Social Interactions Flashcards
Social Status
A person’s social position in society - used to classify individuals.
In short - Friends are your equal but if you are interacting with a professor, they are superior to you
Ascribed Status
Status that you can’t change, given from birth.
Ex: Prince of royal family but also, a person born into a wealthy family has a high ascribed status due to social networks and economic advantages
Caste System is an example of this
Achieved Status
Status that you earn yourself after working for it
Master Status
The status by which an individual is primarily identified
For example, if a woman feels that her role as a mother is more important than her role as a woman, a daughter, etc., she is more likely to identify herself as a mother and to identify with other women who label themselves as such.
Role Strain
Difficulty managing JUST ONE role - can’t carry obligations of a status.
For example, a student has to write two papers, five reading assignments, give a speech, two lab reports in one week.
Role Conflict
Difficulty managing MULTIPLE roles
“Defined as the stress that people feel when they are confronted with incompatible role expectations across different social statuses they occupy.”
Ex: as a husband, he has an anniversary and a friend is calling for their monthly get-together (conflicts in the status of a friend and husband)
Role Exit
Also called social role exit. When an individual stops engaging in a role previously central to their identity and the process of establishing a new identity.
Primary Groups
Closest members of the group to you - share a sense of belonging and shared identity
Ex: Parents, close friends from childhood. Long-term relationships formed which have a great social impact on the individual.
In-group
The group you are affiliated with based on identification - can be ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, etc.
Secondary Group
Formal, impersonal, temporary, and business-like relationships based on a limited purpose/goal. Usually short-term.
Examples:
- You do things like attending a lunch meeting to talk business. You are only part of the group to accomplish a task or for example, earn money (mean to an end) “formal impersonal groups.”
- parents work friends, distant family, acquaintances (guests there to keep strong relationships in the future. Distant family there to avoid family drama/avoid people’s feelings)
Dramaturgical Approach/ Theory
Concepts of front stage self and back stage self: people create images of themselves in the same way that actors perform a role in front of an audience.
People do these things through the process of dramaturgy
Front Stage
When people are in a social setting (“in front of an audience”)
Ex: someone watches baseball with friends even if he doesn’t like baseball. Manipulating how he’s seen to gain/make friends.
Back Stage
More private areas of our lives - when you don’t have an audience you are more inclined to act like yourself.
Ex:
- Guy who said he loved baseball might come home and like watching cooking shows, cooking
- Putting on makeup!
Impression Management
Our attempt to control how others see us on the front stage - we do this because we want to be seen n a positive way
Accomplished through various strategies: flattery, boasting, managing appearances, ingratiation, aligning actions, and alter casting
Organizations
Institutions designed for a specific purpose, collective goals, and to try to achieve maximum efficiency
Ex. Postal Service (purpose: deliver mail), McDonalds (food), Time Warner Cable (TV/Internet access) etc.
Utilitarian Organization
Members are paid/rewarded for their efforts.
Ex: businesses and government jobs, universities
Normatie Organizations
Members come together through shared goals. Positive sense of unity and purpose.
Ex: religious groups
Coercive Organizations
Members don’t have a choice about membership.
Ex: people in prison or the military (once you join you have to be discharged to leave)
Bureaucracy
Rules, structures, and rankings that guide organizations.
A rational system of administration, discipline, and control. Max Weber gave it six defining characteristics.
Iron Law of Oligarchy
Democratic or bureaucratic systems naturally shift to being ruled by an elite group
Definition:
A small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution
McDonaldization
Policies of fast-food organizations have come to dominate other organizations in society. Primarily, principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, uniformity, and control – these principles have come to dominated everything, from medicine to sporting events to entertainment,
Ex: movie theatres all look and work similarly, with same concession stands look the same, carry same brands and same popular movies, with same seating arrangements, look the same, and #of screens is the same. All ticket systems now the same (especially online). Same pre-show entertainment.
Not necessarily a bad thing. Pervasive throughout society.
What are the six defining characteristics of Max Weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy?
- Division of Labor
- Hierarchy of Organization
- Written Rules and Regulations
- Impersonality
- Career Orientation
- Formal Selection
Division of Labor
Jobs are broken down into simple, routine, and well-defined tasks. People are trained to do specific tasks.
Pro – people are better at tasks and increased efficiency.
Con – increases alienation in workers, separating them from other works (conflict theory), and they don’t see work from beginning to end. Can lead to less satisfaction which leads to less productivity. Also can lead to trained incapacity, where workers are so specialized in tasks they lose touch with overall picture.
Ex: Administrators don’t teach classes at university and professors are not responsible for building maintenance
Hierarchy of Organization
Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority. Nor all people of an organization are equal
Pro – clarify who’s in command
Con – deprive people of voice in decision making (especially of those lower in chain of command) and shirk responsibility, especially in unethical tasks (“I was just following orders”). Also allows individuals allows them to hide mistakes (often serious mistakes because no one person interacts with all members).
