Social Status and Roles

Review

Status: a socially defined position within a group or society

Role: the behavior (actions) expected of a person who holds a status.

We all have statuses and roles!!!

Types of Statuses

Achieved Status: a status assigned to a person because of some special skill, ability, achievement, or merit.

Job, Team membership, family relationships such as mother or husband

Ascribed Status: a status assigned according to conditions beyond a person’s control

Ex: race, gender, age, family relationships such as brother or sister

Question 1

How does your status and/or role affect the behavior of others?

Socialization

Definition: the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies.

Labeling oneself is the first step in Socialization and including yourself in a social structure. Why?

Question #2

In what ways have you been socialized? What methods did the society use to socialize you as a functional person?

Question #3

How does your status or role affect your behavior as a person? Does it define your behavior or does your behavior define the role or status?

Question #4

Do you think a person can avoid being labeled with a status or role? Why or Why not?

Formal Organizations

Large, complex secondary groups that are established to achieve specific goals.

Formal Organizations

Size -- tend to be large

Time -- tend to be long-lasting

Interaction -- very formal

What makes interaction formal?

•Process -- specific methods

•Regulations -- rules that govern the operation of the group

This stems from Rationalization ...

The process by which every feature of human life becomes subject to calculation, measurement, & control.

Examples of Formal Organizations

•Government

•Schools

•Large Businesses

Most large/formal organizations are known as a

BureaucracyBureaucracy......a ranked authority structure that operates according to specific rules and procedures.

Bureaucracy...

Another term for a ranked authority structure is a hierarchy

Hierarchy

A hierarchy is like a pyramid of people ...

Hierarchy

Most of the people are at the bottom, while most of the power is at the top!

Hierarchy

Power People

Max Weber’s Model of Bureaucracy

A) Division of Labor

B) Ranking of Authority

C) Employment based on formal qualifications

Max Weber’s Model of Bureaucracy

D) Rules and regulations

E) Specific lines of promotion and advancement

Bureaucracy

The focus of the group is the rules and processes,

NOT the needs or individual concerns

Formal Organizations are often MERITOCRACIES…

(…or at least they are supposed to be!)

Meritocracy -- an organization in which members gain positions & promotions based on having “earned” them

Criticisms

•Institutional Momentum

•Bureaucratic Personalities

•Red Tape

•Iron Law of Oligarchy

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

A) Self Continuation -- the organization’s main goal is to continue its own existence

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

This is called “Institutional Momentum” -- the larger a bureaucracy is and the longer it is around, the harder it is to stop.

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

B) Bureaucratic personalities -- the job becomes a ritual, rules replace common sense

Sorry, I’m just doing my job!

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

C) Red tape -- bureaucratic delay filling out forms, standing in lines, being sent to different departments

Next Window Please

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

D) Robert Michel’s “Iron Law of Oligarchy” -- the tendency for power to become concentrated at the top of a bureaucracy

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

E) C. Northcote Parkinson’s Law -- work expands to fill the time available for its completion

Criticisms of Formal Organizations

One other major criticism of bureaucracies is Lawrence J. Peter’s “Peter Principle”

The Peter Principle

In a hierarchy, a person will tend to be promoted until he reaches his level of incompetence.

The Peter Principle

It’s related to meritocracy -- a person earns a promotion at one level ...

The Peter Principle

… and doesn’t lose it if they are incompetent at the next level.

The Peter Principle

They never earn another promotion, so they stay at their level of incompetence.

The Peter Principle

EX: a student who fails 11th grade is not sent back to 10th, they stay in 11th until they pass.

Review -- What is a Formal Organization?

A large, complex secondary group that is established to achieve specific goals.

Characteristics

Size -- tend to be large

Time -- tend to be long-lasting

Interaction -- very formal

What is a hierarchy?

Power People

What is a Meritocracy?

Meritocracy -- an organization in which members gain positions & promotions based on having “earned” them

Bureaucracies in Our Lives

Education System, Internal Revenue Service, Hospitals

Bureaucracy- Bureaucracy- ConclusionConclusionBureaucracies are a “necessary evil’.

They are better at handling a great deal of work than handling individuals needs.

They serve important functions (education, healthcare, etc.).

We could not operate without bureaucracies, but bureaucracies could operate more efficiently.

Bureaucracy-

A ranked authority structure that operates according to specific

rules and procedures

Bureaucracy

Necessary but greatly disliked by most people

Bureaucracy

The best way to coordinate large numbers of people to achieve large-scale goals

Max Weber-

Model of bureaucracy

Interactionist

Perspective

Max Weber-

A. Division of Labor

Max Weber-

B. Ranking of Authority

Max Weber-

C. Employment based on formal qualifications

Max Weber-

D. Rules and Regulations

Max Weber-

E. Specific lines of advancement and promotion

Bureaucracy

The focus of the group is the rules and processes,

NOT the needs or individual concerns

Criticisms of Bureaucracies

A. Institutional Momentum-

once started, bureaucracies have a vested interest in maintaining themselves- save people’s jobs

Criticisms of Bureaucracies

B. Peter Principle-

in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to the level of his or her incompetence

Criticisms of Bureaucracies

C. Red Tape-

rules and regulations (forms, lines, “next window”) which delay the achievement of goals

Criticisms of Bureaucracies

D. Iron Law of Oligarchy-

power is held by only a few people at the very top of the bureaucracy

Criticisms of Bureaucracies

E. Parkinson’s Law-

work expands to fill the time available for its completion

Bureaucracies in Our Lives

Education System, Internal Revenue Service, Hospitals

Bureaucracy- ConclusionBureaucracies are a “necessary evil’.

They are better at handling a great deal of work than handling individuals needs.

They serve important functions (education, healthcare, etc.).

We could not operate without bureaucracies, but bureaucracies could operate more efficiently.