Social structure refers to the patterns of relationships and interactions between individuals in a society, including statuses, roles, groups, and formal organizations. Statuses determine social rankings based on attributes like wealth, while roles are culturally defined behaviors associated with statuses. Groups are based on relationships and range from intimate primary groups to large secondary institutions that organize tasks in a society.

1. Social Structure
1

2. Social structure is like a web made of
grooves. We stick to the grooves and
experience the interplay between them in a
web-like manner.
Thus we achieve collective goals.
2

3. Statuses:
• Ascribed
• Achieved
• Master
3

4. Status refers to a person’s social ranking in
a society as determined by wealth,
influence, and prestige.
Hughes and Kroehler, 2005
4

5. Master Status
This is the status that “carries primary weight
in a person’s interactions and relationships
with others.” (Hughes and Kroehler)
Master Status can be positive or negative as in
the status of Doctor or felon.
5

6. Woes of the Master Status
The Master Status may be ascribed instead of
achieved. I should recount the Master Status
of a sociology professor in Canada named
Brian Maclean.
It turns out that his master status is that of
convict. Or is it?
A negative master status has the added weight
of stigma as in the case of the Canadian
6
professor.

7. Roles
We all have roles.
Roles are culturally defined rights and duties.
I am performing a role right now. So are you.
(At least I hope you are.)
7

8. Role Performance:
The actual behavior of the person
who occupies a status.
8

9. Role-Set
Robert K. Merton states it thusly:
“…each role status involves not a single
associated role, but an array of roles. This
basic feature of social structure can be
registered by the distinctive but not
formidable term, role-set.”
In: British Journal of Sociology,
8: 106-20. 1957
9

10. Role Set:
Parent
Colleague
Professor
Teacher Committee
Member
10

11. Your Role Set
Let’s make one
11

12. Role Conflict
Results when individuals are confronted with
conflicting expectations stemming from
their simultaneous occupancy of two or
more statuses.
Example: the coach with the son on the team
12

13. 13

14. Role Strain
Occurs when individuals find the expectations
of a single role incompatible.
Example: Doctors as caring and as aggressive
bill collectors.
14

15. 15

16. Groups
Aggregates
Categories
Institutions
Society
16

17. Groups and Their Processes
17

18. Groups are two or more people who share a
feeling of unity and who are bound together
in a relatively stable pattern of social
interaction.
Hughes and Kroehler, 2005
18

19. Groups are based upon relationships.
There are two fundamental types of
relationships:
Expressive ties
Instrumental ties
19

20. Types of Groups:
• Primary Group
• Secondary Group
• In-group
• Out-group
• Reference Group
20

21. Primary groups (expressive) are
important because they are
instrumental to the socialization
process (children).
They also serve as processes of social
control. Think of an intimate group
you have belonged to.
21

22. In-Groups
In-groups are value oriented: They are those
in which we belong and identify with. They
can be morally at odds with society or
merely be of a different nature (subculture).
22

23. Out-groups
Out-groups are essentially relative to the
perceptions of its members. An example
would be gangs versus the police. Which is
in and which is out?
23

24. In-group, out-group
In-groups may have feelings of indifference,
disgust or even hostility towards outgroups.
(Consider the study by Muzafer Sherif of the
boy’s camp.)
24

25. Reference Groups
“Social units we use for appraising and
shaping attitudes, feelings, and actions.”
(Singer in Hughes and Kroehler)
Reference groups can be any number of
things including family, friends, and the
media.
25

26. Reference groups are essential even if
rarely thought about. They are a source
of psychological identification.
What are your reference groups?
26

27. “When our membership group does not
match our reference group, we may
experience feelings of relative deprivation
—discontent associated with the gap
between what we have… and what we
believe we should have.”
Hughes and Kroehler, 2005
27

28. Groupthink:
Could it be that the “groupthink”
phenomenon that affected the Bay
of Pigs invasion has had some
effect on the invasion of Iraq?
28

29. Consider the architects of the
Iraq Invasion
29

30. Conformity
Like groupthink, conformity can occur from
peer pressure. Consider the studies done by
Solomon Asch with the three lines.
This shows how much pressure the group
can have on the individual.
See Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh5qy09nNw
30

