Social Interaction and Social Structure

1. Social Interaction and Social Structure Chapter 5

2. Why should we choose these guys?

3. I. Social Structure = • *** Football: players and setting vary - all teams have common structure

4. What does football teach us for sociology? • * establishes relationships • * identified by that job • * to get anything done, all must work together and follow the rules

5. * sanctions for those who do follow the rules • * each ‘season’ new people join the team but structure is the same • * social structure does not determine outcome!!!

6. * can add plays or improvise depending on players • * without structure, the team would be a bunch of individuals that never get the goal accomplished

7. I. Social Structure • A. coordinates individual activities, provides continuity, allows for spontaneity , gives framework (rules)

8. B. Social structure affects people • 1. roles of husband, wife, mother, lover, worker change based on structure • a. affects attitude, behavior, individual characteristics, temperaments

9. 2. Roles are part of larger institutions: • a. roles of student/professor  education b. roles of husband/wife  family c. roles of producer/ consumer  economy

10. 3. Linked together to form society professor Husband/Wife Producer Consumer child/student

11. C. Microperspective • 1. looking at players, their roles, their relationships, etc. how it affects the game

12. D. Macroperspective = 1. e.g. analyze different roles the NFL, college football, TV, ads, and fans play in professional football • looks at overall patterns and trends * a. what rules govern their relations *b.what happens when rules bent or broken

13. F. Evolution of Society from the macroperspective • 1. Hunter-Gatherer Society  • main focus on acquiring food for subsistence living; • little domestication of animals; • many are nomads

14. 2. Horticultural/Pastoral • Horticultural Society  • Simple gardening; small tribes/villages • Family the most important

15. Continued • domesticated animals; • some people of tribe allowed to specialize (i.e. healer, craftsperson…); • Male dominated • The sexual division of labor is sharply marked in pastoralist societies • .Status of women still high

16. 3. Agricultural Society  • use of technology to grow crops; • food surpluses leads to bigger populations which led to development of towns and trade; • women start to lower in status; • social classes begin (nobility = land)

17. 4. Industrial Society  • Industrial Revolution began the use of machines to produce goods; • tradesmen lost identities in factories; • factory owners get rich; • standard of living raises;

18. public education rises; • public health gets better; • cities problems arise; • struggles between working and wealthy classes arise

19. 5. Postindustrial Society  • based on information, knowledge, and the selling of services; • computer has revolutionized what is valued – now power comes from ability to generate, store, manipulate and sell information

20. II. Social Relationships • A. Relationships = basic building blocks of social structure 1. direct personal contact – most influence 2. indirect less contact but still has influence

21. 3. Bureaucracy (Weber) • efficient organization of work based on skills and hierarchy

22. Status and Roles – Changing of the Social Structure

23. B. Durkheim’s Analysis of Suicide

24. 1. Suicide not linked to mental illness a. women outnumbered men 5 to 4 in mental institutions but only makeup a small percentage of suicides

25. 2. Race or genetic makeup did not predispose members to suicide a. variations within groups were as varied as between

26. 3. Environment made no difference • majority of suicides in all countries took place in daylight during summer months - i.e. places such as Sweden that have short days and long winters did not make people gloomy and suicidal

27. 4. 4 types of Suicide —Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic, and Fatalistic—each linked to distinct set of social circumstances

28. Egoistic = excessive individualism • when people do not feel attached to a group/community that commands participation then easier to opt out ii. Catholics have lower suicide rate: rules clear, everyone shared them, so all a part of “mother Church” iii. Explains why suicide rates go down in times of war: war unites people against a common enemy, creating a heightened sense of togetherness

29. b. Altruistic = excessive attachment to community • when the group becomes more important than life, the individual is willing to sacrifice himself for its needs • soldiers and Japanese have high suicide rate: save face or honor

30. c. Anomic = breakdown of collective order i. anomie = Greek word for “lawlessness” ii. any major disruption of way of life (for better or worse) is stressful - people depend on these guidelines to order their lives iii. guidelines for behavior and standards are fuzzy iv. that is why in economic depressions or booms, suicide goes up

31. d. Fatalistic = too much control by social guidelines • occurs in societies that exercise a high degree of control over their members’ emotions and motivations • people kill themselves out of hopelessness and over manipulation

32. C. Status and Roles: social script • 1. status = a position an individual occupies in society a. achieved = attained through personal effort (senator, loser, etc.) b. ascribed = assigned at birth (race, gender)

33. Monty Python and Status • http://youtu.be/5Xd_zkMEgkI

34. c. master status = social position that tends to override everything else the person is or does in life

35. 2. role = obligations and expectations that accompany status

36. Roles

37. a. role conflict = • occurs when different positions make incompatible demands e.g. Working mother

38. Social Groups

39. D. Network = • web of relationships that connects an individual to many other people 1. Structure of network affects efficiency and relationships

40. 1. Clique • = everyone is connected to everyone else

41. Effect of an efficient clique

42. 2. Orbit • = one person serves as the connection to all others

43. 3. Chain • = connections become increasingly distant

44. 4. Ring = each person has more than one connection

45. End Result of a positive and efficient network…

46. E. Social Interaction • 1. from superficial to complex • a. formal: such as a job interview • b. free form: such as when 2 kids meet on the playground

47. Conversations strangers are not supposed to have… French Kiss

48. c. before speaking or acting we size up the person next to us • d. Rules for conversations with strangers: weather, common complaint (airline), reasons for both being there • i. Never fight, embrace, talk about intimate subjects with stranger

49. F. American Bubble = Space Norms

50. 1. Public Distance • = 12 feet or more: public speaker