2 social structure

Building blocks of Social
Structure and interactions
2nd lecture
Dr/ Eman M. Mortada
Associate professor
In sociology, public health and preventive medicine
In

Illustrate the levels of sociological analysis.
Identify the macrosociological Perspective:
Social Structure
Determine components of the social structure
Identify the types of Societies and their
Transformation
Recognize Social Interaction from a
Microsociological Perspective
Lecture Outline

**Meaning of Sociology (1):
 The word “Sociology” is derived from:
‟Socius„
Latin word
which means ‟society„
“logos”
• Greek wordwhich means ‟science„ or
study
Science of society or
study of society.

 Sociology is the study of
“people doing things together”
 Above definition reminds us of the fact that
Neither society nor the individual exists in isolation but each
is dependent on the intertwined with the other…
Meaning of Sociology (2):

Meaning of Sociology (3):
Sociology is the Systematic study of human society, social
interaction and social behavior
Systematic
Study
Human
society,
Social
interaction
Social
behavior

❑ The different sociological perspectives are like
the photographers' lenses,
❑ allowing different ways of looking at a
common subject
Sociologist can take:
❑ a Micro sociological lens: zoom lens
❑ a Macro sociologicallens: wide-angle lens
Two Levels of Sociological Analysis
Society
Culture
Social Institutions
Social Inequality
(Class, Gender,
Ethnicity)
Groups
Roles
Socializatio
n
Interac
tion
Self
Sociology covers a wide range of topics
at different levels of analysis

Macro sociological perspectives
❑The macro perspective assumes
that society’s larger structures
shape those individual
interactions
 The goal is to examine the large
scale influences of society
The study of society as a
whole and Social Structure
Ex: Functionalism, Conflict
Theory

Micro sociological perspectives
❑The micro perspective assumes
that society’s larger structures
are shaped through individual
interactions
❑Examines social interaction
Focus on face to face
interaction
The study of small group
behavior
Ex: Symbolic Interactionism

❑ Large society
structure
→

❑ Individual
interaction
Shapes
Shaped
2 assumptions
Macrosociology Microsociology

• Look for connections
between :
I. The behavior of
individual
II. and
III. The structures of
society in which they
live.
FailDesk. (2013, January 24). Retrieved February 11, 2015 from
http://faildesk.net/2013/01/24/the-sad-truth-of-modern-human-
behavior-comic/
Describe this situation
The sad truth of
modern human behavior

Herbert Spencer was the first sociologist to through light on
the structure of the society.
❑According to him the meaning of social structure
can be easily understood if we take an example of
the organic structure of body.
❑Body is an arrangement of different parts like legs
,mouth , nose and ears ,etc.
❑The body works through these interdependent and
inter-related parts.

Sometimes called the second founder of sociology.

Influenced by Darwin’s evolution theories

Father of
social Darwinism.
 He believed that societies, like living organisms, evolve
through time by adapting to their changing environment. This
is referred to “social Darwinism.”

like a body, society is composed of many parts working
together to promote its well-being and survival.
Compared society to the body

 Social structure: the network of interrelated statuses and
roles that guide human interaction
Social structure within a family

The structure of a society
refers to
the way society is organized.

 Society is organized into 4 building blocks:
1. Statuses
2. Roles
3. Social institutions
4. Groups

Status
The 1st building block
1. Statuses
2. Roles
4. Groups

** Status:
█ Status: a socially defined position in a group or in a society.

Each individual in society occupies several statuses

You
Daughter
Sister
Aunt
Student
Classmate
Member
Family College

Woman
Egyptian
Muslim
Professor
40 years
Sister
Researcher
Director
Wife
Mother

Master Status
Achieved Status
Ascribed
Status

Ascribed Status:
 a status assigned according to:
 qualities beyond a person’s control (involuntary)
 based on a person’s inherited traits (age, gender, race etc.)

Achieved Status:
Status acquired by an individual on the basis of some:
❑ special skill,
❑knowledge, or
❑ability.
what you accomplish.

Examples
 Male/Female (Sex)
 Age
 Lower/Middle/Upper Class (@ Birth)
 Religion (Birth/Culture)
 Race
 Ethinic group
 Husband/Wife (Marital Status)
 Father/Mother (Parents)
 Occupation Teacher/Doctor
(Employment)
Ascribed Status Achieved Status

 The line between achieved status and ascribed status is not always black and white.
There are many statuses that can be considered a mixture of achievement and
ascription.
 Children usually have more ascribed statuses than adults since they do not usually
have a choice in most matters.
Ascribed and Achieved Status

A family's social status or socioeconomic status,
would be,
 SES an achieved status
for adults
 but an ascribed status
for children.

