1. Chapter 4
SOCIETY

2. Building blocks: statuses, roles, groups, & institutions
WHAT IS SOCIETY?
Collection of interacting individuals sharing same way of life & living in same territory
Building blocks: statuses, roles, groups, &
institutions

3. STATUS: ASCRIBED vs. achieved
Is a position in society; you behave according to this
Ascribed – status that is given to us regardless of what we do (i.e. race & gender)
Achieved – status we have to earn (i.e. graduate, jobs, etc)

5. PLEASE PASS THE ‘ROLES’
Role performance – people play same roles very differently for many different people
Role conflict – play two roles at the same time; Sometimes you come into a conflict with all your different role performances
Role strain – stress caused by too many demands from the different roles (can be relieved by hanging out with your own social group)

6. Society controls us
Social Control – formal controls through law, police, courts, & prisons; informal
through social relationships
All the people we meet control us – ready to embarrass, scold, or hurt us if we don’t behave “appropriately” or meet expectations
Durkheim called these “social facts” or “something beyond us”; prisoners of society

7. Role Performance
Role Strain and Role Conflict
Social Control

8. SOCIAL INTERACTION
5 main forms of interaction between members of a society:
Exchange, Competition, Conflict, Cooperation, and Accommodation
Conflict & Competition encourage societal change, while Exchange, Cooperation, and Accommodation encourage societal unification and stability

9. But we have to consent!
With social control comes social consent – we play along with rules as long as it seems reasonable or fair
We learn this from our social institutions
This is how humans interact with each other – by actively & creatively interpreting each other’s actions
Crash Course: How We Got Here Video