4 - Social Structure

Social structure

the complex framework of societal institutions and the social practices that make up a society and establish certain limits on peoples behavior

Social interaction

the process by which people act toward or respond to other people and it is the foundation for all relationships and groups in society

Status

a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties

Status set

comprises all the statues that person occupies at a given time

Ascribed status

a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life, based on attributes over which the individual has little or no control over ex. gender

Achieved status

a social position that a person assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice, merit, or direct effort ex. education

Master status

the most important status that a person occupies ex. being rich

Status symbol

material signs that inform others of a persons specific status ex. college merch

Role

a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status

Role expectation

a groups or societies definition of the way that a specific role ought to be played

Role performance

how a person actually plays the role

Role conflict

a situation in which incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time

Role strain

when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies

Role exit

when people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self identity

Social group

two or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence

Primary group

a small, less specialized group in which members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions over an extended period of time ex. family

Secondary group

a larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time ex. school

Formal organization

a highly structured group formed for the purpose of completing certain tasks or achieving certain goals

Social institution

a set of organized beliefs and rules that establishes how a society will attempt to meet its basic social needs

Division of labor

how the various tasks of a society are divided up and performed

Mechanical solidarity

the social cohesion of a preindustrial societies, in which there is minimal division of labor and people feel united by shared values and common social bonds

Organic solidarity

the social cohesion found in industrial societies, in which people preform very specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual dependence

Gemeinschaft

traditional society in which social relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship and kinship and on intergenerational stability

Gesellschaft

large, urban society in which social bonds are based on impersonal and specialized relationships, with little long-term commitment to the group or consensus on values

Social construction of reality

the process by which our perception of reality is largely shaped by the subjective meaning that we give to an experience

Self-fufilling prophecy

a false belief or prediction that produces behavior that makes the originally false belief come true

Ethnomethodology

study of the commonsense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves

Dramaturgical analysis

study of social interaction that compares everday life to a theatrical presentation