Social Structure
Social Interaction:
process by which
people act toward or
respond to other
people and is the
foundation for all
relationships and
groups in society.
Social Structure:
refers to the ways in
which people respond to
one another- it is the
network of interrelated
statuses and roles that
guide human interaction.
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Social Structure
Write Down True or False
1. Most homeless people choose to be
homeless.
2. Homelessness is largely a self-inflicted
condition
3. Homeless people do not work
4. Most homeless people are mentally ill
5. Homeless people typically panhandle
[beg for money] so that they can buy
alcohol and drugs.
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Social Structure
6. Most homeless people are heavy drug
users
7. A large number of homeless persons are
dangerous
8. Homeless persons have existed
throughout the history of the United States
9. One out of every homeless persons is a
child
10.Some homeless people have attended
college and graduated school.
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Social Structure
Homeless Activity
• Eighner’s diving activities reflect a specific social
behavior- all activities in life are social in nature
– Like scavenging and living on the streets
• Homeless people and domiciled persons [people
who live in homes] live in social worlds that have
predictable patterns of social interaction
• We study homelessness to see an example of
how a social problem occurs and how they
perpetuated in the social structure
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Social Structure
• Social structure is essential for
– survival of society
– well-being of individual
– it provides a social web of familial support and
social relationships that connects us to the
larger society
• Homeless don’t have that link so
– a loss of personal dignity
– Loss of a sense of moral worth
• The homeless are not homeless by
choice: remember that!
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Social Structure
Chapter 4: Social Structure
Section 1: The Components of Social Structure
Section 2: The Structure of Groups and Societies
Section 3: The Nature of Social Interaction
Section 4: The Structure of Formal Organizations
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Social Structure
Section 1: The Components of Social Structure
Main Idea
• Social structure is the network of interrelated statuses and roles that
guides human interaction. A status is a socially defined position in
society, while a role is the behavior attached to a status.
Reading Focus
• What do sociologists mean by the term status?
• How are status and roles related?
• What are social institutions?
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Social Structure
Status
A social structure is a network of interrelated statuses and
roles that guide human interaction.
•A status is a socially defined position in a group or in a
society
•A role is the behavior-rights and obligations- expected of
someone occupying a particular status.
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Social Structure
Each individual in society occupies several statusesyou are students, sons, brother/sisters, Arabic…
• Ascribed status is assigned
according to standards beyond
a person’s control
• Not based on individual’s
abilities, efforts, or
accomplishments
• Based on inherited traits or
assigned automatically when
they get to a certain age
• Achieved status is acquired
by an individual on the basis of
some special sill, knowledge,
or ability
• People have control over these
• Ex: any occupation, being lead
part in a play, being a spouse,
being a parent, being a high
school or college graduate, or
an athlete
• Ex: male, female, teen, adult,
family heritage, race
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Master Status
• Most people have many statuses, but a master status is the one that
plays the greatest role in a person’s life.
• It can be either ascribed or achieved.
• In the United States, we mostly use achieved characteristics like
occupation, wealth, marital status, and parenthood to serve as our
master status
• It can change:
• As teen, master status might be being a student or athlete
• As adult, it might be based on occupation
• Elderly, it might be based on grandparenthood
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Social Structure
You Play Many Different Roles
• At home you play the role associated with the
status of being a son or daughter
• At school you perform the role associated with
the status of being a student
• All the roles have reciprocal roles:
corresponding roles that define the patterns of
interaction between related statuses
– Cant fulfill role of husband if there is no wife
– Doctor-Patient, Athlete-Coach, Employee-Employer,
Leader-follower, salesclerk-customer
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Social Structure
Roles
Role Expectations and Role Performance
• Role expectations are the socially determined behaviors expected
of a person performing a role
• Doctors for example are expected to treat their patients with skills
and care
• Parents expected to provide emotional and physical security for
their children
• Role performance is the actual behaviors of a person and it may not
match the behavior expected of society
• Doctors who mistreat their patients
• Parents who mistreat their children.
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Social Structure
Role Conflict, Role Strain, and Role Exit
• A role set is the different roles associated with a particular status.
• Role conflict occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one
status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status
• Ex: Being a good employee interferes with being a good parent
• Role strain occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the role
expectations of a single status
• Ex: manager who has to keep her workers positive as they are
asked to work long overtime hours
• Role exit is the process people go through to detach from a role that
was previously central to their social identity.
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Social Institutions
• A social institution is a system of statuses, roles,
values, and norms that is organized to satisfy one or
more of the basic needs of society.
