Preview

Social Structure and Interaction in Everyday Life

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
734 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Social Structure and Interaction in Everyday Life
Adanna Nwadike
Sociology 101-052
Professor. Wyzykowski
2/21/12
Sociology in Our Times: Chapter 4 Outline: Social Structure and Interaction in Everyday Life
I. Components of Social Structure
A. Status

1. Status is a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties. 2. Status set compromises all the statuses that a person occupies at a given time. 3. Ascribed status is a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life, based on attributes over which the individual has little or no control, such as race, ethnicity, age, and gender. 4. Achieved status is a social position a person assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice, merit, or direct effort. 5. Master status is the most important status a person occupies. 6. Status symbols material signs that inform others of a person’s specific status.

B. Role 1. Role is a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status 2. Role expectation is a group’s or society’s definition of the way a specific role ought to be played. 3. Role performance is how a person actually plays the role. 4. Role conflict occurs when incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time. 5. Role stain occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies. 6. Role exit occurs when people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self-identity.
C. Group 1. Social Group consists of two or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence. 2. Primary group is a small, less specialized group in which members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions over an extended period of time. 3. Secondary group is a larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time. 4. Formal organization

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Soci

    • 825 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Primary groups as stated in chapter 5 pg 138 is a small group characterized by intimate, long-term, face to face associations and cooperation. By providing this primary groups have given you an identity, a feeling of who you are. Cooley said the family, the child's play group, and the neighborhoods or communities were the three basic primary groups. The groups are almost universal in all societies which give people their earliest and most complete experiences of social unity, are instrumental in developing a social life, and they promote the integration of their members in larger societies.…

    • 825 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sociology Quiz Paper

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A group characterized by intimate, long-term, face-to-face association and cooperation is referred to as a ________.…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Next, ascribed status is a position an individual either inherits at birth or receives involuntarily later in life. It assigned to a person as you cannot choose or ask for it such as race and ethnicity, sex, age and social class of your parents. For example, a person is born in a wealthy family characterized by traits such as power, property and prestige will have many expectations while growing up. For the example in the movie, Charles is born as a Red Indian in Dakota.…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Walsh et all [2000] explains a group as “Groups are collections of people who come together because they have a common purpose or goal and who gradually develop a shared sense of belonging, or group identity” There are four groups in total which people can be classified when communicating together; two of these were identified by Burnard [1992]. The first one he identifies is Primary groups, these involved face to face contact and members will get to know each other. While as Secondary groups are more widely distributed these may include membership of a club such as Trade Unions. The other two groups are Task Orientated Group and Socially Orientated Groups. The Task Orientated Groups are groups that achieve a common goal/objective, a group like this may be a doctor meeting to discuss a patient’s care, and these groups tend to happen cause of a purpose or a point. The last group is the Socially Orientated Groups, these are the friendship groups, and they will share personal reasons and views with each other.…

    • 9067 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    other, and behaving in line with accepted and established group norms (such as showing up…

    • 2218 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Status and Role

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There is a variety of statuses, all serve different meanings. Master status is something that you were born with. Race, age, and sex, are all examples of your master status because these are all things you cannot change. Ascribed status is one is born with or assumes involuntary in life. Race, sex, age, religion born into, son, and sibling are some examples of ascribed status. Achieved status is a status one earns examples are friend, coach, athlete, and student. Giving more examples will give a better understanding. Status inconsistency is when you have two or more statuses that do not go together; an example would be a male nurse. Role conflict is when expectations associated with two statuses are in conflict with each other.…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Primary Secondary Groups

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A primary group is typically a smaller group with very close and personal relationships. While a secondary group far less personal and usually has a function or goal that was in mind while the group was created. Primary groups build on human’s basic need of being social and accepted. This can come from family or even cliques at school.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Status is a Sociology term very often used to refer one’s position within the society as a child, youth or parent. A person may have a multiple status in the society. A man could be a son, father, husband, brother etc.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    b. Group/ pg. 100: People who interact with one another and who believe that what they have in common is significant; also called a social group.…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The next element in social structure is social roles. They are a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status. An example of this is a taxi cab driver. We expect him to know his way around a city. Although there could be some complications or role conflict when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions are held by the same person. Another type of role conflict occurs when individuals move into occupations that are not common among people with their ascribed status. Role conflict describes the situation of a person dealing with the challenge of occupying two social positions but sometimes just having one position could cause problems too. Role strain is when there is difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations. In 1988, Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh developed an new term…

    • 1508 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociological Concepts

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Status: A position in social relations (e.g., mother, father, teacher, president). Status is normatively regulated; it is assumed that when a person occupies a particular status, he or she will behave in particular ways.…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Group Dynamics

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In examining the nature of groups the focus is on defining the term group and identifying the typical characteristics of groups.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to (education-portal.com 2012)Cooley coined the term`` primary groups`` meaning that they were the first introduced to us, and that they were the most influential on our learning of ideas, beliefs and norms. It was through these groups that one begins to develop the sense of…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Behavioural Science

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Role - This term is borrowed from the theater. It refers to a set of behaviors that have some socially agreed-upon functions and an accepted code of norms. Typical roles include the role of teacher, child, or minister—or minister’s child!. Roles exist independently of the people who play them. They serve as a bridge between the individual and society. Roles may represent relationships such as mother, father, friend, worker. They can also represent functions. Instrumental or task-oriented roles aim at getting a job done. Expressive or maintenance roles keep negative feelings under control. Both task-oriented and feeling-oriented roles are necessary for the attainment of goals and the preservation of group solidarity.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social Stratification

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3. Self-fulfilling prophecies – once we categorize people through assigning a stereotype, our perception of their behavior if filtered through that stereotype…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics