Soc 100 - Social Structure? Flashcards
How do Sociologists examine individuals and how they relate to their roles?
Sociologists examine the way individuals relate to their various roles, what happens when they experience role strain, and how they resolve this through tactics such as master status, compartmentalisation, and role exit.
Social Relation
The formalised, fixed set of rules that dictate the way people in different roles interact.Structured social relations allow people to predict how others will respond to them.
How does Alterity work for social roles?
Every social role exists in relation to other roles: they are defined in part by the way they relate to specific other roles.A grandparent has a specific relationship to a grandchild; a doctor does not have a specific relationship to a politician.
Social Institution
Organised set of beliefs, behaviour, roles, and rules that meet a function for rest of society.Usually contains its own subset of roles & positions.concentrated, self-contained sets of roles and rules, which refer people to one another within them�
Explain the Family as a social role
The Family consists of a number of roles (parents, children) that interact internally in a set way.
How does Claude Levi-Strauss think society can be understood?
society as a whole can be understood by logic of kinship structures such as family relationships:�Like atoms
How does Claude Levi-Strauss define the atom of kinship?
the basic ‘atom of kinship’ is a set of relations, consisting of brother/sister, husband/wife, father/son, maternal uncle/nephew.�He argues that ‘first order’ family relationships between parents & children are not foundational.
What was Levi Strauss’ logic for codified social relations?
Lévi-Strauss codified social relations by a necessary logic, depending on whether relationships were genial or authoritative: The relation of uncle-nephew is to brother-sister as father-son is to husband-wife.Therefore, if uncle-nephew is warm but brother-sister is cold, they are opposites. If father-son is warm, then we can deduce husband-wife will be cold.
How did Levi Strauss logic work in tribal societies?
This predicted standard relationships in many tribal societies.
Rationalization Hypothesis
Weber’s argument that social relations have been made progressively more formal, abstract, and law-governed, instead of traditional and personal. Bureaucracy is the classic example.
Describe Max Weber’s ‘Iron Cage.’
As societies become more complex, they need complex official bodies to administer them: they become rationalised in order to run more effectively, with specific rules.Whilst this is necessary for complex modern states, Weber suggest bureaucratic procedures become an “iron cage”: individuals become trapped in the set of rules created for themselves, and are simply treated as abstract units.
What is the consequence of the Iron Cage on human relationships?
People become distanced from one another�!
What is a group, and a non-group?
a coherent network of people who interact regularly in set ways.A family is a group, but people who happen to live in the same huge apartment complex but don’t talk are not a group�
What is a primary group? Secondary?
We are close to our friends – our primary group – but interact less closely with our work colleagues – our secondary group� (formal interactions)
What is our reference group?
Our expectations and self-image often come from the groups we’re part of; we live up to their subcultural norms:We learn what’s expected of us, how to dress, what counts as ‘normal’ behaviour from our reference group�
Group
A set of people who interact regularly with set forms and rules�
Reference vs Primary vs Secondary Group
Reference Group: We look to our groups to learn about normal social behaviour and values. They help normalise our behaviour, because we seek their approval and act like them�Primary Group:Those closest to you, with whom you interact on a personal basis.Usually small groups, with intimate interaction over long periods of time�Secondary Group: A looser network of people you belong to, e.g. work colleagues.Usually larger groups, with less personal contact, and less enduring�
Ingroup vs Outgroup
Albertans understand one another: they are in-group.But they look upon Nova Scotians as strange, dangerous people, with incomprehensible customs – they are out-grou�p
