Social Structure as a Skeleton

– A skeleton is a framework which protects vital organs, provides structure

for the body etc
– What a skeleton is to the physical organism, the social structure is to the
social organism (society)

Elements of the Social Structure

– Any position in the social structure

– Expectations for how people are to way based on shared values and goals
– A way to behave in a given status
– A set of people who identify and interact which one another in a
structured way based on shared values and goals
– A widely accepted, rater stable, cluster of statuses, roles and groups, that
develop around the basic needs of society
– Wow what fucked up notes

Statuses

– Definition: “… any position in a social structure that determines where a

person fits in society and how he or she is expected to act and relate to
others.”

Types of Statuses

– Ascribed Status: “A social position assigned to a person at birth or at a

later stage in the life cycle”
– Achieved Status: A social position that a person attains through persisted
effort

Roles

– Roles are the behavior expectations attached to statuses occupied by

individuals in a given society

Role Strain

– Consists of contradictory expectations built into any single status

Role Conflict

– Consists of contradictory roles attached to two or more statuses

Master Status

– The status that seems to define a person, also, a person’s master status
can either work in favor or against a person. Example: persons who are
intellectually challenged
Social Interaction

– Humans rely on social structure to make sense out of situations

– Social structure takes into account elements of society and culture,
including social institutions, formal organizations, and all types of groups
of which are found

These patterns

– Make the social world understandable

– Help guide social behavior
– Makes life appear as safe and predictable
– Allows for social stability and order

Ethno methodology

– A process through which we break the rules in order to see how persons
build their realities
– By observing reactions to situations in which people “break with expected
norms” one can begin understanding the underlying assumptions and
then how “reality is socially constructed”

Dramaturgical Analysis

– Presentation of self: key is impression management or making oneself

appear in the best light possible
– Role performance: stage “regions”, use of props, scripts
– Example: going to the doctor and playing the sick role as expected

Deceptions in Communicating:

– Using words: simple slips of the tongue

– Quality of speech: hints of discomfort: pauses, stumbling, trembling or
shaky voice
– Body Language: sudden swallowing, rapid breathing, and trying to “fake
it” often provide y movement clues to deception: nervousness
– Facial expression: raising and drawing together of the eyebrow (an
involuntary movement) indicates worry