Professor Henry Schissler
Chapter 3 – Part A
Social Structure, Groups and Organizations
Defining & Reconstructing Reality
The ability to define social reality reflects a group’s power within a society.
One of the most crucial aspects of the relationship between dominant & subordinate groups is the ability of the dominant or majority group to define a society’s values.
Dominant groups are also able to define subordinate groups, typically through overgeneralizations and stereotypes.
The “definition of the situation” (the social reality, the social “construct”) can mold the thinking & personality of the individual. Individuals integrate the macro-level into their sense of self.
Personality: the individual characteristics, attitudes, needs, and behaviors that set one person apart from another and are predictable over time.
Examples: Niger’s view of appealing body image compared to Western society’s view; the changed status of tattoos
Social Construction is an idea which may appear to be natural and obvious to those who accept it, but in reality is an invention or artifact of a particular culture or society. The implication is that social constructs are in some sense human choices or societal “givens” rather than something created by overarching macro-level invisible forces for the good of the culture or society
Elements of Social Structure
1. Status – any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society – from the lowest to highest position. We hold any number of statuses at the same time – daughter, teacher, resident of Long Beach, neighbor.
Status is an established position in a social structure that carries with it a degree of social value (prestige).
A Status Set is the complete set of statuses occupied by a person at a given time. An individual may occupy different statuses in different social institutions.
Social Institutions are established and organized systems of social behavior with a recognized purpose.
Ascribed Status – “assigned” to a person by society without regard for the person’s talents or characteristics, usually at birth.
Achieved Status – comes to us largely through our own efforts; we must do something to acquire an Achieved Status – go to school, learn a skill.
Our Ascribed Status heavily influences our Achieved Status.
Master Status – a status that dominates others and thereby determines a person’s general position within society.
2. Social Roles
A social role is a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status.
Social Roles are a significant component of social structure. Roles enable members of society to anticipate the behavior of others and to pattern their own actions accordingly. But, they can also restrict people’s interactions and relationships.
A Role Set includes all the roles occupied by a person at a given time.
Role Conflict occurs when two or more roles have contradictory expectations. Example: conflict arising from the dual responsibilities of job & family. A working woman’s job is followed by her “second shift”: family & home responsibilities. Role expectations in both environments can create Role Conflict.
Role Strain involves conflicts within a single role. A college student is encouraged to think independently yet is not tested that way. The memorization of facts defines success and creates the Role Strain.
3. Groups
A Group is a collection of individuals who interact and communicate with each other, share goals and norms, and possess a subjective awareness of themselves as “we”; that is, as a distinct social unit; each of us is a member of many groups simultaneously.
Social Organization is the order established in social groups that brings regularity & predictability to human behavior.
Primary Group – a small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association & cooperation. Your family or the street gang you belong to are examples.
Secondary Group – a formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding
Groupthink – a mode of thinking in which group members’ striving for unity overrides their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action; a tendency to seek premature consensus.
Collectivist Culture – a culture in which individuals subordinate their own desires for the good of the social group.
Conformity – yielding to perceived group pressures when no direct request to comply has been made.
Adaptation – processes that allow people to adjust to their surroundings, including shifts in perception of an environment with continued exposure.
In-Group – any group or category to which people feel they belong. It can be as narrow as a clique or as broad as an entire society.
Out-Group – a group or category to which people feel they do not belong.
Reference Group – any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior.
Reference Groups serve a normative function by setting & enforcing standards of conduct & belief, and they perform a comparison function by serving as a standard against people can measure themselves and others.
Group Structure – the system of roles, norms, and relationships among members that exist in a group
Norm – a socially defined & enforced standard of behavior that defines or limits the way a person should interpret the world, behave in it, or both.
Script – the conceptual representation of a stereotyped sequence of events.
4. Social Networks and Technology
Groups are an intermediate link between the individual and the larger society. As members of various groups, we make connections with people in different groups, different social circles.
These connections are a social network – a series of social relationships that links a person directly to others.
New technologies have changed and continue to change networking.
5. Social Institutions – organized patterns of belief and behavior centered on basic social needs. Family, religion, educational systems, and the government are all examples of Social Institutions.
The Blue Laws were powerful social institutions that defined acceptable behavior (social Interaction) and punishments for their violation (social controls).
The Blue Laws originally applied to laws enacted by the Puritans in 17th century Connecticut to regulate moral behavior. They specified penalties for such offenses as failure to attend church, lying, swearing, drunkenness, and the playing of such games as cards, dice, or shuffleboard in public. They mandated more severe punishments for crimes committed on the Sabbath, and regulated the sale and consumption of alcohol. Violators might be assessed monetary fines, be whipped, be forced to spend time in the stocks, have body parts burned or cut off, or even receive the death penalty.
The temperance movements which began in the late 19th century brought a new round of Blue Laws intended to regulate private conduct by banning the sale of cigarettes and alcohol, prohibiting amusements and “unnecessary labor” on Sundays, and providing for local censorship of arts and entertainment (books, plays, and films).
Society and Social Interaction
Human society is a system of social interaction that includes both culture and social organization.
Society is an organism, sometimes comprised of different parts, that work together to create a unique whole.
Just as the human body is not only a collection of organs but is alive as a whole organism, society is not only a collection of individuals, groups, or institutions, but is a whole entity.
When we attempt to analyze the whole of society, we are engaged in macroanalysis. When we are analyzing specific people interacting together, we are engaged in microanalysis.
Social interaction or social action means behavior between two or more people that involves both simple & complex forms of communication (conveyance of information) from a simple hand gesture to the forming of a new political party.
It is an ongoing process that is the cornerstone of ongoing micro and macro level change that society can successfully adapt to.
