Social Interaction Groups, Institutions, & Social Construction of Reality

Group V Institution Group – Composed of specific, identifiable people – 2 or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence i.e. families, childhood friends, university classes, work & community organizations, society – Primary V Secondary group

Group V Institution Institution – A standardized way of doing something – A set of organizaed beliefs and rules that establish how a society will attempt to meet its basic social needs: Children are born & socialized, goods & services are produced & distributed, order is preserved – i.e. family, religion, education, economy, gov – i.e. mass media, sports, science, medicine, military

Group V Institution Family as a Group – “your family” or “my family” = a family (grouping) Family as an Institution – Ideologies and standardized patterns of behaviour that organize family life = family (social institution) – Certain statuses are organized into relationships (husband-wife, parent-child, brother-sister)

Social Institutions Functionalist view on Social Institutions – Social Institutions perform 5 essential tasks Replacing members Teaching new members Producing, distributing, and consuming goods & services Preserving order Providing & maintaining a sense of purpose – All societies require these tasks, yet the institutions in each society perform these tasks in different ways depending on their specific cultural values & norms

Social Construction of Reality People interpret social interactions in different ways – Ethnicity, gender, and social class play a role – Varies based on the statuses we occupy and our unique personal experiences i.e. members of the dominant classes regard the poor, unemployed, and working class as less worthy of attention

Social Construction of Reality Symbolic Interactionists believe that there is very little shared reality beyond that which is socially created Social Construction of Reality: – The process by which our perception of reality is shaped largely by the subjective meaning that we give to an experience – Influences what we “see” and how we respond

Social Construction of Reality We act on reality as we see it – “the definition of the situation” We analyze a social context in which we find ourselves, determine what is in our best interest, and adjust our attitudes and actions accordingly. This can produce a self-fulfilling prophecy – A false belief or prediction that produces behaviour that makes the originally false belief come true

Social Construction of Reality Reality can be constructed by the dominant group – Dominant group members with prestigious statuses may have the ability to establish how other people define “reality” i.e. the media often set the tone for our current opinions about homelessness, teen crime, and what is considered “cool” at the moment via negative or positive news stories