intro to sociology ch 5

Define social structure and outline the major elements of the social structure, including the following: social institutions, social groups, status and role.

Social structure: the social patterns through which a society is organized.

Distinguish between and provide examples of ascribed and achieved statuses.

Ascribed status is a social position you're born into or assigned involuntarily (e.g., race, sex, daughter).
Achieved status is a social position you earn or choose based on actions (e.g., college graduate, employee, friend).

Discuss how the multiplicity of statuses and roles people hold can create role conflict or role strain for an individual.

People hold multiple statuses (like student, employee, sibling), each with roles attached.
Role conflict happens when roles from different statuses clash (e.g., work shift vs. exam prep).
Role strain happens when roles within the same status conflict (e.g., being a student who needs to study and participate in class).

Identify differences between aggregates, categories and social groups.

social aggregate, which is a collection of people who are in the same place at the same time but who otherwise do not necessarily interact, except in the most superficial of ways, or have a common identity. A social category is a collection of individuals who have at least one attribute in common but otherwise do not necessarily interact. A social group consists of two or more people who regularly interact on the basis of mutual expectations and who share a common identity.

Outline the traits of the following types of groups: primary groups, secondary groups, reference groups, in-groups and out-groups.

A primary group is usually small, is characterized by extensive interaction and strong emotional ties, and endures over time. secondary groups, which are groups that are larger and more impersonal and exist, often for a relatively short time, to achieve a specific purpose. Primary and secondary groups can both act as our reference groups or as groups that set a standard for guiding our own behavior and attitudes. in-groups. Fraternities, sororities, sports teams, and juvenile gangs are examples of in-groups. Out-groups: groups that we are not in and that we would describe as “they”.

Recall and explain the results of the Asch and Milgram experiments on peer group conformity and obedience to authority.

Asch’s experiment showed people often conform to group pressure, even when the group is clearly wrong (e.g., matching the wrong line length).
Milgram’s experiment showed people will obey authority figures, even if it means harming others (e.g., delivering fake electric shocks).

Understand how and why the diffusion of responsibility and groupthink occur

Similar to groupthink, the diffusion of responsibility, also known as the bystander effect, is an observable social pattern where people are less likely to act if they think others will. This pattern of behavior reflects the trend of conforming to the group.