Sociology in Modules Chapter 5

1. Social Interaction, Social
Structure, and Groups 5
3rd edition
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Sociology in Modules
Richard T. Schaefer

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Social Interaction and Social
Structure
• Social interaction and social structure are
central to sociological study
• Social Interaction and Reality: reality is
shaped by perceptions, evaluations, and
definitions
– Nature of social interaction and what
constitutes reality varies across cultures
– Ability to define social reality
reflects group’s power within a society
– Important aspect of the process of social change
involves redefining or reconstructing social reality

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Elements of Social Structure
• All social interaction takes place within a
social structure, which can be broken
down into five elements:
– Statuses
– Social roles
– Groups
– Social networks
– Social institutions

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Statuses
• Status: any of the full range of socially
defined positions within a large group or
society
– Person can hold more than one at same time
• Ascribed and Achieved Status
– Ascribed status: status one is born with
– Achieved status: status one earns

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Statuses
• Master Status
– Status that dominates other statuses and
determines a person’s general position in
society
– In U.S., ascribed statuses of race and
gender can function as master statuses

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Figure 16-1: Social Statuses

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Social Roles
• What Are Social Roles?
– Social role: set of expectations for
people who occupy a given status
• Role Conflict
– When incompatible expectations arise from two
or more social positions held by same person
• Role strain
– Difficulties that arise when same social position
imposes conflicting demands and expectations

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Social Roles
• Role Exit
– Process of disengagement from a role that is
central to one’s identity to establish a new role
– Ebaugh’s four stages:
• Doubt
• Search for alternatives
• Action or departure stage
• Creation of a new identity

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Groups
• Group: any number of people with
similar norms, values, and expectations
who interact on a regular basis
• Vital part of society’s social structure

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Social Networks
• Social network: series of social
relationships that links a person directly to
others, and through them indirectly to still
more people
– Social networks one of five basic elements of
social structure
– Research indicates that in person and online
not everyone participates equally in social
networks

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Social Institutions
• Social institution: organized pattern of
beliefs and behavior centered on basic
social needs
• Functionalist Perspective
– Five major tasks:
1. Replacing personnel
2. Teaching new recruits
3. Producing and distributing goods and services
4. Preserving order
5. Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose

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Social Institutions
• Conflict Perspective
– Major institutions help maintain privileges of
most powerful individuals and groups within
society
– Social institutions such as education
have inherently conservative natures
– Social institutions operate in gendered and
racist environments

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Social Institutions
• Interactionist Perspective
– Social institutions affect everyday behavior
– Social behavior conditioned by roles and
statuses we accept

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Table 16-1: Sociological Perspectives on Social Institutions

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Social Structure in Global
Perspective
• Modern societies are complex
– Durkheim’s mechanical solidarity and organic
solidarity
– Tönnies’s Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
– Lenski’s sociocultural evolution approach

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Durkheim’s Mechanical
and Organic Solidarity
• Division of Labor ([1893] 1933)
– Mechanical solidarity: collective
consciousness that emphasizes group
solidarity, implying all individuals perform
the same tasks
– Organic solidarity: collective
consciousness resting on the need
society’s members have for one another

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Tönnies’s Gemeinschaft
and Gesellschaft
• Gemeinschaft (guh-MINE-shoft):
small community in which people have
similar backgrounds and life experiences
• Gesellschaft (guh-ZELL-shoft):
large community in which people are
strangers and feel little in common
with other community residents

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Table 17-1: Comparison of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

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Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
• Human societies undergo process of
change characterized by dominant
pattern known as sociocultural evolution
– Level of technology critical
• Technology: “cultural information about the
ways in which the material resources of the
environment may be used to satisfy human
needs and desires” (Nolan and Lenski 2009:357)

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Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
• Preindustrial Societies
– Hunting-and-gathering society: people rely
on whatever foods and fibers are readily
available
– Horticultural societies: people plant seeds
and crops
– Agrarian societies: people are primarily
engaged in production of food; more
specialized than horticultural society

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Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
• Industrial Societies
– Societies that depend on mechanization to
produce their goods and services
– People rely on inventions and energy sources
– People move away from family as a
self-sufficient production unit

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Lenski’s Sociocultural
Evolution Approach
• Postindustrial and Postmodern
Societies
– Postindustrial society: economic system
engaged primarily in processing and
controlling information
– Postmodern society:
technologically sophisticated society
preoccupied with consumer goods and
media images

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Table 17-2: Stages of Sociocultural Evolution

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Understanding Groups
• A group is any number of people with
similar norms, values, and expectations
– Share a sense of belonging

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Types of Groups
• Primary and Secondary Groups
– Primary group: small group with intimate,
face-to-face association and cooperation
– Secondary group: formal, impersonal
groups with little social intimacy or mutual
understanding

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Table 18-1: Comparison of Primary and Secondary Groups

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Types of Groups
• In-Groups and Out-Groups
– In-groups: any groups or categories to which
people feel they belong
– Out-groups: any groups or categories to
which people feel they do not belong
• Conflict between in-groups and out-groups can
turn violent on a personal as well as political level

