Ashford 4: - Week 3 - Instructor Guidance Source:http://thejobmouse.com/2011/10/22/ryan%e2%80%99s-family-steakhouse-sued-for-firing-79-year-old-woman/ SOC 120 Ethics & Social Responsibility Week 3 Guidance Source:http://churchandstate.org.uk/2011/04/the-right- wing-network-behind-the-war-on-unions/ Weekly Activities Here is what you will be doing this week: · Read Chapter 4 in the text: Individual Rights in the Workplace · Post to Discussion Board 1 on Ageism (due by Day 3, Thursday) · Post to Discussion Board 2 on Regulating Off-Duty Conduct (due by Day 3, Thursday) · Respond to two discussion posts by classmates in each discussion (by Day 7, Monday) · Submit a 3-page draft of your final paper (due by Day 7, Monday) Statuses, Roles and Social Structures What are the components that make up a society? This may seem like a simple question, but it actually is quite complex, as society is enormously complicated. An initial response might be that society is composed of individuals. After all, it is people that make up society, right? Certainly, society is a concept that generally, for our purposes, refers to humans (although it can be used for other species as well), and many humans together form a society. But, interestingly, sociologists could come up with other responses that show that society is not really made up of the individuals that comprise it; or, perhaps more accurately, it is not the individuals alone that make up society, as society is much more than just the sum of all the individuals. A more sociological approach is to look at the basic components of society as being statutes and roles, rather than individuals. A status is a social construct―it is an idea or perception that has been created through people’s social and cultural practices and beliefs. And to define these terms, a status is a position that a person occupies in society, and the role is what the person does in that status, or the expectations that others have for someone in that status. So, for example, in a classroom one status is teacher, and some of the expectations that are attached to the status of being a teacher are leading the class, offering instruction, giving assignments, helping students who are struggling and the like. All of these expectations form the role of teacher; because others have, through experience, formed expectations of what teachers should do, teachers see all of these as their job description. Another status in a classroom is a student. What are some of the roles attached to the status of student? So, while we might think of a classroom as consisting of individuals, what we really have are individuals who are occupying specific statuses and playing specific roles. Note that these statuses and roles consist of roughly the same qualities irrespective of any specific individual; the expectations for a teacher are roughly the same whether it is Mr. Gomez or Ms. Yamamoto who is the specific teacher in the classroom. Each has to do many of.

1. Ashford 4: - Week 3 - Instructor Guidance
Source:http://thejobmouse.com/2011/10/22/ryan%e2%80%99s-
family-steakhouse-sued-for-firing-79-year-old-woman/
SOC 120 Ethics & Social Responsibility
Week 3 Guidance
Source:http://churchandstate.org.uk/2011/04/the-right- wing-
network-behind-the-war-on-unions/
Weekly Activities
Here is what you will be doing this week:
· Read Chapter 4 in the text: Individual Rights in the
Workplace
· Post to Discussion Board 1 on Ageism (due by Day 3,
Thursday)
· Post to Discussion Board 2 on Regulating Off-Duty Conduct
(due by Day 3, Thursday)
· Respond to two discussion posts by classmates in each
discussion (by Day 7, Monday)
· Submit a 3-page draft of your final paper (due by Day 7,
Monday)
Statuses, Roles and Social Structures
What are the components that make up a society? This may
seem like a simple question, but it actually is quite complex, as
society is enormously complicated. An initial response might be
that society is composed of individuals. After all, it is people
that make up society, right? Certainly, society is a concept that
generally, for our purposes, refers to humans (although it can be
used for other species as well), and many humans together form
a society. But, interestingly, sociologists could come up with
other responses that show that society is not really made up of

