Social structure Flashcards
The way in which components parts such as statuses, role, values, norms, beliefs, and behavior patterns are arranged, interrelated and organized into a whole system.
Social Structure
Skeleton or frame in which culture of society are arranged, classified, and organized into a whole interconnected system.
Social Structure
______________ through which a society is organized.
TYPES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
- Social relationships + physical and social characteristics of communities to which individuals belong.
- Example: social networks like PTA, boy/girl scouts, etc.
Horizontal
TYPES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
- Also known as “social inequality”
- Ways in which a group/society ranks people in a “hierarchy”, with some people more “equal” than others.
VERTICAL
- Root causes lie in the social
structure and culture of a society. - Problems affecting many individuals
Public issues
- Problems affecting individuals that the society and the individual blame on the individual.
- Example: unemployment, obesity, addiction
Personal troubles
This is the ability to appreciate the structural basis for individual problems.
Sociological imagination
SCALES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES:
- Individual
- Has status and roles for the individuals.
Micro
Responsibilities and benefits
that a person experiences based on
their rank and role in society.
Status
Patterns of behavior representative of the person’s social status.
Roles
SCALES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES:
- Families, peers, social support groups, social networks.
- The individual and their social groups.
Meso
- Two or more people with regular
interaction - Based on mutual expectations,
obligations, and shared identity.
Group
The totality of relationships that link us to other people and groups, and through them to other people and groups.
Social Network
SCALES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURES:
- Organizations, social institutions, society.
- Consist of large groups of people.
Macro
A large group with specific norms and values to achieve specific goals and tasks.
Organization/s
“Structures” and “mechanisms” of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of individuals within a
given human collective.
Social Institutions
Social Institution is identified with _______ (1) and _______ (2) transcending individual lives and intentions by enforcing rules that govern operative behavior.
- Social purpose
- Permanence
Social institutions act as __________ that teach individuals to conform to their norms.
Forces of socialization
A group or society’s definition of the way a specific role is supposed to be played
Role expectation
How an individual plays a role in an actual situation
Role performance
Incompatible role demands in place in one individual or by 2 or more status held at the same time
Role conflict
Difficulty in meeting the demands of the role
Role strain
Created with the intention of governing human behavior.
- E.g. school and workplaces
Formal
Not overtly designed to regulate behavior and conduct but through socialization that seeks to conform to communal standards.
Informal
- Considered as an institution, but it is
very abstract. - Placed under the informal type of
social institutions.
Marriage
Institutions tend to appear to people in society as something that is a _______ (1) and ________ (2) part of their
lives.
- natural
- unchanging
sociological studies have defined social
institutions as what?
Social construction
Interlocking social roles and expectations
Used by sociology to analyze social institutions
Social institutions are created and defined by their own creation of social roles for their members.
Social construct
This is the fulfillment of the assigned roles
Structural-functionalism or functionalist
theory
Social institutions contribute to social
inequality
Conflict
Merton’s functions of social institutions view social institutions from a ________.
Functional perspective
- Intended functions of an institution
- Usually anticipated consequences
Manifest function
- Unintended functions of an institution
- Consequences can be beneficial, neutral or harmful
Latent function
Social processes with undesirable consequences for the operation of a society
Dysfunctions
Process of embedding a concept, social role, value or
logic within an organization, social system or society
- E.g. 4P’s
Institutionalization
- Universal
- Basic institution in all societies and a
significant element of human social life - Serves as a link between the individual and the larger society
- Most demanding institution of a Filipino’s interest and loyalty
Family
Adjusts to the social conditions
emanating from the larger society
Adaptive institution
Organized structure where children of a
society are taught basic academic knowledge
Education
- Composed of a specific group of people
that controls the state at a given time - Through which state power is used
Government
Organized political community acting under a government.
State
Government and state have a relationship based on power called _______
Politics
Being socially recognized;
approved use of power.
Legitimacy
A system of production, distribution and
consumption inseparable from social and political systems.
Economy
Capital and means of production are
controlled by private entities
Capitalism
Global distribution of the production of goods and services through the reduction of barriers to international trades such as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas;
Economic Globalization
Collection of cultural values, practices, belief systems and worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values.
Religion
All print, digital and electronic means of
communication (TV, radio, newspapers) and influence large numbers of people.
Mass media
Organized structure that seeks to prevent,
diagnose and treat illness, as well as to promote good health and well-being.
Health care
Most complex macrostructure
Societies
- Information is passed by genes through
reproduction of humans. - Information is passed through the
genetic level first.
Genetic
This approach says that technological progress is the most basic factor in evolution of human societies.
Gerard Lenski’s sociological evolution approach
Umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and social evolution.
Sociocultural or sociological evolution
What are the Four Stages of Human Development?