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Types of Groups
• Reference Groups
– Reference group: any group that individuals
use as standard for evaluating their own
behavior
– Set and enforce standards of conduct and
belief; also perform a comparison function
– Often two or more reference groups influence
us at the same time

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Types of Groups
• Coalitions
– Temporary or permanent alliances geared
toward common goal
– Some intentionally short-lived
• Example: Survivor

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Understanding Organizations
• Formal organizations and bureaucracies
• Characteristics of a bureaucracy
• Bureaucracy and organizational culture

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Formal Organizations
and Bureaucracies
• Formal organization: group designed
for special purpose and structured
for maximum efficiency
– In our society, formal organizations fulfill
enormous variety of personal and societal
needs
– Ascribed statuses can influence how we see
ourselves within formal organizations

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Bureaucracy: component of formal
organization that uses rules and
hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency
– Ideal type: a construct or model for evaluating
specific cases (Weber)
– Weber emphasized basic similarity of
structure and process found in dissimilar
enterprises of religion, government, education,
and business

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Characteristics of Weber’s ideal
bureaucracy:
1. Division of labor
2. Hierarchy of authority
3. Written rules and regulations
4. Impersonality
5. Employment based on technical
qualifications

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• With a division of labor, specialized
experts perform specific tasks
– Fragmentation of work can remove
connection workers have to overall
objective of the bureaucracy
– Alienation: condition of estrangement or
dissociation from the surrounding society
– Trained incapacity: workers become so
specialized that they develop blind spots
and fail to notice obvious problems

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• A hierarchy of authority means each
position is under supervision
• Written rules and regulations ensure
uniform performance of every task
– Provide continuity
– Goal displacement: when rules and
regulations overshadow larger goals of
organization and become dysfunctional

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Impersonality a key characteristic
– Bureaucratic norms dictate that officials
perform duties without personal consideration
to people as individuals

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Employment based on technical
qualifications: ideally, performance
measured against specific standards
– Peter principle: every employee within
a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her
level of incompetence (Peter and Hull 1969)
– Bureaucracy pervades modern life; through
McDonaldization, it has reached new heights

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Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Bureaucratization as a Process
– Bureaucratization: process by
which group, organization, or social
movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic
• Can take place within small group settings
• Oligarchy: Rule by a Few
– Iron law of oligarchy: even a democratic
organization eventually develops into a
bureaucracy ruled by a few

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Bureaucracy and
Organizational Culture
• Classical theory or scientific
management approach: workers
motivated almost entirely by economic
rewards
• Human relations approach: role of
people, communication, and participation
within a bureaucracy emphasized

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Table 19-1: Characteristics of a Bureaucracy

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Social Policy and Organizations:
The State of the Unions Worldwide
• Looking at the Issue
– Labor unions consist of organized workers
who share either the same skill or the same
employer
– Labor union practices were historically
discriminatory, but today some actually
ensure equal pay for minorities
– Labor union power varies greatly from country
to country

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Figure 19-1: Labor Union Membership Worldwide

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Social Policy and Organizations:
The State of the Unions Worldwide
• Reasons for ongoing decline in labor
union membership:
– Changes in the type of industry
– Growth in part-time jobs
– The legal system
– Globalization
– Employer offensives

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Social Policy and Organizations:
The State of the Unions Worldwide
• Applying Sociology
– Marxists and functionalists view union
development as logical response to
organizational growth
– Sociologists have linked decline in union
membership to widening gap between hourly
workers’ wages and managerial and executive
compensation

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Social Policy and Organizations:
The State of the Unions Worldwide
• Initiating Policy
– U.S. is unique among industrial democracies
in allowing employers to oppose union
development
– European labor unions play a major role in
politics
– Unions are a global force, but form and
function vary from country to country

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16-1: Disability as a Master Status
– Does your campus present barriers
to disabled students? If so, what
kinds of barriers—physical, attitudinal,
or both? Describe some of them.
– Why do you think nondisabled people
see disability as the most important
characteristic of a disabled person?
What can be done to help people see
beyond the wheelchair and the Seeing
Eye dog?
Research Today

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16-2: Social Networks and Obesity
– Have you ever tried to lose weight,
and if so, did your cluster of friends
and family help or hinder you? In
your experience, do people who are
overweight tend to cluster in separate
groups from those of normal weight?
– Besides public health campaigns,
what applications can you think of
for research on social networking?
Research Today

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17-1: Disney World:
A Postmodern Theme Park
– In just the last 24 hours, what
evidence of hyperconsumerism have
you witnessed?
– How often do you find yourself
moving seamlessly across time or
space, in one way or another?
Sociology in the
Global Community

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19-1: McDonald’s and the
Worldwide Bureaucratization of
Society
– What features of fast-food
restaurants do you appreciate? Do
you have any complaints about them?
– Analyze life at your college using
Weber’s model of bureaucracy. What
elements of McDonaldization do you
see? Do you wish life were less
McDonaldized?
Sociology in the
Global Community

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Sarah Levy, Owner, S. Levy Foods
– Have you ever thought of starting
your own business? If so, what do
you think the key to your success
might be?
– Would business have been a more
practical major for Sarah? Why or
why not?
Taking Sociology to Work