Professor Henry Schissler
Chapter 3 – Part B
Social Structure, Groups, and Organizations
Through social structure, society is organized into predictable relationships that facilitate social interaction. The transmission of culture & even the survival of society depend on social interaction. The basic elements of social structure are statuses, social roles, and groups. Larger, more encompassing elements are social networks, social institutions (agents of socialization), and formal organizations, including bureaucracies and voluntary associations.
History of Societies
1. Hunting-and-Gathering Societies – a preindustrial society where members relied on whatever foods and fibers were readily available. Societies were composed of small, widely dispersed groups. Each group consisted almost entirely of people related to one another. The social institution of the family took on a particularly important role.
2. Horticultural Societies – a preindustrial society where people planted crops and were much less nomadic than hunters and gatherers. They produced tools and household objects, yet technology remained limited.
3. Agrarian Societies – the final preindustrial society where technology had increased to include plows to dramatically increase yield and other farm equipment. This caused greater community stability, larger settlements, and the rise of the surplus.
The surplus was the key ingredient of what became known as the Agricultural Revolution. With surpluses, people could exchange through barter and then money. Businesses to accommodate the surplus grew.
4. Industrial Societies - depend on mechanization to produce its goods and services Societies underwent an irrevocable shift from an agrarian-oriented economy to an industrial base.
Mass Production – an assembly line that uses a continuous conveyor belt to move unfinished product past individual workers, each of whom performs a specific operation on the product.
Fordism – the large-scale, highly standardized mass production of identical commodities on a mechanical assembly line.
Some of the many changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution were the following –
A family or person used to make an entire product. Now, specialization of tasks and manufacturing of goods became increasingly common (assembly lines).
Workers (generally men, but also women and children) left their family homesteads to work in central locations like factories. Gradually, families migrated to cities.
Families and surrounding farm communities could not function as self-sufficient units. An interdependence emerged among regions, causing the family to lose its unique position as the source of power and authority.
The need for specialized knowledge led to the growth of formalized education, and education emerged as a social institution distinct from the family. Gradually, education for children became mandatory.
The social construct called “teenager” was born.
Karl Marx and others who supported the Conflict Theory viewpoint warned of the Alienation of Labor that would occur as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the factory setting.
For workers, components of alienation (or estrangement) were:
1. estrangement from the products they made
2. estrangement from the process of making things
3. estrangement from co-workers
4. estrangement from their basic human nature, using the mind creatively to make things
Psychological “estrangement”, which Marx did not talk about but was documented by others in the Social Sciences, meant an increase in depression & anxiety disorders, alcohol & other drug abuse, family problems including increased divorce rates and abuse.
5. Postindustrial Societies – societies whose economic systems are engaged primarily in the processing and control of information
6. Postmodern Societies – a technologically advanced society that is preoccupied with consumer goods and media images.
An Overview
The collapse of Industrial Societies in the United States has caused great hardship for cities. Urban decay grew after World War II and continues today.
During the 1970’s, the government attempted to intervene with Urban Renewal initiatives. In the 1980’s, Enterprise Zones and gentrification were seen in urban environments.
For a forty year span, anti-poverty programs have targeted urban America (as well as rural America) with limited success. In the 1990’s, welfare reform initiatives changed the face of public assistance and created a new class of individuals and families living below the government’s poverty line the Working Poor.
Since 2000, the numbers of Americans in poverty has increased every year. More and more manufacturing jobs are lost, replaced with lower pay service jobs without health care benefits or pension provisions.
Max Weber – Bureaucracies
Social Structures have become more complex as postmodern societies have integrated more advanced forms of technology. Our lives have become increasingly more dominated by large secondary groups called Formal Organizations. They are groups designed for a specific purpose, structured for maximum efficiency, and structured to facilitate the management of large-scale operations
A Bureaucracy is a component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. Max Weber (1864 – 1920), a founding father of sociology, first directed researchers to the significance of bureaucratic structure.
Weber emphasized the basic similarity of structure and process found in such dissimilar bureaucracies as religion, education, government, and business.
Weber developed an ideal type of bureaucracy (over 80 years ago) that would reflect the most characteristic aspects of all human organizations. He identified five basic characteristics.
1. Division of Labor Specialized experts perform specific tasks. This emphasis on specialization is a “given” in employment today because people who become highly skilled in their area of expertise carry out a job with maximum efficiency.
2. Hierarchy of Authority Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority.
3. Written Rules & Regulations Bureaucracies generally offer employees clear standards for job performance. This provides continuity and uniform performance.
4. Impersonality Officials perform their duties without the personal consideration of people as individuals. This helps to provide equal treatment for all, but contributes to the cold and uncaring feeling associated with modern organizations.
5. Employment Based on Technical Qualifications The “impersonal” bureaucracy favors hiring based on technical and professional qualifications not favoritism, and performance is measured against specific standards.
Additional Key Concepts
Worker Motivation (from Classical Theory)
Workers motivated almost entirely by economic rewards
Workers are a resource (objects), much like the machines that began to replace them in the 20th Century
Management attempts to achieve maximum work efficiency by a system of employee supervision and performance standards
Incentive systems, usually carrying cash bonuses and employee recognition, are common management strategies to increase productivity and, in some work environments, fight boredom
Human Relations Approach
Emphasis on the role of people, communication, small group dynamics, and participation within the bureaucracy
Importance of workers’ feelings, frustrations, & emotional need for job satisfaction
Voluntary Associations – organizations established on the basis of common interest whose members volunteer or even pay to participate (Girls Scouts, Green Party). Many large Voluntary Associations are “formal organizations”, some with strong bureaucratic elements (YMCA, Peace Corp).
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