Master Status:
The status that plays the greatest role in shaping a person’s life
and determining social identity.

Woman
Egyptian
Muslim
Professor
40 years
Sister
Researcher
Director
Wife
Mother
Master status

Ascribed
Status
Achieved
Status
Future
Achieved
Status
Take a moment to reflect on your own statuses.
What are all of your statuses, and which are ascribed and which are
achieved?
 Bell ringer

Status Symbols
 When people are proud of a particular social status that they occupy, they often
choose to use visible means to let others know about their position.
 Status symbols are material items we use as signs to display our status and
inform others of a person’s specific status.
 These symbols can be positive or negative
 Home
 Car
 Clothes
 Etc.

Homes Cars Clothes
Status Symbols

What are the status symbols that you
use to show that you are
a heath education student??????
 Bell ringer

Roles
The 2nd building block
1. Statuses
2. Roles
4. Groups

“ You occupy a status, but you play a role”
People play many different roles everyday
 Status
 A described position
◼ An instructor of
sociology.
 Role:
 A described behavior
◼ Teaching students the main ideas
of sociological studies.
◼ develop lesson plans
◼ must grade

Role: An expected behavior associated with a particular status

Behavior included both rights and obligations
Rights:
 behaviors that individuals
can expect from others
Obligations:
 behaviors that individuals
are expected to perform
toward others

Reciprocal Roles
 Reciprocal Roles- corresponding roles that define the patterns
of interaction between related statuses
 Doctor-patient
 Teacher-student
 Athlete-coach
 Husband –wife
 Parent-Child
 Friend- Friend
 Employee-Employer

Role Strain:
 Difficulty fulfilling the expectations of a single status
Prepare for examProject due time
Status: Student

“I’ll be late for dinner, Dear.
I’m up to my neck in paperwork.”
Role Strain:

Role Conflict:
a situation that occurs when fulfilling the expectations of one status
makes it difficult to fulfill the expectations of another status.
Status: physician Status: mother
Take care of her babies
Cook meals
Homework with kids
Go to hospital
Go to her clinic
Prepare her PhD

Social institutions
The 3rd building block
1. Statuses
2. Roles
4. Groups

➢ A social institution is a group of statuses and roles that are organized to
satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society.

➢ Five Basic Social Institutions
 Government or politics
 Religion
 Education
 Economy
 Family
An easy way to remember the social
institutions is by using the initials
GREEF
Economy
Education
FamilyGovernment
Religion

➢ Some sociologists argue that
other social institutions, such
as science and technology,
mass media, medicine, sport,
and the military, also play
important roles in modern
society.
Mass
media
Medicine
MilitarySports
Science and
technology

FUNCTIONInstitution
the most universal social institution,
takes responsibility for raising the young and
teaching them accepted norms and values.
The family
organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and
services.
The economic
institution
the system of norms that governs the exercise and distribution of power
in society.
The political
institution
ensures the transmission of values, patterns of behavior, and certain
skills and knowledge.
Education
provides a shared, collective explanation of the meaning of life.Religion

Social groups
The 4th building block
1. Statuses
2. Roles
4. Groups

 Groups are the foundation of social life.
 Institutions are made up of social groups.
 Groups have 4 major features:
 1. Consist of 2 or more people.
 2. Interaction among members.
 3. Members must have shared expectations.
 4. Members must possess some sense of common
identity.
 They differ in terms of size, life, organization, and
purpose.

• Size
• A dyad is two people.
• A triad is three people.
• Fifteen is the largest number that works well as a group.
Types of Groups
• 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.

Secondary Groups
Interaction is impersonal and
temporary
people who share only part of
their lives and are Task oriented
and characterized by impersonal
and formal interaction.e.g.
 Work Groups
Function
 to accomplish a goal
 to complete a task
Primary Groups
Small group that interacts over
a long period of time on a
personal basis
people who know each other
well, are emotionally close and
characterized by intimate and
informal interaction. E.g.
❑ Best Friends
❑ Close Neighbors
Function
❑ Emotional support
❑ Socialization
❑ Conformity
Types of Groups (cont.)

