Social Interaction and Social Structure

Chapter 5

Why should we choose these guys?

I. Social Structure =

• *** Football: players and setting vary - all teams have common structure

What does football teach us for sociology?

• * establishes relationships

• * identified by that job • * to get anything done,

all must work together and follow the rules

• * sanctions for those who do follow the rules

• * each ‘season’ new people join the team but structure is

the same • * social structure does not

determine outcome!!!

• * can add plays or improvise depending on players

• * without structure, the team would be a bunch of individuals that never get the goal accomplished

I. Social Structure

• A. coordinates individual activities, provides continuity, allows for spontaneity , gives framework (rules)

B. Social structure affects people

• 1. roles of husband, wife, mother, lover, worker change based on structure

• a. affects attitude, behavior, individual characteristics, temperaments

2. Roles are part of larger institutions:

• a. roles of student/professor b. roles of husband/wife

c. roles of producer/ consumer

3. Linked together to form society

C. Microperspective • 1. looking at players, their

roles, their relationships, etc. how it affects the game

D. Macroperspective =• looks at overall patterns and trends

1. e.g. analyze different roles the NFL, college football, TV, ads, and fans play in professional football

* a. what rules

govern their relations

*b.what happens when rules bent or broken

F. Evolution of Society from the macroperspective

• 1. Hunter-Gatherer Society

• main focus on acquiring food for subsistence living;

• little domestication of animals;

• many are nomads

2. Horticultural/Pastoral

• Horticultural Society • Simple gardening; small

tribes/villages• Family the most important

Continued

• domesticated animals; • some people of tribe allowed to

specialize (i.e. healer, craftsperson…);

• Male dominated• The sexual division of labor is

sharply marked in pastoralist societies

• .Status of women still high

3. Agricultural Society

• use of technology to grow crops;

• food surpluses leads to bigger populations which led to development of towns and trade;

• women start to lower in status;

• social classes begin (nobility = land)

4. Industrial Society

• Industrial Revolution began the use of machines to produce goods;

• tradesmen lost identities in factories;

• factory owners get rich; • standard of living

raises;

• public education rises;

• public health gets better;

• cities problems arise;

• struggles between working and wealthy classes arise

• 5. Postindustrial Society • based on information, knowledge, and the

selling of services; • computer has revolutionized what is

valued – now power comes from ability to generate, store, manipulate and sell information

II. Social Relationships

• A. Relationships = basic building blocks of social structure

1. direct personal contact – most influence

2. indirect less contact but still has influence

3. Bureaucracy (Weber)

• efficient organization of work based on skills and

hierarchy

Status and Roles – Changing of the Social Structure

B. Durkheim’s Analysis of Suicide

1. Suicide not linked to mental illness

a. women outnumbered men 5 to 4 in mental institutions but only makeup a small percentage of suicides

2. Race or genetic makeup did not predispose members to suicide

a. variations within groups were as varied as between

3. Environment made no difference

a. majority of suicides in all countries took place in daylight during summer months

- i.e. places such as Sweden that have short days and long winters did not make people gloomy and suicidal

4. 4 types of Suicide

—Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic,

and Fatalistic—each linked to distinct set of

social circumstances

a. Egoistic = excessive individualism

i. when people do not feel attached to a group/community that commands participation then easier to opt out

ii. Catholics have lower suicide rate: rules clear, everyone shared them, so all a part of “mother Church” iii. Explains why suicide rates go down

in times of war: war unites people against a common enemy, creating a heightened sense of togetherness

b. Altruistic = excessive attachment to community

i. when the group becomes more important than life, the individual is willing to sacrifice himself for its needs

ii. soldiers and Japanese have high suicide rate: save face or honor

c. Anomic = breakdown of collective order

i. anomie = Greek word for “lawlessness”ii. any major disruption of way of life (for

better or worse) is stressful

iii. guidelines for behavior and standards are fuzzy

- people depend on these guidelines to order their lives

iv. that is why in economic depressions or booms, suicide goes up

d. Fatalistic = too much control by social guidelines

i. occurs in societies that exercise a high degree of control over their members’ emotions and motivations

ii. people kill themselves out of hopelessness and over manipulation

C. Status and Roles: social script

• 1. status = a position an individual occupies in

society

a. achieved =

b. ascribed =

attained through personal effort (senator, loser, etc.)

