Week 3: Social Structure, Socialization, and Social Interaction

Question 1

Life Chances

Answer 1

opportunities someone is exposed to (access to material goods, education living conditions etc.), directly relating to their social status (socioeconomic)

Question 2

Agency

Answer 2

our ability to act as an individual despite the structural rules & resources that influence our behaviours

Question 3

Resources

Answer 3

things we have or acquire (eg money, education, status) that are valuable or allow us to accomplish goals

Question 4

Rules

Answer 4

(formal): laws, dress codes (informal): unspoken social greetings, clothes

Question 5

Social Structure

Answer 5

• sets structural boundaries for people making decisions individually and as a collective.
• Often limits choices some can make, and enables some to have choices others don’t,
• always influences how we act in society
• includes social status, roles, groups, networks, & institutions

Question 6

Statuses

Answer 6

position a person occupies in a society or social group (eg. teacher, gender, race, sexuality, mother, student etc)

• master status: status others are most likely to use to define someone (eg. professor)
• ascribed status: status you are born with or assigned involuntarily
• achieved status: status you gain or earn (eg. CEO, PhD)

Question 7

Roles

Answer 7

sets of behaviours, obligations and privileges that go with a status
-roles are expectations that are socially constructed

Question 8

Thomas Theorum

Answer 8

“if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” -perceptions shapes reality

Question 9

Role conflict

Answer 9

when these roles contradict, and the sets of behaviours do not go with eachother

Question 10

Role Strain

Answer 10

stress when one social role requires incompatible or excessive behaviours, expectations, obligations (eg. new parent)

Question 11

Groups

Answer 11

people with shared values and expectations

• primary: personal, long-term relationships, meaningful (eg. family, friend group)
• secondary: impersonal, tends to be goal-oriented, may be temporary, interchangeable people, may have rules, structures, authority figures (eg. coworkers)

Question 12

Networks

Answer 12

relationship web that connects an individual to others directly and even more indirectly; can bring opportunities, resources, info
-one’s norms, values, can be shaped by network

Question 13

Institutions

Answer 13

central domains of social life that guide behaviour (formal and informal)

• education, marriage, family, religion, media, law, government
• can influence & constrain actions; both create and solve inequalities; tend to be governed by norms;

Question 14

Socialization

Answer 14

life-long process through which an individual establishes an identity within society and learns the social rules, interactions etc

Question 15

Agents of Socialization

Answer 15

individual groups, organizations, and institutions that influence your sense of self (eg. family, school, media, friend groups)

Question 16

Resocialization

Answer 16

process of adopting new social norms and identities; can occur in a total institution (eg. prison)

Question 17

Looking-Glass Self

Answer 17

Cooley -the way we perceive how others see us affects our sense of self

Question 18

Generalized Other

Answer 18

-Mead : values and norms of the larger culture that influences your behaviour

Question 19

Reference Group

Answer 19

group that one’s beliefs, values, behaviours are based on the characteristics of; one may or may not be a part of the group

Question 20

Goffman:The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life

Answer 20

-all we can observe is role performance

Question 21

Dramaturgy

Answer 21

• Goffman
• the idea that life is like a never-ending play where people are the actors, presenting to the rest of society. People play out their roles, often using social scripts, props & costumes

Question 22

Impression management

Answer 22

• the performers try to control the impression they make of themselves on others, front-stage
• the “audience” (which could just be the person they are talking to) compares the intentional character they are trying to express against the unintentional (facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms, nervousness, clothing etc)

Question 23

Face

Answer 23

• what the performer presents front-stage, the presentation of self in social settings,
• interactions play out depending how well performers “maintain face”
• Saving Face: if a performer fucks up, saving face would be to quickly hop back into character. Audience can handle some slip ups, but too many results in shame

Question 24

Face work

Answer 24

Goffman says that any social encounter is just the performers all hoping to survive without disaster or mishap, if not it causes a scene (think ordering a coffee, office hours, etc)

Question 25

Front Stage

Answer 25

where the performers play out their roles, puts on their “face”, conveys their claim to status (eg waitress serving customers)

Question 26

Backstage

Answer 26

out of public eye, where “props are stored, costumes adjusted, roles rehearsed.-drops performance and is themselves (eg waitress retreats to kitchen to talk shit about customers)

Question 27

Emotional Management

Answer 27

the act of changing how they feel or how they appear to feel to others

Question 28

Emotional Labour

Answer 28

being in an occupation that expects one to manage their emotions (eg cop being serious)

Question 29

Feeling rules:(Hochschild)

Answer 29

socially shared guidelines that direct how we want to try to or try not to feel according to given situations (eg. do I have the right to be angry? You shouldn’t feel so guilty. You should be sad/grieving at a funeral.)