Social Networks
• The web of relationships across groups
that occurs because of the many groups
people belong to
• No clear boundaries
Reference Groups
• A group whose attitudes and values are
adopted
• Can have both positive and negative
effect on behavior
In-Groups and Out-Groups
• In-group: any group that a person
belongs to and identifies with
• Out-group: any group that the person
does not belong to or identify with
Types of Groups (cont.)
Electronic Communities
• Have arisen with arrival of internet
• Some reflect primary-group dynamics

Societies and Their Transformation

 Three broad categories:
 Preindustrial Societies
 Industrial Societies
 Post-Industrial Societies
59
Societies and Their Transformations
 One of the most common ways in which sociologists classify societies is by their
subsistence strategy
 Subsistence Strategy: Way a society uses technology to provide for the needs of
its members
 As societies change over time their complexity also changes
 Societies become more diverse
 This leads to changes in the social structure

Preindustrial Societies
 Food production is the main economic activity
 Carried out through the use of human & animal labor
 Divided according to their level of technology &
method of producing food
➢ Hunting and Gathering
➢ Pastoral
➢ Horticultural
➢ Agricultural

Hunting and Gathering Societies:
A society that survives by:
hunting animals and
gathering edible plants

1- Hunting & Gathering Societies
 Characteristics
 Nomadic: Move around in search of food (no
permanent villages)
 Small size (60 people)
 Statuses are relatively equal, Division of labor
limited to gender and age
 Family is the main social unit & carries out most
social functions
 No social classes.
Examples:
Australian
Aboriginals
Inuit in
Alaska
Tribes
along the
Amazon
River Basin

Horticultural Societies:
A society that survives primarily through:
the growing of plants

2- Horticultural Societies
Examples:
Micronesian
tribes
Certain African
tribes (Dahomey)
Tribes in South
America
Ancient Olmec,
Maya, Aztec &
Inca
 Main form of food production: fruits & veggies grown
in garden
 Characteristics
 Grow & harvest instead of just gather
 More permanent settlement
 Use slash and burn tactics for crops
 Wild vegetation is burned
 Ash turns into compost for new farming.
 Surplus food (fewer needed to work) leads to a
complex division of labor & role specialization
 Inequalities in wealth & power

Pastoral Societies:
A society in which food is obtained primarily by:
raising animals

Pastoral Societies
 Characteristics
 Reliable food source = support larger
populations
 Food surpluses = complex division of labor –
specialization by individuals or groups in the
performance of specific economic activities
 Surplus allows development of social inequity
(class system)
 Women remain home, men provide food.
 Male dominated
Examples:
African societies
(Horn, Sahel, &
Sub-Saharan)
including the
Bedouin, Somalis,
& Berbers
Sherpa in Nepal
Navajo of North
America

Agricultural Society:
A society that
uses plows and draft animals
in growing food

Agricultural Societies
 Characteristics
 Technology allows farming to make large surplus of food: Tractors and
Irrigation
 Large division of labor, but many specialized roles
 Build armies to provide protection from outside attack
 Construct roads = facilitates trade (use money instead of barter); develop
writing system
 Sharp status differences (landowners & peasants)
Examples:
Pre Industrial
Revolution Europe
America before
1900
Amish in the U.S.

Industrial Societies emerged after industrial Revolution
❑ Industrial Revolution occurred in the 19th and 20th
centuries

Industrial Societies
A society that depends on
science and technology to produce its basic goods and
services
Industrial Society:

Industrial Societies
 Characteristics
 Drew people away from the home and reduced importance of
family and tradition.
 Production (food & goods) by machine (mechanization) =
reduced need for agricultural workers
 Causes urbanization: People move to cities for work
 More freedom to compete for social position; statuses achieved
Examples:
China
Republic of South
Africa
Australia
New Zealand
Argentina

What happens when agricultural societies
become industrial societies?
1- Mechanization:
replacing animal and human power with machine power

2- urbanization:
the shifting of population from farms and villages to large cities

Contrasting Societies
 It describes a society based on tradition,
and intimate social relationships
 These relationships were found in
preindustrial societies
 It is characterized by weak family ties,
competition, and less personal
relationships
 It is found in industrial societies
Gemeinschaft: “community” Geselschaft: “society”
 German sociologist: Ferdinand Tonnes
 Two Ideal Types of societies based on social structure of social relationships and
the degree of valued shared among societal members

 Refers to simple societies where all
the individuals are interconnected by
a simple division of labor and
sharing same values
 In preindustrial times
Mechanical Solidarity Organic Solidarity
 Refers to more complex societies
where there are many forms of work
and the division of labor is much
more complex
 Industrialized societies
Emile Durkheim Claimed that society is distinguished based on its type of social
solidarity (the degree to which a society is unified in the face of obstacles).
Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

Postindustrial Society
A society in which the
economic emphasis is on
providing services and information
Postindustrial society:

Postindustrial Societies
 The term was coined in 1973; the production of information using
computer technology
 Rather than producing things, produces ideas and information.
 Place strong emphasis on science and technology
 Standard of living & quality of life improve (wages increase)
 Individual rights & personal fulfillment are important (social
equality & democracy)
Examples:
United States
Canada
Western Europe
(some say Japan)

5 Major Features Of Postindustrial Societies
According to sociologist Daniel Bell:
1. Majority of the labor in services
2. White collar replaces blue collar workers
3. Technological knowledge is the key organizing feature
4. Technology change is planned and assessed
5. Reliance on computer modeling in all areas

Five Major Features of a Post-Industrial Society:
1. the majority of the labor force are employed in services rather than in
agriculture or manufacturing.

