Social Interactions

What is status?

A person’s social position in society

What is an ascribed status?

Statuses you can’t change, given from birth

What is achieved status?

Status you earn yourself after working for it

What is role strain?

When you can’t carry out all obligations of a status, tensions within one status

What is role conflict?

Conflict/tension between two or more different statuses

What is role exit?

When an individual stops engaging in a role previously central to their identity and the process of establishing a new identity

What are primary groups?

Core social group, closest members of the group to you

What is an in-group?

A group that you are affiliated with based on identification

What are secondary groups?

Formal, impersonal, temporary, and business-like relationships, based on a limited purpose/goal

Who came up with the dramaturgical approach of social interactions?

Erving Goffman

What is the front-stage self?

When people are in a social setting; the persona they put on in front of others

What is back stage self?

More private area of our lives, when act is over

What is impression management?

Our attempt to control how others see us on the front stage

What is discrimination?

Differential treatment and harmful actions against minorities

What is individual discrimination?

Individual person acting to discriminate based on something

What is institutional discrimination?

Organization discriminating (Brown vs board of education)

What is unintentional discrimination?

How policies can discriminate unintentionally

What is side-effect discrimination?

How one institution can influence another negatively

What is past-in-present discrimination?

How things done in the past, even if no longer allowed, can have consequences for people in the present

What is prejudice?

Attitudes that pre-judge a group, usually negative and not based on facts

What are utilitarian organizations?

Members are paid/rewarded for their efforts (example - college)

What are normative organizations?

Members come together through shared goals (example - religion groups)

What are coercive organizations?

Members don’t have choice about membership (example - prison)

What is bureaucratization?

Process by which organizations become increasingly governed by laws and policy

What is the iron role of oligarchy?

Even most democratic of organizations become more bureaucratic over time until they’ve governed by select few

What is an oligarchy?

A small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution

What is McDonaldization?

Policies of fast food organizations have come to dominate other organizations in society

What did Max Weber study?

The structure of organizations

What are the 5 main characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy?

Division of labor, hierarchy of organization, written rules and regulations, impersonality, and employment based on technical qualifications

What is the Peter Principle?

Every employee in hierarchy keeps getting promoted until they reach level of incompetence