What is your “ROLE” in society? Explain

What is your “STATUS” in society? Explain.

If you could change your status, what would you change it to and why?

How does being embarrassed [in a situation] affect your role?

What did you find most interesting about your project?

Social Structure and Society

 The underlying pattern of social relationships in a group is called social structure  The structure of society refers to the way society is organized.  Society is organized into different parts: institutions, social groups, statuses, and roles.

 An institution is an established and enduring pattern of social relationships.  The five traditional institutions are family, religion, politics, economics, and education.  Some sociologists argue that other social institutions, such as science and technology, mass media, medicine, sport, and the military, also play important roles in modern society.  Many social problems are generated by inadequacies in various institutions. For example, unemployment may be influenced by the educational institution's failure to prepare individuals for the job market

 Institutions are made up of social groups.  A social group is defined as two or more people who have a common identity, interact, and form a social relationship.  Ex: the family in which you were born is a social group that is part of the family institution  The religious association to which you may belong is a social group that is part of the religious institution.

 Primary groups, which tend to involve small numbers of individuals, are characterized by intimate and informal interaction.  Ex: families and friends  Secondary groups, which may involve small or large numbers of individuals, are task-oriented and characterized by impersonal and formal interaction.  Ex: employers and their employees and clerks and their customers.

 Just as institutions consist of social groups, social groups consist of statuses  Status is one very important element of social structure. Status is a position a person occupies within a social structure  Status helps us define who and what we are in relation to others within the same social structure

 Ascribed status is a position that is neither earned nor chosen by assigned  Ex: we have no control over the sex, race, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status into which we are born  Similarly, we are assigned the status of "child," "teenager," "adult," or "senior citizen" on the basis of age--something we do not choose or control

 A position that is earned or chosen  Whether or not you achieve the status of college graduate, spouse, parent, or prison inmate depends largely on your own efforts, behavior, and choices.  One's ascribed statuses may affect the likelihood of achieving other statuses  Ex: if you are born into a poor socioeconomic status you may find it more difficult to achieve the status of "college graduate" because of the high cost of a college education.

Pictured is an African Masai man in traditional clothes. Do you think that his clothing reflects an ascribed or an achieved status?

 Every individual has numerous statuses simultaneously.  You may be a student, parent, tutor, volunteer fundraiser, female, and Hispanic.  So…

 …is the status that is considered the most significant in a person's social identity  In industrial societies, occupations–achieved, for the most part–are master statuses because your occupation strongly influences such matters as where you live, how well you live, and how long you live.  Age, gender, race, and ethnicity are examples of ascribed master statuses because they affect the likelihood of achieving other social statuses.

 Social statuses do not exist in isolation  All statuses are interrelated with other statuses

 People interact according to prescribed roles, which carry certain rights and obligations  Sometimes conflict or strain occurs when an individual has too many roles to play

 An expected behavior associated with a particular status is a role  Any status carries with it a variety of roles  Roles can be thought of as statuses “in action”  Statuses describes positions; roles describe behaviors  Rights are behaviors that individuals expect from others. Obligations are behaviors that individuals are expected to perform toward others.

 In terms of a play:  Roles are the part of the script that tells the actors (status holders) what beliefs, feelings, and actions are expected from them  A playright or screenwriter specifies the content of a performer’s part  In the same way, culture underlies the parts played in real life ▪ Ex: mothers have different maternal “scripts” in different cultures

 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 is the actual conduct, or behavior, involved in carrying out (or performing) a role.  Role performance can occur without an audience (as when a student studies alone for a test).  Most role performance involves social interaction.  Social interaction is the process of influencing each other as people relate.

 The process of choosing the role and then acting it out occurs in nearly all instances of social interaction.  Unlike stage performances, most real-life role performance occurs without planning.  On the stage, there is a programmed and predictable relationship between cues and responses. In life, we can choose our own cues and responses.  The range of responses is not limitless–only certain responses are culturally acceptable.

Is reality TV play-acting or social interaction?

 The existence of statuses and roles permits social life to be predictable and orderly.  At the same time, each status involves many roles, and each individual holds many statuses.  This diversity invites conflict and strain.  Role conflict exists when the performance of a role in one status clashes with the performance of a role in another.  Role strain occurs when a person has trouble meeting the many roles connected with a single status.

1. pull between family and career. 2. supervisor who also attempts to be friendly with his/her employees. Video: role conflict - police officer

 Role conflict and strain may lead to discomfort and confusion.  When roles clash, we often settle dilemmas by setting priorities. We decide which role is most important to us and act accordingly.  To reduce the negative effects of conflicting roles, we can separate our behavior in one role from our behavior in another.  Ranking incompatible roles in terms of their importance is a good way to reduce role conflict and strain.