SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIETY

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

• 1. How do societies change over time?• 2. What are the components of social structure?• 3. Why do societies have shared patterns of social interactions?• 4. How are daily interactions similar to being onstage?• 5. Do positive changes in society occur through individual efforts

or institutional efforts?•  • LG:     SWBAT understand that there are many components

that societies share.•           SWBAT understand how social interactions have evolved

and changed to adapt to societial needs.•           SWBAT understand the roles people play in their

everyday life and which could at times cause                      conflict.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIETY

• Social Structure is All Around You• What is social structure?

• Social Structure is the underlying patterns of relationship in a group.

• Social structure refers to the way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships. There are four elements of social structure: statuses, social roles, groups, and institutions.

Everyone has Status

What do sociologists mean by status?

What is ascribed status?How is status achieved?What is a status set?Are all of a person’s statuses

equal?

STATUS EXPLAINED

• Ascribed Status is a position that is neither earned nor chosen but assigned- Accident of Birth

• There is little a person can do to change their ascribed status.• Ascribed status can be mean different things in different societies. Being old in China means wisdom, in the US it is a means of disrespect.

STATUS

• A status set is all of the statuses that a person occupies at any particular time.

• Status is a position a person occupies within a social structure.• Statuses: having to do with influence, wealth, and fame. Status can also include a position, president or fruit picker.

STATUS CONTINUED

• An achieved status is a position earned or chosen• Comes through our own efforts

• You must do something to achieve this- go to school, learn a trade etc.

• A master status is a position that strongly affects most other aspects of a person’s life.• One that dominates others for an individual• Sometimes ascribed status outweighs achieved status (can

be an obstacle)• Malcolm X- in 8th grade wanted to be a lawyer, his teacher said

that is “no realistic goal for a nigger”

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND ROLES

• Rights• Is a behavior that individuals can expect from

others.• Obligation• Is a behavior that indiviuduals are expected to

perform toward others• Role• Is an expected behavior associated with a

particular status

ROLE PERFOMANCE AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

• Statuses and roles provide the basis for group life.

• It is primarily when people interact with each other socially that they “perform” in the roles attached to their statuses

ROLE PERFORMANCE VS. SOCIAL INTERACTION

• Role Performance is the actual behavior of an individual in a role.

• Social Interaction is the process of influencing each other as people relate.

HOW DOES PLAY-ACTING DIFFER FROM SOCIAL INTERACTION

• Real life role performance occurs without planning

• You cannot adlib roles in real life

• There are no cues and predictable responses in real life

ROLE CONFLICT AND ROLE STRAIN

Role conflict is a condition in which the performance of a role in one status interferes with the performance of a role in another status.

• Occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person. • Fulfillment of the roles associated with one status may

directly violate the roles linked to a second status.

• Role strain is a condition in which the roles of a single status are inconsistent or conflicting.

ROLE STRAIN

• How can role strain be hypocritical?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JxZ047yJiw

ROLE PLAY

• Mr Jones is a member of a high school board of education and his daughter is a sophomore at the same high school. The board recently considered a proposal to drastically cut spending in the art department. Mr. Jones’ daughter is an aspiring artist with dreams of opening her own studio someday. Mr. Jones’ vote could be crucial. What should Mr. Jones do? Should he hope to work out a compromise, avoid the issue, say this is a conflict of interest? What examples may you have of role conflict?

HOW DO SOCIETIES CHANGE OVER TIME?

• LG: SWBAT understand how social interactions have evolved and changed to adapt to societial needs.

• Throughout civilization there have been three types of societies:• Pre-Industrial• Industrial• Post- Industrial

PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY

• Hunting and Gathering Societies• Hunting and Gathering is the oldest solution for providing

for basic needs or subsistence.• It was only about 9,000 years ago that other methods

emerged.• Really, ONLY 9,000?

