SOC Chapter 4: Social Structure and Social Interaction Flashcards
Define: Macrosociology
analysis of social life that focuses on broad features of society, such as social class and the relationship between groups to one another; usually used by functionalists and conflict theorists
Chapter 4, Page 102
Define: Microsociology
analysis of social life that focuses on social interactions;
typically used by symbolic interactionists
Chapter 4, Page 102
Define: Social Interaction
one person’s actions influencing someone else;
usually refers to what people do when they are in one another’s presence, but also includes communications at a distance
Chapter 4, Page 102
Define: Social Structure
the framework of society that surrounds us;
consists of the ways that people and groups are related to one another;
this framework give direction to and sets limits on our behavior
Chapter 4, Page 103
Define: Social Class
according to Weber, a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, and prestige;
according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who own the means of production or workers who sell their labor
Chapter 4, Page 105
Define: Status
the position that someone occupies in a social group
(also called social status)
Chapter 4, Page 105
Define: Status Set
all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies
Chapter 4, Page 105
Define: Ascribed Status
a position an individual either inherits at birth or receives involuntarily later in life
Chapter 4, Page 105
Define: Achieved Statuses
positions that are earned, accomplished, or involve at least some effort or activity on the individual’s part
Chapter 4, Page 106
Define: Status Symbols
indicators of a status;
items that displays prestige
Chapter 4, Page 106
Define: Master Status
a status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies
Chapter 4, Page 106
Define: Status Inconsistency
ranking high on some dimensions of social status and low on others;
also called status discrepancy
Chapter 4, Page 106
Define: Role
the behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status
Chapter 4, Page 107
Define: Group
people who interact with one another and who believe that what they have in common is significant;
also called a social group
Chapter 4, Page 107
Define: Social Institution
the organized, usual, or standard ways by which society meets its basic needs
Chapter 4, Page 108
Define: Social Integration
the degree to which members of a group or a society are united by shared values and other social bonds;
also known as social cohesion
Chapter 4, Page 110
Define: Mechanical Solidarity
Durkheim’s term for the unity (a shared consciousness) that people feel a result of performing the same or similar tasks
Chapter 4, Page 110
Define: Division of Labor
the splitting of a group’s or a society’s tasks into specialties
Chapter 4, Page 111
Define: Organic Solidarity
Durkheim’s term for the interdependence that results from the division of labor;
as part of the same unit, we all depend on others to fulfill their jobs
Chapter 4, Page 111
Define: Gemeinschaft
a type of society in which life is intimate;
a community in which everyone knows everyone else and people share a sense of togetherness
Chapter 4, Page 111
Define: Gesellschaft
a type of society that is dominated by impersonal relationships, individual accomplishments, and self-interest
Chapter 4, Page 111
Define: Stereotype
assumptions of what people are like, whether true of false
Chapter 4, Page 116
Define: Body Language
the ways in which people use their bodies to give messages to others
Chapter 4, Page 118
Define: Dramaturgy
an approach, pioneered by Erving Goffman, in which social life is analyzed in terms of drama or the stage;
also called dramaturgical analysis
Chapter 4, Page 118
Define: Impression Management
people’s efforts to control the impressions that others receive of them
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Front Stages
places where people give performances
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Back Stages
places where people rest from their performances, discuss their presentations, and plan future performances
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Role Performances
the ways in which someone performs a role;
showing a particular “style” or “personality”
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Role Conflict
conflict that someone feels between roles because the expectations attached to one role are at odds with those attached to another role
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Role Strain
conflicts that someone feels within a role
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Sign-Vehicle
the term used by Goffman to refer to how people use social setting, appearance, and manner to communicate
Chapter 4, Page 119
Define: Teamwork
the collaboration of two or more people to manage impressions jointly
Chapter 4, Page 120
Define: Face-Saving Behavior
techniques used to salvage a performance (interaction) that is going sour
Chapter 4, Page 122
Define: Ethnomethodology
the study of how people use background assumptions to make sense out of life
Chapter 4, Page 123
Define: Background Assumption
a deeply embedded, common understanding of how the world operates and of how people ought to act
Chapter 4, Page 123
Define: Thomas Theorem
William I. and Dorothy S. Thomas’ classic formation of the definition of the situation:
“If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
Chapter 4, Page 124
Define: Social Construction of Reality
the use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real
Chapter 4, Page 124
