This document discusses social structure and social interaction from both a macro and micro perspective. It addresses key concepts such as social structure, culture, social class, status, roles, groups, institutions, and society at the macro level. At the micro level, it discusses approaches such as symbolic interactionism, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, and the social construction of reality. The overall message is that both macro-level social structure and micro-level social interaction must be understood to fully comprehend human behavior and social life.

1. Social Structure and
Social Interaction

2. A. Macrosociology – focus on large-scale features of social
structure
B. Microsociology – emphasis on social interaction
A. Social Structure- the patterned relationships between people
that persist over time
B. Culture – refers to group language, beliefs values and gestures

3. C. Social Class – based on income, education and occupational
prestige.
D. Social Status – refers to the position that an individual
occupies.
1. Ascribed statuses – positions that an individual either
inherits at birth or receives involuntarily
2. Achieved statuses – positions that are earned or
accomplished

4. E. Roles – are behaviors, obligations, and privileges to a status
F. Group – consist of people who regularly and consciously
interact with one another.
G. Social Institutions – are society's organized means of
meeting its basic needs.
H. Society – is the largest and most complex group
- consist of people who share a culture and a territory

5. A. Microsociological Approach
- emphasis on face to face social interaction
B. Symbolic interactionist
– study personal space and how people
surround themselves.
C. Dramaturgy
– an analysis of how we present ourselves in
everyday life.

6. D. Ethnomethodology – involves the discovery of basic rules
concerning our views of the world
E. Social contraction of reality – refers to what people define as
real because of their background
assumptions and life experiences.
A. To understand human behavior, it is necessary to grasp both social
structure (macrosociology) and social interaction (microsociology).
B. Both are necessary for us to understand social life fully because
each in its own way adds to our knowledge of human experience.