• Kinship group or family• Their obligation is share everything they have little or no

ownership or private property• Power is shared - egalitarian• Economic relationships are based on cooperation• Religion, education are not formal institutions

LG: SWBAT UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL INTERACTIONS HAVE EVOLVED AND CHANGED TO ADAPT TO SOCIETIAL NEEDS.

• Their obligation is share everything they have little or no ownership or private property

• Power is shared - egalitarian• Economic relationships are based on cooperation• Religion, education are not formal institutions• Shaman or the religious leader has some degree of

leadership but receives no material rewards for his duties.

• There are still a few pre-industrial societies, i.e. The Bushman, that exist today but its believed that technology in food production will render them extinct.

LG: SWBAT UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL INTERACTIONS HAVE EVOLVED AND CHANGED TO ADAPT TO SOCIETIAL NEEDS.

• The shift from hunting and gathering to horticultural and pastoral societies from 13,000 to 7,000 b.c.e.• There was a shift from collecting food to producing food.

• This was caused by three factors:• Depletion of supply of large game animals• Increase in size of population• Dramatic weather and environmental changes

LG: SWBAT UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL INTERACTIONS HAVE EVOLVED AND CHANGED TO ADAPT TO SOCIETIAL NEEDS.

• Two types of societies emerged:• Pastoral which is based on technology that supports the

domestication of large animals to provide food.

• Horticultural societies are based on technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide food.

• The family unit is the basis for the pastoral/horticultural society. It is less nomadic and more sedentary due to one invention: the Hoe.

• Take a minute to share with a neighbor how this technology caused the shift of how people interact.

LG: SWBAT UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL INTERACTIONS HAVE EVOLVED AND CHANGED TO ADAPT TO SOCIETIAL NEEDS.

• Industrial Societies: based on societies that mechanize production.• As a result of the technology of the Industrial Revolution in

England, there was a shift from rural and agrarian societies into urban and industrialized societies.

• Industrialism involves the application of scientific knowledge to the technology of production.• The steam engine made it possible to produce good by machines

powered by fuels rather than undependable natural resources or human labor.

• On a scale of 1-5 rate your understand of the learning goal.

LG: SWBAT UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL INTERACTIONS HAVE EVOLVED AND CHANGED TO ADAPT TO SOCIETIAL NEEDS.

• Turn and Talk-• With a neighbor answer the following questions:• How did the social interaction change as the societial shift

from hunter-gatherer to pastoral/horticultural occurred?

• What caused the shift? Give an example of how social interactions evolved as a result of the shift from pre-industrial to industrial.

• Share answers with class.

POST-INDUSTRIAL

• Society in which technology supports a service-and information based economy.• Post-modern or post-industrial societies are characterized

as information explosion.• And a large numbers of people either provide or apply

information or are imployed in a service job

• There is a rise of a consumer society and the emergence of a global village in which people around the world communicate with one another.

• Post Industrial societies produce knowledge that becomes a commodity.

LG: SWBAT UNDERSTAND HOW SOCIAL INTERACTIONS HAVE EVOLVED AND CHANGED TO

ADAPT TO SOCIETIAL NEEDS.

Stability and Change in SocietiesDurkheim- How do societies hold together?Mechanical Solidarity-social cohesion of pre-industrial societies, where there is minimal division of labor and people feel united.used the term mechanical because people believed they were automatically

connected.Organic solidarity-social cohesion found in industrial societies. They

• Organic solidarity-social cohesion found in industrial societies. People perform very specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual

dependence.

• Durkheim choose the term organic solidarity because he believed that individuals in industrial societies come to rely on one another in much the same way that the organs of the human body function interdependently.

• Gemeinschafttraditional society in which social relationships are

based on personal bonds of friendship and kinship.Which society would practice this?

Gesellschaftlarge urban society in which social bonds are based

on impersonal and specialized relationships, with little or no long term commitment to the group consensus on values.

Most people are strangers.Which society would practice this?

CONCLUSION

• 3 things you learned• 2 things you found interesting• 1 conclusion you drew from the material• 1 question you have

• On a scale of 1-5 please rate your understanding of the information