Social interactions

Question 1

Harmful action against a certain group

Answer 1

Discrimination

Question 2

Discrimination by an individual person
Example: Science professor not allowing women in his class

Answer 2

Individual discrimination

Question 3

Discrimination at an institutional level
Example: Sending African-Americans to the back of the bus

Answer 3

Institutional discrimination

Question 4

Discrimination in one sector can negatively affect other sectors

Example: An individual is unfairly convicted of a crime due to judicial prejudice. Now they are unable to find a job due to employers looking at their criminal record

Answer 4

Side-effect discrimination

Question 5

Persistent effect due to previous discrimination even if it may be illegal today. Example: Untouchable caste in India

Answer 5

Past-in-present discrimination

Question 6

Primary group versus secondary group

Answer 6

Primary group: relatively small, intimate interactions, emotional depth. Example: family

Secondary group: relatively large, infrequent interaction, superficial relationships. Example: graduating students

Question 7

institutions that are designed for a specific purpose and try to maximize efficiency
Example: McDonald’s

Answer 7

organizations

Question 8

Members are rewarded for efforts
Example: A company (pays members)

Answer 8

Utilitarian organizations

Question 9

Members have a shared purpose or goal
Example: Religious organization

Answer 9

Normative organizations

Question 10

Members are forced into the organization
Example: Prison

Answer 10

Coercive organizations

Question 11

A person’s social position in society

Answer 11

status
A person has multiple statuses, for example one can be a son, friend, and husband

Question 12

The status that dominates in social situations

Can be either ascribed or achieved

Dominates in most social situations and influences most aspects of one’s life

Answer 12

Master status

Question 13

Status given by birth, cannot be changed
Example: Prince

Answer 13

Ascribed status

Question 14

Status earned by oneself
Example: Medical school graduate

Answer 14

Achieved status

Question 15

Tension (difficulty meeting all obligations) within one role
Example: Difficulty studying all MCAT material as a premed

Answer 15

Role strain

Question 16

Tension between two or more roles.
Example: Balancing a full-time job with studying for the MCAT

Answer 16

Role conflict

Question 17

Individual disengages from a social role, often replacing it with a new social role

Example: Forget studying for the MCAT or medical school (old role = premed), I’m prioritizing balanced life (new role = party enthusiast)

Answer 17

Role exit

Question 18

The process of planning one’s conduct in public versus in private. Studied by Erving Goffman
Divided into front stage and back stage

Answer 18

Dramaturgy

Question 19

Dramaturgy

The public setting – when people are in a social situation with others

Answer 19

front stage

Question 20

Dramaturgy

The private setting – when act is over

Answer 20

back stage

Question 21

The maintenance of how we are perceived in the front stage, in other words maintenance of a public image
The actual work happens in the back stage, for example putting on makeup

Answer 21

Impression management

Question 22

The concept that impression management happens in all human interactions

Answer 22

Dramaturgical approach

Question 23

a rational system of administration and control with six characteristics

Answer 23

Weber’s ideal bureaucracy

Question 24

People are trained for specific tasks

Con: may lose sight of overall picture

Answer 24

Division of labor

Question 25

Each person has a supervisor

Con: may decrease autonomy

Answer 25

Authority hierarchy

Question 26

Supervisors are career professionals and not owners

Con: decreased investment of managers

Answer 26

Career orientation

Question 27

Hiring and promotion is performed in an unbiased manner

Con: decreased loyalty

Answer 27

Impersonality

Question 28

Hiring is based on technical qualifications and not favoritism

Con: can result in the Peter principle where every employee gets promoted until they reach a position they’re incompetent in

Answer 28

Formal selection

Question 29

Written rules providing clear expectations and equal treatment

Con: decreased creativity

Answer 29

Formal rules and regulations

Question 30

Process by which organizations increasingly become governed by rules, laws and policy

Example: The DMV creating rules and processes around renewing a license

Answer 30

Bureaucratization

Question 31

Describes the tendency of organizations to become ruled by a select few

This is due to those individuals having valuable skills and reluctance to give up power

Answer 31

Iron law of oligarchy

Question 32

Describes the dominance of the principles of efficiency, uniformity/predictability, and control

Optimizes efficiency, predictability at the expense of individuality, quality, uniqueness

Example: Movie theaters all operate in the same way and show the same movies

Answer 32

Mcdonaldization