31. Conformity
31

32. Conformity
32

33. Aggregates
A collection of anonymous individuals who
are in the same place at the same time.
They have no connection other than space
and time.
33

34. Situational Behavior
How certain are we of our ability to maintain
our own moral structure when challenged
by authority?
34

35. Situational Behavior
35

36. Category
“A collection of people who share a
characteristic that is deemed to be of social
significance.”
(Hughes and Kroehler 2007)
36

37. Institutions
Institutions make up the principal structure
that organizes, directs and executes the
essential tasks of living.
We are in an institution right now.
37

38. Society
Society is the most complex and
comprehensive type of social structure in
today’s world.
Most of today’s societies are in the form of
“nation states.” These are ‘political entities
centering on a government.’
Hughes and Kroehler, 2005
38

39. Leadership
Authoritarian style
Democratic style
Laissez-faire style
39

40. Authoritarian
40

41. Democratic
41

42. Laissez-faire
42

43. Formal Organizations
43

44. • A group with specific goals
• Large “secondary” groups
• Varied in size, goal orientation, and
efficiency but are structured to facilitate the
management of large scale operations
• Ubiquitous
44

45. Types of Formal Organizations:
• Voluntary
• Coercive
• Total institutions
(resocialization; mortification)
• Utilitarian organizations (labor;
government; schools)
45

46. Voluntary
46

47. Coercive
47

48. Total Institution
48

49. Total Institution
Involves
• Resocialization
• Mortification
(Think Erving Goffman)
49

50. Utilitarian
50

51. Informal Organizations
• Consist of interpersonal networks and ties
that [may] arise in a formal organization but
are not defined or prescribed by it.
(Hughes and Kroehler)
• Think of how we work and organize
ourselves while management is organized
for one purpose, we may have a different
set of purposes. What De Certeau calls
perruque.
51

52. Bureaucracy
52

53. Max Weber 1864-1920
53

54. “Ideal” Type
• A perfect definition and example of
something that is not perfect in reality.
• It is the “ideal” of what something is – it is
something that is perfect in structure yet
does not (cannot) exist in reality.
54

55. Weber’s “Ideal Type” of
Bureaucracy
• Division of labor
• Hierarchy
• Written rules and regulations
• Impersonal (offices not for personal ends)
• Offices are based upon actual competence
• Promotion based upon seniority or merit
55

56. What does old Max mean by an
“Ideal Type” in this instance?
56

57. In this case bureaucracy is an
idealized model. It is not meant
to necessarily exist in reality, but
is an aggregate of the ideal
functions of what a bureaucracy
should be.
57

58. What’s wrong with
bureaucracies?
58

59. Dysfunctions of bureaucracy:
• Routinization
• Trained Incapacity
• Depersonalization
• Vested Interests (Oligarchy)
• Excessive Growth (Parkinson’s Law)
59

60. Robert Michels
The iron law of oligarchy
60

61. He stated that all power tends to concentrate
into the hands of a few.
He listed three reasons for oligarchical
tendencies found in formal organizations:
61

62. 1 Hierarchical leadership structures – most
voting by members becomes a ritualistic
conformation.
2 Officials have special advantages: access
to information unavailable to others,
control of administrative resources …
3 Ordinary members tend to be uninterested
in assuming leadership responsibilities and
may be apathetic to the problems of the
organization.
(Hughes and Kroehler, 2007) 62

63. Organizations (bureaucracies)
can be viewed from either the
functionalist, conflict or
interactionist perspectives.
63

64. Functionalism:
• Bureaucracies and organizations are benign.
• They are essential for the functioning of
society.
• They are the most practical method of
distributing resources and providing
employment.
64

65. 65

66. Conflict Perspective
• Such organizations are instruments of
capitalism
• As such they promote a hierarchical class
system in which some are favored while
others (most) are taken advantage of.
• They are based upon a top-down structure
of rigid domination that prevents
democracy in the workplace.
66

67. 67

68. Interactionist Perspective
• While some the elements of Conflict may
be true, people have agency. They can
negotiate their destinies.
• This provides for a “negotiated order” of
“fluid, ongoing understandings and
agreements people reach as the go about
their daily activities”
(Hughes and Kroehler 2007)
68

69. 69