– The family, the most universal social institution, takes responsibility
for raising the young and teaching them accepted norms and values.
– The economic institution organizes the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services.
– The political institution is the system of norms that governs the
exercise and distribution of power in society.
– Education ensures the transmission of values, patterns of behavior,
and certain skills and knowledge.
– Religion provides a shared, collective explanation of the meaning of
life.
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Social Structure
Section 2: The Structure of Groups and Societies
Main Idea
Sociologists classify societies according to how each uses technology
to meet the needs of its members. Sociologists recognize three broad
categories of society—preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial.
Reading Focus
• What are the types of preindustrial societies?
• What is the main economic activity in industrial societies?
• How do postindustrial societies and industrial societies differ?
• What concepts have sociologists used to contrast societies?
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Social Structure
Looking at features of group structure, characteristics
of common types of groups and societies
• Features of Group Structure
– A group is a set of two or more people who
interact on the basis of share expectations
and who possess some degree of common
identity
• From two on a date
• To 500 soldiers at boot camp
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Social Structure
Defining Groups
• Size
– Small or large
• Quality
– Intimate or formal
• Four features:
– Two or more people
– Interaction occurs between members
– Shared expectations
– Must possess a sense of common identity
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Social Structure
Interaction, shared expectations, and common
identity
• An aggregate is when people gather in the
same place at the same time but lack
organization of lasting patterns of interactions
– Ex: people waiting to board a plane or standing in a
ticket line at the movies
• A social category is a means of classifying
people according to a shared trait or common
status
– i.e. students, women, elderly
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Social Structure
• Size
• A dyad is two people.
• A triad is three people.
• A small group is a group with few enough members that
everyone is able to interact face to face
• Time
• A group can be a one-time meeting or a lifetime.
• Interaction is not continuous; there are breaks.
• Organization
• A formal group has clearly defined structure, goals, and
activities.
• An informal group has no official structure or rules of conduct.
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
• Classify groups on the basis of the degree
of intimacy that occurs among group
members
• Start with a description of the two opposite
extremes and they run a line between
them called the continuum
– Line will show range of possible relationships
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Social Structure
One example if the primary-secondary
continuum
PRIMARY GROUP
SECONDARY GROUP
RELATIONSHIPS
FAMILY
RELATIONSHIPS
GROUPS
SCHOOL
OF
CLUB
CLASSROOM
FRIENDS
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JOB
Social Structure
Types of Groups
There are many kinds of groups. Most people belong to several.
Primary Groups
Secondary Groups
• Small group that interacts over
a relatively long period of time
on a direct and personal basis
• Group in which interaction is
impersonal and temporary
• The most intimate; face-to-face
• Informal, communication is
deep and intense, personal
satisfaction is important
• Importance of the individual is in
the function that he or she
performs in the group
• Casual and limited
• Members can be replaced
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Types of Groups (cont.)
Reference Groups
In-Groups and Out-Groups
• A group with whom an individual
identifies and whose attitudes and
values are adopted
• In-group: any group that a person
belongs to and identifies with
• Can have both positive and
negative effect on behavior
• Out-group: any group that the
person does not belong to or identify
with
Electronic Communities
Social Networks
• Have arisen with arrival of internet
• The web of relationships across
groups that occurs because of the
many groups people belong to
• Some reflect primary-group
dynamics
• No clear boundaries
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Preindustrial Societies
The largest groups studied by sociologists are entire
societies. Sociologists categorize societies according to
subsistence strategies- the way in which a society uses
technology to provide for the needs of its members
Division of labor- is the specialization by individuals or
groups in the performance of specific economic activities
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Social Structure
In a preindustrial society food production is the
main economic activity.
#1 Hunter-Gatherer
Societies
#2 Pastoral Societies
• Collect wild plants daily
• Rely on domesticated animals
• Hunt for wild animals
• Lead a nomadic life
• Move constantly
• Fewer people produce food
• Rarely exceed 100 members
• Complex division of labor
• Family is main social unit
• Produce some items for trade
• Have surplus of good so can
support larger populations
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
#3 Horticultural Societies
#4 Agricultural Societies
• Grow fruits and vegetables in
garden plots
•
Animals are used to plow fields
•
Irrigation increases crop yields
•
Many members are able to
engage in specialized roles
•
Technological innovations allows
them to plant more crops and can
plant at various times
•
Cities are formed
•
Leaders are often hereditary
•
Marked by powerful armies and
the construction of roads
•
Abandon bartering in order to
make trade easier
•
Power often unequally distributed
• Use slash-and-burn techniques
• Must wait for rainy seasons to plant
• Move to new plot when old
becomes barren
• Build semipermanent or permanent
villages
• Village size depends on amount of
land for farming
• Division of labor creates
specialized roles
• Economic and political systems
more developed because of the
settled life
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Sociology in Today’s World
The New Barter
One major development of agricultural societies was the creation of a
money system. This system replaced the idea of barter- the practice of
exchanging one good for another
• As many as 450,000 companies
barter in America today.
