Social Structure and the Individual Flashcards
The boundaries people confront as they make decisions about their individual and collective actions
Social structure
Things we may have or that we acquire, such as money, education, and status, which are valuable or allow us to accomplish goals
Resources
A person’s or group’s socially determined positions within a larger group or society
Social statuses
Results at least in part from your efforts. ex; occupation, level of education, class, and marital status
Achieved status
Assigned to you by society without regard for your unique talents, efforts, or characteristics; this often happens at birth
Ascribed status
Social ranking systems
Social hierarchies
Opportunities to provide yourself with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences
Life chances
A set of expectations about the behavior and attitudes of people who occupy a particular social status
Social role
Inconsistency between two or more of the roles we fill
Role Conflict
Consists of two or more people with similar values and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis
Social group
The rules and expectations by which a group guides the behavior of its members
Norms
Behavior that meets the rules and expectations of a group
Normative
A series of social relationships that links a person directly to other individuals (such as friends) and indirectly to even more people (for instance, friends of friends)
Social network
Enduring practices and rules (both formal and informal) that organize a central domain of social life
Social institutions
Our ability to act given the structural rules and resources that impact our behaviors
Agency
The experiences that give us an identity and teach us the values, morals, beliefs, and ways of acting and thinking that are expected in our society
Socialization
Values and norms of the larger culture
Generalized other
The way our perception of how others see us affects our sense of self
Looking-glass self
The individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions that influence your sense of self and help you learn how to be a member of society
Agents of socialization
The process of adopting new social norms and identities
Resocialization
The dominant, widespread ideas of what it means to be a straight man
Hetero-normative masculinity
Where groups of people are largely cut off from the wider society and their lives are largely controlled by the institution
Total institutions
The practice of wearing a hair covering or veil
Veiling
Understanding the extent to which we shape the social world and the extent to which we are shaped by it
Sociological imagination
Focuses on individual identities and small-scale interactions with others
Micro-sociology
Takes aim at large-scale societal structures, including groups and institutions as well as social forces such as norms
Macro-sociology
The study of human interaction by focusing on the words and gestures that people use and the meanings they create about the world
Symbolic interaction
The unequal distribution of resources and opportunities across society
Structure of opportunity
The process of evaluating our position in the social world, the rules we are expected to follow, and the resources we have or can acquire
Reflexivity
