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Chapter 3 - Social Structure - Section 1 - Building Blocks of Social Structure

The document discusses the key concepts of social structure including status, role, social institutions, and how social experiments have shown that most people are within six degrees of separation from each other through mutual acquaintances.

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Bassem Adel
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91 views

Chapter 3 - Social Structure - Section 1 - Building Blocks of Social Structure

The document discusses the key concepts of social structure including status, role, social institutions, and how social experiments have shown that most people are within six degrees of separation from each other through mutual acquaintances.

Uploaded by

Bassem Adel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Social Structure

Chapter 3: Social Structure

Case Study: Six Degrees of Separation


Section 1: Building Blocks of Social Structure
Section 2: Types of Social Interaction
Section 3: Types of Societies
Section 4: Groups Within Society
Section 5: The Structure of Formal Organizations
Simulation: Applying What You’ve Learned

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Case Study: Six Degrees of Separation

Experiments can prove the truth of proposed hypotheses.


In “small-world” experiments, researchers test the theory
that all people are connected to each other through mutual
acquaintances. In one example, random people are given
the task of getting a letter to another random person using
only personal contacts. These experiments lead
researchers to believe that it takes five intermediaries to
connect two perfect strangers.

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Section 1 at a Glance

Building Blocks of Social Structure


• Social structure is the network of interrelated statuses
and roles that guides human interaction.
• A status is a socially defined position in society, while a
role is the behavior, or the rights and obligations,
attached to a status.
• A social institution is a system of statuses and roles
organized to satisfy one or more of society’s basic needs.

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Juggling Roles

Where do you fit in


society?

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Status
A social structure is a network of interrelated statuses and
roles that guide human behavior. A status is a socially
defined position, while a role is the behavior associated
with a status.
Ascribed and Achieved Statuses Master Status
• Ascribed status is assigned • Most people have many
according to qualities beyond a statuses, but a master status is
person’s control, such as age. the one that plays the greatest
• Achieved status is acquired role in a person’s life.
through a person’s direct efforts, • It can be either ascribed or
such as education. achieved.

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Roles
Role Expectations and Role Performance
• Role expectations are the socially determined behaviors expected of
a person with a particular status.
• Role performance is the actual behaviors of a person with a particular
status. They may or may not be the expected behaviors.

Role Conflict, Role Strain, and Role Exit


• A role set is the different roles associated with a particular status.
• Role conflict occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one
status interferes with a second status.
• Role strain occurs when a person has difficulty fulfilling the role of
one status.
• Role exit is the process people go through to detach from a role that
was previously central to their social identity.

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
Social Structure

Social Institutions
• A social institution is a group of statuses and roles that
are organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of
society.
– The family, the most universal social institution, takes responsibility
for raising the young and teaching them accepted norms and values.
– The economic institution organizes the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services.
– The political institution is the system of norms that governs the
exercise and distribution of power in society.
– Education ensures the transmission of values, patterns of behavior,
and certain skills and knowledge.
– Religion provides a shared, collective explanation of the meaning of
life.

Original Content Copyright © Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.

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