This graph indicates the trend in the relationship
between service and manufacturing jobs

2. White-Collar employment replaces much blue-collar work.

3. Technical knowledge is the key organizing feature in postindustrial
society.

 4. Technological change is planned and assessed.

 5. Reliance on computer modeling in all areas.

 When you play a role – you are interacting with others
 These are the 5 types of interaction that take place in societies throughout
the world.
Accommodation, Exchange, and Cooperation—stabilize
social structure
Competition and Conflict—can disrupt social structure

Exchange
 The Most basic & common form of interaction
 When people interact in an effort to receive a reward in return for actions
 Example: Working, family life, friendship, politics all involve exchanges.

Exchange
 Basis: reciprocity
 The idea that if you do something for someone, that person owes
you something in return.

Exchange
 Exchange theory
 Exchange theorists believe that people are motivated by self-interest in their interactions
with other people.
 In other words, people do things primarily for rewards.
 Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated.

Competition (achieve the goal)
 Definition: an interaction that occurs when two or more people or groups
oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain.

 A common feature in Western society.
 Example: College applications, Football Games, Contests

 Positive: Rules of accepted
proper conduct are
followed.
 Negative: Can lead to stress, lack of
cooperation, inequality and conflict

Conflict (defeat the opponent)
 Sometimes competition becomes conflict
 Definition: The deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to oppose
someone, or to harm another person.
 Four sources of conflict: war, disagreements within groups, legal
disputes, & clashes over ideology
 Useful purposes: reinforces group boundaries, strengthens group
loyalty, lead to social change

Cooperation
 Definition: interaction that occurs when two or more persons or
groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit many
people
 No group can complete its tasks or achieve its goals without
cooperation from its members.
 Competition may be used along with cooperation to motivate
members to work harder for the group.
 Necessary social process; gets things done

Accommodation
 Definition: a state of balance between cooperation and conflict
 Accommodation helps to ensure social stability.
 You give a little, you take a little
 It can take a number of different forms
 Compromise
 Truce
 Mediation
 Arbitration

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
Arbitration
A third party makes a decision that
is binding on both parties
Forms of Accommodation
Truce
Temporarily brings a halt to the
competition or conflict until a
compromise can be reached

Other Examples Of Social
Interaction

Other Examples Of Social Interaction
 People interact using verbal and non-verbal communication
 Non-verbal communication are interactions using:
❖ facial expressions,
❖ eye contact,
❖ body posture,
❖ gestures,
❖ touch, walk,
❖ status symbols and
❖ personal space
 Non-verbal communication are:
 Culturally specific
 Learned through socialization

Personal Space
 We surround ourselves with a
“personal bubble” and we let in our
intimates and keep others out
 The amount of space we need varies
from culture to culture
 North Americans have four different
“distance zones”
 1. Intimate distance- 18”
 2. Personal distance- 18” to 4’
 3. Social Distance- 4’ to 12’
 4. Public Distance- beyond 12’
Nonverbal Social Interaction

Stereotypes – Assumptions about the characteristics
of certain individuals which leads to generalizations
 First impressions set the tone for interaction
 Race, age, gender, clothing are thing we all notice
 These things affect how we interact with that
person and how that person reacts to you
Stereotypes

Body Language & Eye Contact
 Our body language can communicate volumes about our true
thoughts and feelings.
 Eye contact – used to communicate different messages:
 showing interest
 a challenge
 threat
 aggression

Studying Social Interaction:
Dramaturgy
 A techniquesociologists use in which they:
view society through the metaphor of theatrical performance.

Dramaturgy
 Erving Goffman argued that people live their lives much like actors
performing on a stage.

Dramaturgy
 Life is like a play,
 we are all just actors playing a part,
 and the part (dress, script, props) depends on the scene.

Dramaturgy
Performance includes
 our statuses (parts),
 our roles (scripts),
 the way we dress (costume),
 the objects we carry (props),
 where we are (the set),
 and even our tone of voice and gestures (demeanor).
Stage Social Life
Parts Statuses
Script (lines) Roles
costume the way we dress
the set where we are

According to Goffman, there are the two stages
where dramaturgy.
 Front Stage: any place that we act in front of others so we spend
most of our lives in this stage
 Backstage: When a person retreats to a private area so they don't
have to act and can be their real self. This is also a time when a person
can practice and prepare to return to the front stage

Impression management
An effort to control the impressions that others
receive

2 social structure

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