• Computer technology makes
bartering easier.
• They trade goods and services
through a “barter exchange.”
• Barter allows companies to
“buy” goods or services without
using cash.
• Barter exchanges make money
on barter transactions.
• Rapid growth of bartering is
changing the economy of the
United States.
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Industrial Societies
In an industrial society:
• Production of food shifts to production
of manufactured goods
• Production moves from human and
animal labor to machines
• Increases food production and
population
• Numbers and kinds of jobs increase
• Location of work changes to cities,
away from the home
• Social processes such as education
take the place of family
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Social Structure
Reading Check
Identify Cause and Effect
How does industrialization
lead to urbanization?
Answer: Use of centralized power sources (water,
steam) moves production from homes to factories;
cities form as homes cluster around factories and
other businesses, such as stores, are started
nearby to serve the increasingly concentrated
population
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Social Structure
Postindustrial Societies
• Economic emphasis is on creation
and exchange of information and
services instead of manufacturing
goods
• United States is a postindustrial
society
• Standard of living improves
• Education and science are
important
• Technological advances seen as
key
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Social Structure
Contrasting Societies
Values: Ferdinand Tonnies
Unity: Emile Durkheim
• Degree of shared values among
social members
• Pre-industrial: Held together by
mechanical solidarity-close
knit social relationships that
result when a small group of
people share the same values
and perform the same tasks
• Gemeinschaft: community
• Strong sense of group solidarityclose and center on family and
communities
• Members know one another
• Industrial Society- Held together
• Preindustrial societies, rural
by organic solidarityimpersonal social relationships • Gesellschaft: society
that arise within increased job
• Relationships are impersonal and often
specializations
temporary; based on need
• So depend on one another • Traditional values are weak; individual
for survival
goals are more important than the group
• Urban societies
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Social Structure
How do you interact
with other people?
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Social Structure
#1 Exchange
• Exchange occurs when people interact in an effort to receive a
reward or a return for their actions.
• Reward might be tangible or intangible
• Reciprocity is the idea that if you do something for someone, that
person owes you something in return.
• Basis of exchange interactions…rewards are material or
nonmaterial
• Exchange theory is the idea that people are motivated by selfinterest in their interactions with other people.
•People do things for rewards; behaviors that are rewarded are
repeated
•When costs outweigh the rewards, individuals end the relationship
•Maximizing rewards, minimizing costs
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Social Structure
Competition and Conflict
#2 Competition
• Competition occurs when two or more people or groups oppose each
other to achieve a goal that only one can attain.
– Common in Western societies
– Sometimes considered basis of capitalism and democracy
– Advancement in business, school, sports through competition
– Might motivate people to perform society’s needed roles
– Can lead to psychological stress, a lack of cooperation, and conflict
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Social Structure
#3 Conflict
• Conflict is the deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to
oppose someone, or to harm another person.
– Has few rules of accepted conduct
– Georg Simmel identified four sources of conflict:
– war
– conflict within groups
– legal disputes
– Clashes over ideology [religion or politics]
– Positives of having conflict:
– Can reinforce group boundaries
– Strengthens group loyalty by focusing attention on an outside threat
– Draws attention away from internal problems
– Leads to social change by bringing problems to forefront and forcing
opposing sides to seek solutions
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Social Structure
#4 Cooperation
• Cooperation occurs when two or more people or groups
work together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than
one person.
– A social process that gets things done
– May be used along with competition to motivate members
to work harder for the group
– MEDIATION!!!
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Social Structure
#5 Accommodation
Accommodation is a state of balance between cooperation and
conflict: give a little, take a little .
Compromise
Each party gives up something
they want in order to come to
an agreement
Mediation
Calling in a third party who
guides the two parties toward
an agreement
Truce
Temporarily brings a halt to the
competition or conflict until a
compromise can be reached
Arbitration
A third party makes a decision
that is binding on both parties
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Section 4: The Structure of Formal Organizations
Main Idea
Formal organizations are complex secondary groups created to
achieve specific goals. Most are structured as bureaucracies. Formal
and informal structures can affect the efficiency of bureaucracies.
