Principles of Sociology
Darryl Hall
Department of Sociology
University of Nevada, Reno
Social Structure
• Social structure refers to patterned relationships among persons and groups within society. It is a framework that surrounds us, consisting of the relationships of people and groups to one another, which give direction to and set limits on behavior. It provides the context within which people meaningfully interact.
• Social Structure makes human behavior orderly, patterned, and controllable; as a result, social structure makes society and culture possible.
• Social Structure exists at two levels, viz. 1) the institutional level (macrosociological) and 2) the normative level (microsociological)
Statuses and Roles
• Status is a position occupied by an individual in a social group or society (e.g., father)
• Status set is the collection of statuses of an individual or the "set" of positions one occupies in society (e.g., father, husband, brother, nephew, son, carpenter, high-school graduate, and so on).
• Ascribed statuses refer to positions an individual inherits at birth or receives involuntarily.
• Achieved statuses are those positions that are earned, accomplished, or involve at least some effort or activity on the part of the individual.
• Master status refers to a status that cuts across, overrides, or overshadows all other statuses.
• Roles refer to the behavior, obligations, duties, responsibilities, and expectations associated with a specific status (e.g., students are expected to study)
• Role set is the distinctive set of roles attached to a single status; that is, the quantity and quality of roles attached to a position.
• Role conflict refers to a situation in which individuals are confronted with incompatible role requirements of two or more statuses.
• Role strain is the stress associated with being unable to meet the incompatible role requirements of a single status.
• Role overload occurs when the role demands of multiple statuses become so overwhelming that all role performances suffer.
Social Groups and Social Institutions
– Social groups refer to two or more people who possess feelings of unity, share certain interests and expectations, and interact in a meaningful, patterned ways.
– In contrast, nonsocial groups are statistical, categorical, or aggregate groups of people characterized by minimal levels of awareness of kind, interaction, or feelings of unity.
• Dyad – the smallest possible group, consisting of two people
• Triad – a group of three people
Key features of groups include:
– Size (small vs large)
– Frequency of interaction (frequent vs infrequent)
– Duration of interaction (long vs short)
– Nature of interaction (personal vs instrumental)
• Primary groups refer to social groups characterized by a small number of people who frequently interact over a long period of time, have close personal ties, and are emotionally committed to relationships with other group members(e.g., family, close friends, teammates).
• Secondary groups are larger social groups characterized by people who act on a formal and impersonal basis to accomplish a specific objective (e.g., coworkers).
• Social networks refer to the entire web of an individual’s relationships and group memberships.
• Social networks possess a quantitative and qualitative dimension; that is, one’s network refers to the quantity (number) and quality (strength, depth) of relationships with other individuals and members of groups of which one is a member.
• Social Institutions refer to complex sets of statuses, roles, organizations, norms, and beliefs that meet peoples’ basic needs. Examples include the family, religion, education, the state, and the economy.
• Formal Organizations are large, secondary groups that are deliberately organized to achieve specific goals or ends.
• Bureaucracy is a type of formal organization that is rationally designed to accomplish tasks in the most efficient manner.
- Max Weber relied on an ideal-type analysis of bureaucracies, which he saw as a necessary evil because it achieved coordination and control and thus efficiency in administration.
Characteristics of Bureaucracy:
– Detailed division of labor
– Well-defined hierarchy of authority
– Impersonal relations
– Written communications and records
– Formal, written rules governing members, tasks, and procedures
- Weber was not completely favorable toward bureaucracies. He believed such organizations stifle human initiative and creativity, thus producing an “iron cage.” Bureaucracy also places an enormous amount of unregulated and often unperceived social power in the hands of a very few leaders. Such a situation is referred to as an oligarchy—the rule of the many by the few.
Dysfunctions of Bureaucracies:
1) Red Tape
2) Lack of Communication Between Units
3) Alienation
Alienation – Marx’s term for the experience of being cut off from the product of one’s labor that results in a sense of powerlessness and normlessness
4) Bureaucratic Incompetence
The Peter Principle – Each member of a bureaucracy is promoted to his or her level of incompetence
• Society refers to people who share a culture and a territory.
• World System refers to the inter-societal system of societies.
