes
everyday
interaction, shaped
power
by subjective
differential
definition of
among groups: situations/symbols,
sees social
as the basis for
constructing reality.
structure and
Social structure and
interaction as
interaction reflect
reinforcing
and reinforce that
inequality and
constructed cultural
maintaining the reality and
hyperreality.
status quo
FEMINISM
Patriarchy:
-Emphasizes
how social
structure and
interaction are
gendered; how
women and
men receive
differential
treatment in
culture and
institutions.
CONCLUSION: The Influence of Structure
 Rhythms
in our
personal lives and
interaction are
caused by rhythms
in the social
structure
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
SAMPLE MIDTERM EXAM QUESTION
BASED ON LECTURE #2
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SAMPLE MIDTERM EXAM
QUESTION

1. Gabriel has found out in his reading on culture
that the theories of the Hindu practice of keeping
cattle as sacred animals have no available
empirical evidence to support them. Therefore, he
has decided to conduct a survey research to
produce the necessary empirical evidence to test
the existing theories on this issue. This type of
research is……….?
–
–
–
–
A) Quantitative and Inductive
B) Quantitative and Deductive
C) Qualitative and Inductive
D) Qualitative and Deductive
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SAMPLE MIDTERM EXAM
QUESTION

2. One of your Sociology 100 classmates has expressed
to you that she’s having difficulty identifying the
correct research method or technique to use to collect
data for her research assignment on hidden crimes.
You have advised her to use a content analysis to
examine backyard party conversations. What
sociological paradigm(s) would support this research
technique?
– A) Interactionism
– B) Feminism
– C) Functionalism
– D) Social Conflict
– E) All of the above
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