2. the individuals that comprise it; or, perhaps more accurately, it
is not the individuals alone that make up society, as society is
much more than just the sum of all the individuals.
A more sociological approach is to look at the basic components
of society as being statutes and roles, rather than individuals. A
status is a social construct―it is an idea or perception that has
been created through people’s social and cultural practices and
beliefs. And to define these terms, a status is a position that a
person occupies in society, and the role is what the person does
in that status, or the expectations that others have for someone
in that status. So, for example, in a classroom one status is
teacher, and some of the expectations that are attached to the
status of being a teacher are leading the class, offering
instruction, giving assignments, helping students who are
struggling and the like. All of these expectations form the role
of teacher; because others have, through experience, formed
expectations of what teachers should do, teachers see all of
these as their job description. Another status in a classroom is a
student. What are some of the roles attached to the status of
student?
So, while we might think of a classroom as consisting of
individuals, what we really have are individuals who are
occupying specific statuses and playing specific roles. Note that
these statuses and roles consist of roughly the same qualities
irrespective of any specific individual; the expectations for a
teacher are roughly the same whether it is Mr. Gomez or Ms.
Yamamoto who is the specific teacher in the classroom. Each
has to do many of the same things. Of course, it is fair to say
that the expectations are roughly the same because every
individual who acts as a teacher will have her own particular
way of doing the job, but there are general characteristics of
what a teacher is, and what others (students, administrators,
parents, others in the community) expect of a teacher. If any
teacher deviates too far from these norms, then those around
them will start to question and may even punish this deviant
behavior, to get them to act more in line with expectations.

3. So we can think of statuses and roles as social structures, as the
stable and constant elements that make up social institutions
and hierarchies, and that endure independent of the specific
individuals who may occupy these statuses at any given time
(Merton, 1938). It is because we have these statuses and roles
that we can effectively carry out education; individuals who
have some experience with education can quickly move into
these statuses and move through an educational system by
reproducing the statuses at each level. No one has to relearn the
statuses constantly.
Example of a Social Structure in Egypt
during the time of King Tut.
Source: http://kateygibb.edublogs.org/
What are some other statuses in society? Within families we see
mother, son, cousin, grandfather, and many others. Within
government we see senator, mayor, voter, and the worker at
your local Department of Motor Vehicles, among many others.
In the realm of religion, we have rabbi, pope, imam, minister,
parishioner, organist, and others. Within a business, statuses
might be vice president, accountant, sales representative, or
mail room clerk. In addition to defining what others expect,
statuses also carry a particular weight both in the institution and
society—people form judgments based on how they perceive the
importance of the status. Thus, statuses also separate people out
into hierarchies. Institutions and social hierarchies are also
examples of social structures.
Social Structures and Morality
In addition to judgments about the social weight of different
statuses, people form judgments about the social value of what
other people do. Values shape our perceptions of what is right
or wrong, good or bad, positive or negative. As we have seen,
people typically make moral or value judgments based on what
is best for social functioning—generally speaking, something is

4. viewed as moral if it advances the collective good, and immoral
if it interrupts social functioning (Durkheim, 1925/1973).
Morals are embedded in the social statuses and roles
(expectations) that make up society, and like other social
features, they create and shape the identities of individuals in
that society. Morals do not dictate behavior; rather, they
provide guidelines for individuals to make ethical choices and
to behave in particular ways, both right and wrong.
Rights and Responsibilities
Social structures provide the means to create and enforce the
rights and responsibilities that individuals enjoy in social
settings. Morality shapes how we perceive these rights and
responsibilities. Those who exercise their rights within the
moral codes of society—generally, those who adhere to the
responsibilities that attach to any right—are viewed as more
worthy of those rights. Their actions are moral because they
advance social functioning, or the common good. Likewise,
those whose actions disrupt social functioning as it is commonly
conceived are not exercising their responsibilities and are
punished by society. Punishment may take various forms—it
may be directed at bringing the deviant back into society (e.g.
through education or rehabilitation), it may be directed at
pushing the deviant out of society (e.g. through the death
penalty or life in prison), or it may aim somewhere in between,
for example by allowing a deviant to interact in society but
under specified conditions. To view a list of rights and
responsibilities of American citizens as defined by the
American government, see this page from the U.S. Citizenship
& Immigration Services:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.749cabd81f5ff
c8fba713d10526e0aa0/?vgnextoid=39d2df6bdd42a210VgnVCM
100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=39d2df6bdd42a210Vgn
VCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
Note that the common good is not always conceived of as a
collective good, per se, in contrast to the individual good. Some

