Social Interaction, Groups, and Social Structure

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Chapter 3

• Social Interaction, Groups, and Social Structure

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Social Interaction

• The process by which people act and react in
  relation to others
• Social construction of reality the process by
  which people shape reality through social
  interaction
• Thomas Theorem Situations defined as real
  become real in their consequences

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Status

• Status a social position
• Status set consists of all the statuses a
  person holds at a given time
• Ascribed status a social position given to a
  person by society
• Achieved status a social position that someone
  assumes voluntarily and that reflects ability and
  effort

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Status

• Master status a status that has special
  importance for social identity, often shaping a
  persons entire life.

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Roles

• Behavior expected of someone who holds a
  particular status
• Role conflict - conflict among roles
  corresponding to two or more different statuses
• Role strain incompatibility among roles
  corresponding to a single status

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Role Exit

• The process by which people disengage from
  important social roles
• Helen Ebaughs 4 stage model
• 1st Stage- Doubt
• 2nd Stage Search for alternatives
• 3rd Stage Action or departure
• 4th Stage Creation of new identity

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Erving Goffman

• Dramaturgical analysis social interaction in
  terms of theatrical performance
• Presentation of self the effort of an
  individual to create specific impressions in the
  minds of others

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Communication in Everyday Interactions

• Language
• Nonverbal Behavior

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Types of Interactions

• Exchange the process in which people transfer
  goods, services, and other items with one
  another.
• Norms of reciprocity - A strong norm that says
  that if you do something for a person, then that
  person must do something of approximately equal
  social value in return.

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Types of Interactions

• Cooperation the process in which people work
  together to achieve shared goals
• Competition the process in which two or more
  parties attempt to obtain the same goal.
• Conflict the process in which people attempt to
  physically or socially vanquish one another.
• Coercion the process by which people compel
  other people to do something against their will.

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Social Group

• Two or more people who identify and interact with
  one another
• Category a cluster of people who share a social
  trait such as age, sex, or race.

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Types of groups

• Primary group- a small social group whose members
  share personal and enduring relationships
• Secondary group- large and impersonal social
  groups devoted to some specific interest or
  activity

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Types of groups

• Ingroup a social group commanding a members
  esteem and loyalty
• Outgroup a social group toward which one feels
  competition or opposition
• Reference group a social group that serves as a
  point of reference for people making evaluations
  or decisions

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Group Size

• Dyad social group with 2 members
• Triad social group with 3 members
• Coalition small social group
• Network a web of social ties

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Formal Organizations

• Large, secondary groups that are organized to
  achieve goals efficiently

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Types of formal Organizations

• Utilitarian - primary motive is income
• Normative not for income but to pursue some
  worthwhile goal
• Coercive- involuntary

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Bureaucracy

• a form of organization based on explicit rules,
  with a clear, impersonal, and hierarchical
  authority structure

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Webers Analysis of Bureaucracy

• Complex division of labor (specialization)
• Hierarchy of authority
• Explicit rules
• Rewards on the basis of performance
• Extensive written records

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Corporation

• A group that, through the legal process of
  incorporation, has been given the status of a
  separate and real social entity
• Limited liability

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Group Think

• Intense social pressure within a group for
  individuals to conform to group norms and abandon
  individual and critical thinking
• People will compromise judgment to avoid being
  difficult
• Solomon Aschs experiment
• Irving Janis U.S. foreign policy errors are the
  result of group conformity

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Types of Leadership

• Instrumental Leadership group leadership that
  emphasizes the completion of tasks
• Expressive Leadership group leadership that
  focuses on collective well-being

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Organizational Culture

• Classical theory (scientific management) workers
  are motivated almost entirely by economic rewards
• Human relations approach emphasizes the role of
  people, communication, and participation within a
  bureaucracy

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Tönnies Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

• Gemeinschaft (guh-MINE-shoft) small community in
  which people have similar backgrounds and life
  experiences

• Gesellschaft (guh-ZELL-shoft) large community in
  which people are strangers and feel little in
  common with other community residents

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Lenskis Sociocultural Evolution Approach

• Human societies undergo a process of change
  characterized by a dominant pattern known as
  sociocultural evolution

• Societys level of technology critical to way it
  is organized
• Technology Cultural information about the ways
  in which the material resources of the
  environment may be used to satisfy human needs
  and desires (Nolan and Lenski 2006361)

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Table 32 Stages of Sociocultural Evolution