Topic 8C Flashcards
Social status
refers to one’s standing in the community and his position in the social hierarchy.
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achieved status
One can earn his or her social status by his or her own achievements
ascribed status
one can inherit his or her position on the social hierarchy
Social stratification
a conceptual social hierarchy in which individuals are ranked in terms of their perceived value to society. In capitalist countries, this hierarchy is largely socioeconomic, in that high-income individuals are ranked at the top of the social hierarchy with lowincome individuals at the bottom.
role
a set of rules or norms that function as plans or blueprints to guide behavior within a particular society.
Role theory
argues that human behavior is guided by expectations held both by the individual and by others in the community.
role conflict
describes the conflict between or among the roles corresponding to two or more statuses held by one individual. The most obvious example of role conflict is work/family conflict, or the conflict one feels when pulled between familial and professional obligations.
role strain
the demands of a single role become overwhelming. A boss may have many responsibilities to juggle, including management, innovation, and organizing events. Both role conflict and role strain can potentially lead to role exit, where an individual stops identifying with a particular role. For example, a boss may become so frustrated with all her responsibilities that she quits her job.
primary group
typically a small social group whose members share close, personal, enduring relationships. These groups are marked by a concern for one another, shared activities and culture, and long periods of time spent together. The goal of primary groups is actually the relationships themselves rather than achieving some other purpose. Families and close friends are examples of primary groups.
Secondary groups
large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal-oriented. People in a secondary group interact on a less personal level than in a primary group, and their relationships are generally temporary rather than long-lasting. Some secondary groups may last for many years, though most are short term. Such groups also begin and end with very little significance in the lives of the people involved. Secondary relationships involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of one another. In contrast to primary groups, secondary groups don’t have the goal of maintaining and developing the relationships themselves.
in-groups and out-groups
social groups to which an individual feels as though he or she belongs as a member, or towards which they feel contempt, opposition, or a desire to compete, respectively. In-group bias is a phenomenon in which people tend to act more favorably towards people who they perceive to be part of their ingroup. In-group bias becomes more extreme in times of conflict.
social network
a social structure between actors, either individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities, ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds.
Social network theory
views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors.
iron law of oligarchy
criticizes the hierarchal nature of bureaucracy, stating that people at the top of the hierarchy will inevitably come to value their power over the purpose of the organization. As a result, leadership will focus more on staying in power than on achieving the bureaucracy’s goals.
George Ritzer
theorizes “McDonaldization” as a contemporary form of rationalization. Where Max Weber used the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, Ritzer sees the fast-food restaurant as having become a more representative contemporary paradigm in contemporary societies.