This process underscores the great diversity that exists in all social groups, (primary, secondary, and reference), and cultures (subcultures and countercultures).
Theories About Analyzing
Social Interaction
1) The Social Construction of Reality
Our perception of what is real is determined by our definition of the situation, the subjective meaning we attribute to the experience. We observe the context in which we find ourselves and then adjust our attitudes and perceptions accordingly. Depending upon our sense of self-worth, adjustments and attitudes can vary sharply. An example would be the perception of risk-taking behavior.
Macro-level values and norms often define one’s perception. Society, for example, is constructed on certain assumptions about race, ethnicity, success, and sexual orientation. Macro-level perception can change.
2) Ethnomethodology
Human interaction takes place within a consensus of norms shared by most people. But most individuals are not wholly conscious of what norms they use (even though they are shared). This phenomenon comes from the macro-level’s invisible forces of socialization.
Ethnomethodologists study human behavior by deliberately disrupting social norms and observing how individuals attempt to restore normalcy. Individuals reveal their “hidden” or “assumed” social norms in this process.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks are an example of the disruption of social norms followed by individuals’ attempts to restore “normalcy”.
3) Impression Management
We are actors in the drama of everyday social life. We present different faces (give different impressions) on different stages (in different situations or in different roles) with different others.
Impression Management is a process by which people control how others perceive them. For example, a student turns in a late paper because her “dog ate it”. The impression is that she is a diligent worker who is a victim.
Impression management can create role conflict and strain. But it is often necessary (and quite unconscious) because of macro-level expectations of achieving status, success expectations, etc.
4) Social Exchange Model of Social Interaction
Our interactions are determined by the rewards and punishments we receive from others.
If reward exceeds punishment, a potential for Social Profit exists and the interaction is likely to occur or continue. If punishment exceeds reward, a social loss (negative profit) exists and the interaction will be less likely to occur or continue.
People want to get from an interaction at least as much as they put into it, resulting in an equitable interaction. A person’s calculations of inputs versus outputs constitute a measure of social costs versus rewards.
There are macro-level applications of the Social Exchange Model as well. An example would be the gay, lesbian and bisexual community.
Anti-gay, lesbian and bisexual attitudes & stereotyping persist when they are consistently rewarded by one’s social group or reinforced by other aspects of one’s social milieu (social profit). When such attitudes and stereotypes are “punished” in social exchange, they will diminish and are unlikely to persist (negative profit).
During the past two decades, negative attitudes, generalizations, and stereotypes have diminished significantly in this cultural group & acceptance continues to grow.
5) Cyberspace Interactions are when two or more persons share virtual reality communication and interaction.
These interactions are unique: nonverbal communication is eliminated; a person can become a “different self” (Impression Management); by creating a new identity, interactions become anonymous.
Cyberspace Interactions have created a new subculture in our society (often called cyberculture or virtual culture). It is a true subculture because it maintains certain rules & norms, its own language, a set of beliefs, and practices & rituals.
Social Interaction:
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication is conveyed by such means as touch, tone of voice, and gestures. It is a large portion of our everyday communication, although we are generally conscious of only a small part of it. Other examples are body position, head nods, eye contact, facial expressions, a punch in the nose, a knowing glance.
Nonverbal communication is influenced by larger social forces on the macro-level. Meanings depend heavily upon race, ethnicity, social class, and gender.
In a society as diverse as ours, understanding how diversity shapes communication is an essential part of analyzing human behavior. Nonverbal communication is a significant piece of communication and, therefore, of this diversity.
It is divided into four categories:
1) Touch (or tactile communication) is any conveyance of meaning through touch. It can be negative (hitting, pushing) or positive (kissing, embracing). These actions are defined as positive or negative by the ethnic cultural context.
A kiss or a salutation is a standard greeting in many countries for both women and men. In our society, this type of a kiss is viewed as abnormal, even threatening to many men.
Patterns of touch are also strongly influenced by gender. Parents and caregivers vary touch depending upon the sex of the child.
Boys tend to be touched more roughly; girls, more tenderly and protectively. These patterns continue into adulthood.
While there are always exceptions, research supports generalizations that women are more likely to touch or hug to express emotional support, whereas men touch or hug more often to assert power or express sexual interest. For women, touching is more often a supportive activity. For men, it is a dominance-asserting activity, although male touching & hugging in athletic competition are supporting gestures.
2) Paralinguistic Communication is the component of communication conveyed by pitch and loudness of the voice, its rhythm, emphasis, and frequency, and the frequency and length of hesitations. It is not what you say, but how you say it.
The exact meaning of paralanguage varies with ethnic & cultural context. We often consider paralinguistics to be a minor aspect of conversation, with much emphasis paid to verbal transactions. Other cultures or races view paralinguistics quite differently. They are as important as or more important than verbal transactions.
3) Body Language (kinesic communication) involves gestures, facial expressions, body position, etc. Meanings conveyed by body language are usually different in different cultures & ethnic subcultures.
4) Personal Space or Proxemic Communication – Meaning is conveyed by the amount of space between interacting individuals.
The Proxemic Bubble represents our personal three-dimensional space. When people we don’t know (or like) enter this space, we feel threatened or hostile. We let friends into this space, persons we like, or someone we are sexually attracted to.
Proxemic Communication varies strongly by cultural differences and gender. Proxemic Bubbles of different groups have different sizes. Hispanics and African Americans tend to stand closer (have smaller Bubbles) than White middle & upper class Americans. With the exception of sports teams, men tend to have larger Bubbles than women.
Other factors that impact the size of one’s bubble are: family socialization; a history of emotional or physical abuse; a history of sexual abuse; one’s basic temperament.
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