5. social theory constructs individual rights and responsibilities as
the foundation of social functioning. For example, some
sociologists study a particular perspective called rational choice
theory, which proposes that society functions best when
individuals are given the liberty to make choices that are in
their own self-interest (Collins, 1994). (This is similar to the
psychological egoist perspective). When individuals act in their
own interest (or “maximize their utility,” in economic terms),
they can more easily accumulate wealth, and this has a social
value—if individuals are not allowed to act in their own
interest, no one would have the individual motive to take the
risks and make the investments of time and money to generate
that wealth, and the wealth would not be available to society.
Once the wealth exists, it goes to the social good in many
ways—in taxes paid to government, in philanthropy by the one
who created it, in jobs and wages to those the owner hires to
create more wealth, in capital that is available for others to
invest, and in benefits to the members of the owner’s own
family, including descendants. All of these promote a particular
vision of the social good, one that is commonly held in the
United States and other Western countries. For more
information on rational choice theory, see this page from Iowa
State University:
http://www.soc.iastate.edu/Sapp/soc401rationalchoice.pdf
Our perceptions about ethics in the workplace are shaped by our
ideas of rights and responsibilities. Rights and responsibilities
can be shaped by various theories, but rational choice theory is
one approach that is influential in American workplaces. In
what ways does a rational choice approach shape what is
perceived as ethical in the case studies discussed in Chapter 4?
Here are some videos to help with the discussion on Ageism this
week...

6. Here are some videos to help with the discussion on Regulating
Off-Duty Conduct this week...
References:
Collins, R. (1994). Four sociological traditions. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Durkheim, E. (1925/1973). Moral education: A study in the
theory and application of the sociology of education. New York:
The Free Press.
Merton, R. (1938). Social structure and anomie. American
Sociological Review, 3(5), 672–682.
Ashford 4: - Week 3 - Discussion 2
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and
you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates.
Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and
the depth of your responses.
Regulating Off-Duty Conduct
The purpose of this discussion is to give you the opportunity to

7. apply ethical theories and perspectives to modern issues of the
workplace. Off-duty conduct away from the workplace can be
monitored and reported in many ways. These ways have only
grown due to the increase in social media use, which provides
employers far greater opportunities to become aware of what
employees do outside of the workplace. Some types of
behaviors are especially concerning, as they may have on-duty
consequences. Other types of off-duty behavior, however, are
more difficult to clearly define as grossly inappropriate and
warranting employer intervention. But who draws this line, and
what are the ethical implications of where the line is drawn?
Prepare and post a response to the following prompt:
Using the resources provided, your own research, and your
knowledge of the ethical concepts from the text, consider the
issue of off-site monitoring of conduct:
· Considering your own work experience, imagine a
circumstance in which your supervisor monitored your behavior
off the job. Describe the circumstances, including how and why
your conduct was monitored.
· Would you consider your example to involve a minor,
moderate, or severe invasion of an individual’s privacy?
Explain your reasoning. Share your unemotional, well-defined,
evidence-based response to your boss to support your
viewpoint.
· What issues do you believe led to your employer monitoring
you? Use one ethical theory or perspective to help support your
employer’s viewpoint, and use a scholarly source as your
evidence.
· What about your viewpoint as the employee? Use one ethical
theory or perspective to support an employee’s right to privacy
outside of work, and use a scholarly source as your evidence.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support
your claims with examples from the required resources and/or
other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references in
APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Respond
to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.

8. Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the
criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.
Ashford 4: - Week 3 - Discussion 1
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and
you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates.
Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and
the depth of your responses.
Ageism
The purpose of this discussion is to give you the opportunity to
apply ethical theories to the complex issue of ageism in the
workplace, particularly in the area of employment. In the
modern workplace, there appear to be the following three key
issues that exhibit ageism in employment, some of which have
been exacerbated by recent economic issues and an aging
population:
· Older job seekers fight ageism as a barrier to re-employment
· Younger job seekers have trouble obtaining career entry
· Evidence in many countries highlights that older worker
employment and youth employment are not connected in any
way
This last point is generally known in economics as the lump of
labor fallacy, which challenges the view that if older workers
are employed in a tight labor market, then they must be
occupying the jobs of the country’s youth. Prepare and post a
response to the following prompt:
Using at least one ethical perspective or theory from the text
and one item of scholarly evidence, present an argument to a
group of younger workers (regarding older worker and youth
employment) in which you refute the notion that older workers

9. take employment from the young.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support
your claims with examples from the required resources and/or
other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references in
APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Respond
to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7.
Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the
criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.