Reading Focus
• How do sociologists view formal organizations?
• What are the main characteristics of Max Weber’s model of
bureaucracies?
• What types of relationships are found in formal organizations?
• What problems do bureaucracies face?
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Social Structure
Formal Organizations
• Formal organizations are large, complex secondary groups that have
been established to achieve specific goals.
• Schools, businesses, government agencies, religious organizations, youth organizations,
political organizations, volunteer associations, professional associations, and labor unions are
examples.
• A bureaucracy is a ranked authority structure that operates according
to specific rules and procedures….came about in industrialized
societies because of rationalization
• Bureaucracies existed in ancient Egypt and China, but rose to
prominence during the Industrial Revolution.
• Rationalization refers to the process by which every feature of human
behavior to calculation, measurement, and control.
• Use it today to describe organizations that has many departments
or bureaus
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Social Structure
Marx Weber’s Model of Bureaucracies- each
bureaucracy has the following characteristics”
1. Division of labor
– Work is divided among specialists with specific duties
2. Ranking of authority
– There are clear-cut lines of responsibility; each person
responsible to a supervisor at a higher level
3. Employment based on formal qualifications
– Individuals are hired on the basis of tests, education, or
experience.
– Workers are replaceable.
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Social Structure
Weber’s Model of Bureaucracies (cont’d.)
4. Written rules and regulations
– There are objective rules that identify each person’s
responsibilities and authority of each person on the staff
5. Specific lines of promotion and advancement
– Lines of promotion reward loyalty with job security and seniority.
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
• Organizations fit this ideal type to varying degrees
– Not all are rigid
– A non-rigid examples:
• voluntary associations which are nonprofit associations
formed to pursue some common interest
– Membership by choice
– Unpaid volunteers
– Examples: amateur sports teams, professional
associations, service clubs, political interest
groups
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Social Structure
Relationships in Formal Organizations
Informal structures based on strong primary relationships
may exist within the most rigid of bureaucracies where
members within this rigid system might be really close and
friendly
• Called “bureaucracy’s other face”
• First noted in study of Western Electric Company
• Conformity to the norm enforced through negative
sanctions…you do something against the team, the team will
punish you
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Social Structure
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Social Structure
Problems of Bureaucracies
Weber’s Bureaucracy
• Views bureaucracy in a positive light
– Gets things done with speed and efficiency
– Best way to organize large numbers of people to attain a large goal
– Create order by clearly defining tasks
– Provide stability- people come and go, but organization continues
– Lots of material goods at reasonable prices
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Social Structure
Flaws of Bureaucracy
• Several significant weaknesses
1. Goal might be self-continuation and individual goals are lost
2. Individuals develop bureaucratic personalities- job becomes a ritual, and
creativity is stifled
– Employees might be promoted beyond their level of competence
[Laurence J Peter in The Peter Principle]
3. “red tape” involved in dealing with them: employees play a limited role in the
overall structure; their knowledge and power is limited; leads to bureaucratic
delay
– Spend time filling out forms or going from one department to the next
4. Results in oligarchy- power concentrated in the hands of a few people at the
top of the bureaucracy in a tendency labeled the iron law of oligarchy
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Social Structure
5. Parkinson’s law: “work expands to fill the time available for its
completion”
Ex: civil servant overworked so can
1. resign
2. cut work in half by sharing it with a new colleague
3. demand assistance of two subordinates
#1: UNACCEPTABLE because you’ll lose pension, benefits….
#2 UNACCEPTABLE because now have a rival for promotion
#3 ACCEPTABLE because it will make your job look more important
because you now control two workers…there must be two so that
each is kept in fear of the other person’s promotion
----until they complain they’re being overworked and they get
two subordinates each the original now has six he’s in charge of and
that calls for a promotion but he’s more overworked because all six
send him work to be approved and he must work more to catch
up..late hours are a penalty of success
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Social Structure
Current Research in Sociology
The McDonaldization of Society
Max Weber suggested that as society progressed it would become increasingly
guided by rules, regulations, and formal structures. George Ritzer called this
tendency McDonaldization.
• Four aspects to McDonaldization:
efficiency, calculability,
predictability, and control
• Operations are performed to
specific guidelines that maximize
efficiency
• Pros: convenient, familiar
• Cons: removal of human aspect,
no room for innovation, reduction
of face-to-face interactions
• Uniformity across production
lines results in uniform products
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Social Structure
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