Chapter Four

Society and Social InteractionDr Arshad Javed Rizvi

Allama Iqbal Open UniversityKarachi campus

Society

Society is a large grouping that shares the same territory and is subject to the same political authority dominant cultural expectations

Types of Societies

Pre-Industrial Hunters and Gather Pastoral Horticulture Agriculture Fiefdom

Types of Societies

Industrial Post-Industrial

Theories of Society

Durkheim Mechanical and Organic Solidarity Anomie

Marx Alienation False Consciousness

Weber Rationalization Iron Cage

Society

Society is a large grouping that shares the same territory and is subject to the same political authority dominant cultural expectations

Social Structure in the Macro Level Perspective

Social structure is a stable pattern of social relationships that exist within a particular group or society

Structure is provided by status and roles, groups, and social institutions

Social Structure in the Macro Level Perspective

social structure creates boundaries that define which persons or groups will be the insiders in which will be the outsiders

social marginality is the state of being part insiders in part outsider in the social structure

Social Structure in the Macro Level Perspective

social marginality results in stigmatization

a stigma is any physical or social attribute or sign that shows a person's social identity that disqualifies that person from full social acceptance

Components of Social Structure:Status

A status is a socially defines position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations rights and duties

Ascribed status is a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life

Achieved status is a social position in person assumes involuntarily as a result of personal choice merit or direct effort

Status and Mobility

Ascribed statuses have a significant influence on the achieve status as we occupy Where you end up is predicted by

where you start!

Status

A master status is the most important status a person occupies

It dominates all of the individual other statuses and is overriding ingredient in determining the persons general social position Being poor or rich is a master status

Status Symbols

Components of Social Structure: Roles

a role is a set of behavioral expectations associated with an any given status

role expectations -- a group's or society's definition of the way a specific roll ought to be played may sharply contrast to role performance -- --

how a person actually plays a role

role conflict occurs when incompatible world demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time

Components of Social Structure: Roles

Role strain occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies a doctor in a public clinic is responsible for

keeping expenditures down and providing high-quality patient care simultaneously

sexual orientation, age, and occupation frequently are associated with role strain

Role exit occurs when people disengage social roles that have been central to their self-identity

Components of Social Structure: Groups

The social group consists of two more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence

A primary group is a small or specialized group in which members engage in face-to-face emotion based interactions or extended period of time family, close friends, and peer groups

Components of Social Structure: Groups

a secondary group is a larger more specialized group in which the members engage in more impersonal goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time

schools, churches, the military, and corporations

a social network is a series of social relationships that link in individual to others

Social Solidarity is the unity that emerges from long term interaction

Components of Social Structure: Groups

A formal organization is a highly structured group formed for the purpose of completing certain tasks or achieving specific goals

colleges, corporations, and the government

a social institution is a set of organized beliefs and norms that establish how society will attempt to meet its basic social needs

examples of social institutions include the family, religion, education, the economy, the government, mass media, sports, science and medicine, and the military

Components of Social Structure: Groups

Functional theorists emphasize the social institutions exist because they perform five essential tasks replacing members teaching new members producing, distributing, and consuming goods and

services preserving order providing in maintaining a sense of purpose

Components of Social Structure: Groups

Conflict theorists agree that social institutions are organized to meet basic social needs

However, they do not believe that social institutions work for the common good of everyone in society

Social Interaction: The Microlevel Perspective

social interaction within a society has a certain share meanings across situations

however everyone does not interpret social interaction rituals and the same way 

the social construction of reality is a process by which our perceptions of reality is shaped largely by the subjective meaning they begin to experience our definition of the situation can result in a self-

fulfilling prophecy a false belief or prediction that produces behavior that

makes the original false belief come true

Social Interaction: The Microlevel Perspective

Dramaturgical analysis is the study of social interaction that compares everyday life to a theatrical presentation This perspective was initiated by Erving Goffman who

suggested that day to date interactions have much in common being onstage or in a dramatic production

Most of us engage in impression management or presentation of self People's efforts to present themselves to others in

ways that are most favorable to their own interest or image

Dramaturgical Analysis

Social interaction, like a theater, has a front stage area where a player performs a specific role before an audience

There is a backstage area where a player is not required to perform a specific roles because it is out of view of a given audience

Feeling Rules

The sociology of emotions Arlie Hochschild suggests that we acquire a set

of feeling rules which shape the appropriate emotions for a given role or specific situation

emotional labor occurs when employees are required by their employers to feel and display only certain carefully selected emotions

gender, class, and race are related to the expression of emotions necessary to manage one's feelings

Non-Verbal Communication

nonverbal communication is the transfer of information between persons without the use of speech

facial expressions, had movements, body positions, and other gestures

 personal space is the immediate area surrounding a person that the person claims his private

age gender kind of relationship and social class are important factors and allocation of personal space

power differentials between people are reflected in personal space and privacy

Importance of Nonverbal Communications

Importance of Nonverbal Communications

Words convey thoughts

Actions convey feelings

Sociologyis cool!!

Nonverbal Signals ConveyNonverbal Signals Convey

Degree of Liking

Degree of Dominance

Degree of Responsiveness

Types of Nonverbal Communication

Types of Nonverbal Communication

Kinesics-- body movement body orientation -- face person facial -- eyes, expressions gestural -- nodding, scratching head postural -- lean toward