assigned at birth (race, gender)

Monty Python and Status

• http://youtu.be/5Xd_zkMEgkI

c. master status =social position that tends to override everything else the person is or does in life

2. role =

Roles

a. role conflict = • occurs when

different positions make incompatible demands

Social Groups

D. Network =

• web of relationships that connects an individual to many

other people

1. Structure of network affects efficiency and relationships

1. Clique

• = everyone is

connected to

everyone else

Effect of an efficient clique

2. Orbit

• = one person serves as the connection to all others

3. Chain • = connections become increasingly distant

4. Ring = each person has more

than one connection

End Result of a positive and efficient network…

E. Social Interaction • 1. from superficial to

complex • a. formal: such as a job

interview• b. free form: such as

when 2 kids meet on the playground

Conversations strangers are not supposed to have…

French Kiss

• c. before speaking or acting we size up the person next to us

• d. Rules for conversations with strangers: weather, common complaint (airline), reasons for both being there

• i. Never fight, embrace, talk about intimate subjects with stranger

F. American Bubble = Space Norms

1. Public Distance

• = 12 feet or more: public speaker

2. Social Distance

• = 4-7 feet: Impersonal business, interviews, purchasing products

3. Personal Distance

• = 18 inches to 4 feet: conversation distance, friends,

family, social interaction

4. Intimate Distance

• = 0 to 18 inches: lovemaking to wrestling; conflict usually takes place

* conflict can be escalated by invading someone’s personal spaces—another form of insult

3. Symbolic Interactionism: compare to stage

• a. Goffman: behavior is different at a formal dinner than sitting at home with parents

i. “Frontstage” public front

ii. “Backstage” private behavior

iii. We are all putting on an act

Can’t Buy Me Love

III. social identity =• our sense of who and what we are

(comes from roles we play, idealized version of who we would like to be)

http://youtu.be/Wpr6QgQco6c

A. Fashion and Fitness Look the part

• 1. Fashion is to reveal at a glance what kind of person each is a. e.g. woman with tailored

suit and suitcase attempts to project image of respectability

b. e.g. man wearing wire-rimmed glasses & old tweed jacket sees himself or wants others to see him as an intellectual

2. All societies use clothing to distinguish groups of people

• 3. Fashion different than stylea. defines age, social group,

beliefs/values

4. Conflict: Fred Davis holds that fashion is a way to deal with cultural

conflicts: • youth versus age

conformity vs. individualism

success vs. failure

masculine vs. feminine work versus play

snobs vs. nobodies

a. Women’s office clothing:

• 70s—“dress for success”80s—confusion over women/men 90s—gender

ambivalence resurfaced—

power suits

00s- sex becomes a weapon

B. Bodies: slim, fit, youthful, & sexy

Values: Hard work, self worth, pride, beauty

1. Ideal body based on advertising (models)

• 2. Fitness ideal—reflects values of hard work, self-control, achievement, and prosperity

• 3. Economy--$50 billion/year on diets, makeup, plastic surgery, health clubs, and workout equipment

• a. * Studies show that overweight, non-athletic, not-very-

beautiful applicants are discriminated

against“You can never be too rich or too thin.”—Fitness represents

social class

C. Face-Work = • everyone is trying to give an

impression—others help maintain this * professor

or someone dignified

passes gas or trips

1. Examples: * if you see someone in public is about to cry then you turn away or feel uncomfortable

2. norm of reciprocity =• norm that demands that people respond equally to

certain behavior a. e.g. thank you

cards for gifts, invitation for an

invitation, greeting for a greeting

b. we are uncomfortable around someone who is far more or less good looking, intelligent, wealthy, or talented—exchange is unequal