2 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE …
Status and Roles
1ST MAJOR SOCIAL STRUCTURE… STATUS
The one status that tends to rank above all
others for an individual is their MASTER
STATUS, which can be achieved or ascribed.
This may change over the course of your
lifetime.
ASCRIBED STATUS
Some statuses are assigned according to
qualities beyond a person’s control. These are
called ASCRIBED statuses…they are based on
inherited traits (make/female; race) or
assigned automatically based on age (teen;
adult; senior citizen). ASCRIBED statuses can
not be earned…nor changed!
ACHIEVED STATUS
Other statuses are ACHIEVED through your own
direct efforts & are based on skill, knowledge
& ability. Ex: occupation; education; marital
status.
MASTER STATUS
The one status that tends to rank above all
others for an individual is their MASTER
STATUS, which can be achieved or ascribed.
This may change over the course of your
lifetime.
2ND MAJOR COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE…
ROLES: Role is the behavior (the rights &
obligations) expected of each particular
status. Roles bring statuses to life. You
OCCUPY a status while you PLAY/PERFORM a
role.
RECIPROCAL ROLES
Each ROLE has a RECIPROCAL ROLE – a
corresponding role associated with a
status.
EX: husband/wife; teacher/student.
ROLE EXPECTATIONS/PERFORMANCE
ROLE EXPECTATIONS – are the socially
determined behaviors expected of a role.
EX: Doctors treating patients with skill/care;
Police officers upholding the law.
ROLE PERFORMANCE
ROLE PERFORMANCE – the ACTUAL role
behavior. Sometimes it does not match the
expectation. This sometimes occurs because
many roles are contradictory.
PROBLEMS WITH ROLE PERFORMANCE
Each status may have many interrelated roles
associated with it. Sociologists refer to these
as the ROLE SET for that status. Because
most of us have several statuses, we end up
with many roles sets assigned to each of
those. That can lead to problems…
ROLE CONFLICT
ROLE CONFLICT – happens when role
expectations for various statuses conflict with
each other. EX: Employee/Parent strain;
ROLE STRAIN
ROLE STRAIN – is having trouble meeting the
role expectations of a single status. EX: a
teacher may have to rush a unit to keep up
with the expected curriculum pace; a student
having several major tests in one day may
have to short change success in one subject
for another.
PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER…
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS – combine a system
of statuses, roles, values and norms and
organize them in order to satisfy the
basic needs of society. EXAMPLES of
major INSTITUTIONS found within a
society include family, the economy,
politics, education, religion, medicine,
science.
EXAMPLES OF MAJOR INSTITUTIONS…
found within a society include family, the
economy, politics, education, religion,
medicine, science.