copyright allyn and bacon 2007 chapter 2 the structure of social groups this multimedia product and...

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007

Chapter 2The Structure of Social Groups

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In Conflict and Order: Understanding Society, 11th edition


The Micro Level• Social Organization

– The ways in which the human conduct becomes socially organized

• Social conditions that constrain behavior:– Social Structure

• The structure of behavior in groups and society– Culture

• The shared beliefs of group members that unite them and guide behavior


The Micro Level

• Social Interaction– When the actions of one person affect

another person– The most common method is through speech– Enduring social interaction is a social

relationship


The Micro Level

• Culture– The shared beliefs of a group’s members that

serve to guide conduct– Common expectation about how people should

act are called norms– Criteria for judging what is appropriate, correct,

moral and important are the values of a group– The expectations that group members have of

individuals occupying the various positions within the group are social roles


The Micro Level

• Norms– Rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate

behaviors• Folkways are minor rules• Mores are important norms

• Status– The positions each societal member occupies– A master status is a status that has exceptional

significance for social identity.


The Micro Level

• Role– The behavioral expectations and requirements attached

to a position in a social organization• Reasons for varied behavior within a role

– Personality variables can account for variations in the behavior of people holding identical statuses

– The occupants of a status may not receive a clear, consistent message about which behavior is expected

– The statuses we occupy may have conflicting demands on our behavior due to multiple group memberships


The Micro Level

• Social Control– Social groups universally demand conformity

to some norms.– Mechanisms of social control can occur subtly

in the socialization process, in the form of rewards, or can be public.

– Sanctions are social rewards or punishments for approved or disapproved behavior.


Primary and Social Groups

• Social Group– An organization created through enduring and

patterned interaction• Primary Group

– Groups whose members are most intimately involved with each other

• Secondary Group– Formally organized, task oriented, and relatively

nonpermanent groups


Bureaucracy: The Ultimate Social Group

• A bureaucracy is a hierarchical formal organization characterized by rationality and efficiency

• The increasing bureaucratization of social life is called McDonaldization, as coined by George Ritzer.

• There is the danger that Max Weber feared from the “iron cage” of rationality.


Power of the Social Group

• The Group Affects the Probability of Suicide– Emile Durkheim’s Suicide

• One’s attachment to social groups affects the probability of suicide.

• Types of Suicide– Egoistic suicide– Altruistic suicide– Anomic suicide


Power of the Social Group• The Group Affects Perceptions

– Apparently, our wish to conform is so great that we often give in to group pressure.

• The Group Affects Convictions– Sectarians with group support maintain their conviction

despite contrary evidence.• The Group Affects Health and Life

– Membership in a group may have an effect on one’s health and even on life itself.

• The Group Affects Behavior– The group can alter the behavior of members, even

behaviors that involve basic human drives.


Figure 2.1 – Process of Social Organization

Source: This scheme is adapted from that developed by Marvin E. Olsen, The Process of Social Organization, 2nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976)


The Societal or Macro Level

• Society– An aggregate of people, united by a common

culture, who are relatively autonomous and self-sufficient and who live in a definite geographical location


Society as a Social System• Society is a social system composed of

interdependent parts that are linked together into a boundary-maintaining whole.

• Culture explains much individual and group behavior as well as the persistence of much of social life.

• Social Stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of people in terms of power, prestige, and resources.

• Social Institutions are social arrangements that channel behavior in prescribed ways in the important areas of social life.

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