Chapter 4: Social Structure

Social structure gives characteristics to a society. Sociologists view society as a system of interrelated parts, or a structure.

Social structure means the network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction. A status is a socially defined position in a group or in a society. A role is the behavior expected of someone occupying a particular status. An ascribed status through their own direct efforts. The status that plays the greatest role in shaping a person's life and determining his or her social identity is their master status. Reciprocal roles are corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses. The socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role are called role expectations. A person's role performance is their actual role behavior. Sociologists call the different roles attached to a single status a role set. Role conflict occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status. Role strain occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status. When these statuses and roles are organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society, the group is called a social institution.

Wherever people interact in an effort to receive a reward or a return for their actions, an exchange has taken place. Reciprocity is the idea that if you do something for someone, that person owes you something in return. The volume of exchange in daily interactions has led to the emergence of an exchange theory, which is the theory that people do things on purpose for rewards. Competition occurs when two or more people or groups oppose each other to achieve a goal that only one can attain. Conflict is the deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person. Cooperation occurs when two or more people or groups work together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than one person. Accommodation is a state of balance between cooperation and conflict.

A group is a set of people who interact on the basis of shared expectations and who possess some degree of common identity. A subsistence strategy is the way a society uses technology to provide for the needs of its members. In a preindustrial society, food production is the main economic activity. Hunting and gathering is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals. A pastoral society will rely on domesticated herd animals to meet their food needs. The division of labor is the specialization by individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic activities. Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots hat have been cleared from the jungle or forest provide the main source of food in a horticultural society. In an agricultural society animals are used to pull plows to till the fields. Many agricultural societies barter, which is the exchange of goods or service. In industrial societies the emphasis shifts from the production of food to the production of manufactured goods. Urbanization is the concentration of population in cities. In a postindustrial society much of the economy is involved in providing information and services. Mechanical solidarity means that when people share the same values and perform the same tasks, they become united in a common whole. Organic solidarity is the impersonal social relationships that arise with increased job specialization, in which individuals can no longer provide for all of their own needs. Gemeinschaft is the German word meaning community, and Gesellschaft is the German word meaning society.

When people gather in the same place at the same time but lack organization or lasting patterns of interaction, they form an aggregate. A social category is simply a means of classifying people according to a shared trait or a common status. The smallest group possible, a group with two members, is called a dyad. A three-person group is called a triad. Sociologists consider a small group one with few enough members that everyone is able to interact on a face-to-face basis. Time is also very important to groups, like how long it has been around. In a formal group the structure, goals, and activities of the group are clearly defined. In an informal group there is no official structure or established rules of conduct. A primary group is a small group of people who interact over a relatively long period of time on a direct and personal basis. A secondary group is a group in which interaction is impersonal and temporary in nature. Any group with whom individuals identify and whose attitudes and values they adopt is called a reference group. The group that a person belongs to and identifies with is called an in-group. Any group that the person does not belong or identify with is called an out-group. In an e-community people interact with one another regularly on the Internet. The web of relationships that is formed by the sum total of person's interactions with other people is termed a social network. Groups need to select leaders, people who influence the attitudes and opinions of others. Instrumental leaders are task-oriented, while expressive leaders are emotion-oriented.

A formal organization is a complex secondary group that has been established to achieve specific goals. A bureaucracy is a ranked authority structure that operates according to specific rules and procedures. Rationality involves subjecting every feature of human behavior to calculation, measurement, and control. Max Weber developed a theoretical model of bureaucracies. It includes: division of labor, ranking of authority, employment based on formal qualifications, rules and regulations, and specific lines of promotion and advancement. A voluntary association is typically a nonprofit organization formed to pursue some common interest. Bureaucracies are not always effective however. Sometimes the bureaucracy will lose sight of its goal, sometimes it requires too many rules and regulations. The tendency of organizations to become increasingly dominated by small groups of people is the iron law of oligarchy.

Social structures are very essential and important in a society. Groups can be personal or not. Sometimes they are formal, other times they are formal. The world will always have societies with groups. Groups will always be a very important part of a society. 

Chapter 3: Cultural Conformity and Adaption

Every society develops norms that reflects their culture. A society will only work if these norms are enforced and upheld. It is important for a culture to be able to adapt to other cultures while still remaining as a separate culture.

Internalization is the process by which a norm becomes a part of an individual's personality, thus conditioning that individual to conform to a society's expectations. Some people must be reenforced by sanctions, which are rewards or punishments used to enforce conformity to norms. An action that rewards a particular kind of behavior is a positive sanction. Society also employs negative sanctions, which are punishments or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity. A formal sanction is a reward or punishment given by a formal organization or regulatory agency, such as a school, business, or government. An informal sanction is a spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or group. The enforcing of norms through either internal or external means is called social control.

All cultures change over time. Some cultures change faster than others. There are a few sources of social change, which can cause the culture to change. An ideology is a system of beliefs of ideas that justifies the social, moral, religious, political, or economic interests held by a group or society. A social movement is a long-term conscious effort to promote or prevent social change. The knowledge and tools people use to manipulate their environment is called technology.

A change in size of population could bring about social change. The process of spreading culture traits from one society to another is known as diffusion. Adapting borrowed culture traits is called reformulation. The physical environment provides conditions that may encourage or discourage cultural change. Natural disasters can also produce social and cultural change. Wars and conquests are not as common as the other sources of social change but they bring about the greatest change in the least amount of time.

These are people though, who do not want change to occur and therefore resist cultural change. Ethnocentrism is when people think their ideas or their culture is better than others and so they reject any other idea that is not the same as theirs. Some cultural traits change at the same rate, while others change rapidly, and the transformation of others may take a longer amount of time. This situation is known as cultural lag. A person who is satisfied with the way things are may be resistant to change. They will resist any change that threatens their security or standard of living, they have a vested interest to protect.