- Genetic
- Individual
- Signs
- Symbols and Language
Information is passed through
individual experience.
Individual
Humans then begin to use signs and
develop logic.
Signs
Humans were led to the creation of
symbols and to develop language and
writing.
Symbols and Language
○ Also known as information or digital societies.
○ Based on production of information and
services.
○ Built on technology and non-material goods
Post-industrialist
○ Based on production of material goods.
○ Was formed after the enlightenment and the industrial revolution.
○ Characterized by economists built on
mechanized labor, greater profits, and greater social mobility.
Industrial
When transmission and the types of technology that humans have becomes more complex, from the cellular level up to the level of large groups (called societies)… what occurs
Evolution or human development occurs
Limited technology and low production of
goods.
■ Hunter-gatherer
■ Pastoral
■ Horticultural
■ Agricultural
■ Feudal
Pre-industrial
A theory of history that looks at the mode of production as determinants of a society’s organization and development/evolution
History materialism
Production and reproduction of material
requirements of daily life is necessary for human survival.
Premise
Means of production such as tools, technology, land, raw materials, human knowledge and abilities.
Forces of production
This determines what a society will be like
Economy
Social relations created in order to produce and exchange goods.
Relations of production
This is created from “material” and “cultural difference” between people
- It is socially constructed
Social division and social inequality
Composed of culture and different
social institutions, depends on its base of the economic structure.
Superstructure
How did Lenin describe the transition of societies?
From primitive communal to agricultural societies
Stay in one place; resulted in complexity of social organization and elaboration of statuses.
Agriculture
Founder of Modern Conflict Theory
C. Wright Mills
Social structures are created through _____ between people with different, often competing interests and resources.
Conflict
Social division and social inequality is expressed through patterns of inequality such as
Social stratification
Social exclusion
People have unequal access to
scarce and valued resources in society
○ e.g. health care, education, jobs, property, housing, political influence
Social Inequality
Signifies an equation of power and wealth that denotes a specific form of inequalities.
Socioeconomic Status
_______ are largely determined by social stratification.
○ How well a person is likely to have a good quality of life
○ How likely a person is to get sick
Life chances
What are the 5 rankings of socioeconomic levels?
○ Wealth
○ Income
○ Race
○ Education
○ Power
● Conceptual social hierarchy where individuals are ranked in terms of perceived social value.
● Largely refers to Socioeconomics.
● System of social standing or the process where people
are classified into layers.
Social Stratification
● People who share similar status on factors such as wealth, income, education and occupation.
Social Class
What do the “perceived moral value is also integrated into the stratification”?
A poor member of the clergy is in a higher social rank than a rich criminal.
What are the 2 systems in Social Class?
- Class
- Caste
■ Social factors and individual achievement can help people move from one class to another.
■ Social mobility can occur.
Class (open)
■ The social standing one is born into cannot be changed. No opportunities
for the individual to improve their social
standing
■ Social mobility cannot occur.
Caste (close)
Superficial physical differences that a particular society considers significant such as skin color and geographic regions.
Race
Shared culture of a group.
Ethnicity
● Any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from others in the society
● Lack of power
Minority Group
● A bias used to justify the belief that one racial category is superior or inferior to others
● Set of practices used by a racial majority to disadvantage a racial minority.
Racism
The genetic material encoded in
chromosomes; the classification of
each individual at birth
Biological Sex
Psychological sense of being male or
female
Gender Identity
Adherence of culturally created
behaviors and attitudes deemed
appropriate for males or females.
Social Sex or Gender Role
Sexual and emotional attraction to the
same and/or opposite sex.
● Heterosexual: opposite sex
● Homosexual: same sex
● Pansexual: all sex
Sexual Orientation
Gender is _____.
Performative
Based on gender stereotypes which include prejudiced beliefs that value one sex vs another.
Sexism
Often deeply rooted in a society’s culture and perpetuated by different social institutions.
Gender inequality and gender-based violence
Discrimination based on age.
Ageism
Discrimination and prejudice in favor of people with no disabilities (“normal”)
Ableism
An expression of widespread ableism.
Eugenics
Discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities and/or people perceived to be disabled.
Disablism
● Affects both the quality of life of individuals and equity and cohesion of society.
● A complex and multidimensional process which involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and
services, and the inability to participate
Social Exclusion
3 barriers to social inclusion
- Prejudice
- Discrimination
- Oppression
Preconceived judgments without
actual experience.
Prejudice
Actions against a group of people
based on their age, religion, health and
other characteristics.
Discrimination
Exercise of authority or power in a
burdensome, cruel or unjust manner
Oppression
Various biological, social and cultural categories (e.g. class, race, ethnicity, gender) interact and contribute towards a system of social inequality.
Intersectionality
What are the 3 forms of oppression?
- Racism
- Classicism
- Sexism
