CHAPTER 4

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SOCIAL STRUCTURE:

• Network of interrelated statuses and roles that guides our interaction• Status = position• Role = behavior

STATUSES:

• We each hold multiple positions within society: • i.e.: teacher, mother, wife, daughter, aunt, etc.

• Some statuses are assigned and are beyond our control (ascribed)• i.e.: daughter, aunt

• Some statuses are gained or acquired through effort (achieved)• i.e.: teacher, mother

• For most people, one or two statuses are particularly important and define who we are …they give us our identity. (Master Status)• These change over the course or our lives.

ROLES:

• Bring a status to life

• All have a corresponding roles (Reciprocal Roles) that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses.• i.e.: teacher – student, lawyer – client , etc.

• Socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role are call role expectations• i.e.: teacher is expected to teach, student is

expected to pay attention

• In reality, however, people’s role performance (their actual role behavior) often does not match the behavior expected by society.

Roles cont.…

• Within a single status you may have multiple roles to perform. This is referred to as a role set

• Because we hold more than one status and each of these has multiple roles attached… the often contradictory expectations with and between our role sets can lead to:• Role Conflict = more than one status involved• Role Strain = single status involved

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS:• System of statuses, roles, values and norms that

is organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society:• Basic needs include:

• Physical and emotional support• Transmitting knowledge• Producing goods and services• Maintaining social control

• Five major social institutions:• Family• Economy• Politics• Education• Religion