All cultures are different. Some take longer to change. But all are capable of change and adaption. It just takes time, even though some will not want the change, sometimes the change is good.

Sometimes the change can cause the culture to expand and become greater.

Chapter 2: Cultural Diversity

Most sociologists believe that humans are not controlled by natural instincts, like animals are. Humans are able to adapt to their surroundings. The methods by which collections of people deal with their environment is the foundation of culture.

Culture consists of all the shared products of human groups. The physical objects that people create and use form a group's material culture. Abstract human creations form a group's non-material culture. A society is a group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and feeling of unity.

Culture is both learned and shared. This idea means not everyone in a certain area dresses exactly the same and acts exactly the same. But most people in a certain area will act or dress similarly to the rest. A society's culture consists of not only physical objects but also the rules for using these objects, sometimes referred to as technology. The use of symbols is the basis of human culture. Through symbols, we create culture. One of the most obvious aspects of any culture is its language, which is the organization of written or spoken symbols into standardized system. Language and other symbols are important partly because they allow us to communicate our values to one another and to future generations. Values are the shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable. All groups create norms to enforce their cultural values. Folkways are norms that describe socially acceptable behavior but do not have great moral significance attached to them. Mores have great moral significance attached to them. Societies have established punishments for violating mores in order to protect the well-being, these are formalized into laws.

Sociologists examine culture by breaking it down into levels and studying each level separately. The simplest level of culture is the culture trait. A culture trait is an individual tool, act, or belief that is related to a particular situation or need. Individual culture traits combine to form the next level: culture complexes. A culture complex is a cluster of interrelated traits. Culture complexes combine to form larger levels called culture patterns. A culture pattern is the combination of a number of culture complexes into a interrelated whole.

Cultures can differ widely. But we also share things in common. Some of our needs are so basic that all societies must develop certain features to ensure their fulfillment. These common features to all cultures are called cultural universals. There are two different tribal groups in New Guinea, they live in the same area but are very different. The Arapesh are contented, friendly people. Their society is based on complete cooperation. The children grow up in a very loving society. The girls are taken at age 7 or 8 to be married, picked by the fathers. Most marriages consist of one husband and wife. Unlike the Arapesh, the Mundugumor are aggressive. The men are competitive, jealous, and violent. They delight in fighting. The children tend to push their parent away. They receive physical punishments for violating rules made by the community. These two cultures are very different, but they live in the same area. Sociologists would wonder why they were so different and why they stay living in the same area.

The study of variations in cultures presents challenges for social sciences. Culture variations make the differing societies interesting. The tendency to view one's own culture and group as superior is called ethnocentrism. The belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards rather than applying the standards of another culture is cultural relativism. Some groups in society share values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared by the entire population, these groups from a subculture. Sometimes a group rejects the major values, norms, and practices of the larger society and replaces them with a new set cultural patterns. This is called a counterculture.

As we can see, society and differ, it varies. Sometimes it splits into smaller cultures, sometimes the smaller cultures reject the bigger culture. Culture is a very interesting subject. Sociologists find cultures interesting when they differ.  

Chapter 1: Sociology Introduction

As we begin looking at sociology, we discover new things. Sociology brings us to think about society and it's behavior. There are a couple of different perspectives associated with sociology. As well as characteristics of society.

Sociology, itself, is the social science that studies human society and social behavior. Social sciences are the disciplines that study human society in a scientific matter. Sociologists will study social interaction in a scientific way. They will observe how society interacts with the people in and around it. By examining social phenomena, sociologists examine observable facts or events that involve human society, within a group. By using a sociological perspective, people can look beyond commonly held beliefs to the hidden meanings behind human actions. To see a connection between the larger world and your personal life is called sociological imagination.

There are a couple of other social sciences that connect or relate a little to sociology. Anthropology, which is the study of past and present cultures, psychology, which deals with the behavior and thinking of organisms. Social psychology, the study of how social environment affects an individual's behavior, economics, the study of choices people make in an effort to satisfy needs and wants, political science, the examination of the organization and operations of governments, and lastly, history, the study of past events. All these other social sciences can connect to sociology in some way, each has to to with the study of people or society in different ways.

There were five men who had different sociological beliefs or perspectives on society. August Comte focused on social statics, things that stay the same, and social dynamics, things that change. Both having to do with society. Herbert Spencer believed in Social Darwinism, which is “the survival of the fittest,” which in society, only the strong society will survive. Karl Marx believed in the conflict theory, which was the idea that every society will have conflict between the capitalist class and the working class. Èmile Durkheim believed in parts working together to make a function. And Max Weber believed in Verstehen, understanding the meaning individuals attach to their actions, and in ideal type, a description comprised of the essential characteristics of a feature of a society.

A theory is an explanation of the relationship among particular phenomena. Sociologists develop theories and theoretical perspectives. There are three modern perspectives today developed by sociologists. The functionalist perspective is based on the ideas of Comte, Spencer, and Durkheim. They view society as a set of interrelated parts that work together to make a good or stable society. A dysfunction is a negative consequence associated with societal choices. A manifest function is the intended result of the consequence. A latent function is the unintended result. The Conflict perspective focuses on the forces in society that promote change and competition. They follow the traditions of Karl Marx. The Interactionist perspective focuses on how individuals interact with one another in society. Symbols, something that represents something else, are used and observed. How people use symbols when interacting, called symbolic interaction, is used often.

These were the characteristics and perspectives of sociology. Sociology is a social science that focuses on society. Sociology is a very important part of social sciences.