Social Groups

Question 1

A social category that is used to identify people

Answer 1

Status

Question 2

A status that a person works to attain.

Answer 2

Achieved status

- high school senior is as much an achieved status as a physician

Question 3

Statuses that come form outside of ourselves, that we don’t attain based on our actions, but rather just have involuntarily.

Answer 3

Ascribed status

Ex. Race, gender, ethnicity

Question 4

A certain status that play such a dominant role in someone’s life that it crowds out other statuses that apply to them

Answer 4

Master status

Question 5

When people experience difficulty handling he multiple responsibilities associate with a certain role

Answer 5

Role strain

Question 6

Experiencing difficulties balancing multiple roles

Answer 6

Role conflict

Question 7

The process that one goes through when disengaging from a role. The details are different for each role and even for different individuals

Answer 7

Role exit

Question 8

Occurs when a role expands to dominate someone’s life. This is closely related to what someone does with their time or energy.

Answer 8

Role engulfment

Ex. Cancer patient- can expand to fill up someone’s life because of psychological impact and complex treatment regimen

Question 9

Groups that are long-lasting, with deep bonds formed among members
*Do NOT always have to be positive.

Answer 9

Primary groups

Ex. Family and religious organizations

Question 10

Defined by superficial, more transient relationships

Answer 10

Secondary groups

Question 11

Made up of people who are often similar in terms of age, status, background, interests, and so on, and w usually think of those groups as being self-selected.

Answer 11

Peer groups
*high school class is not a peer group. Extracurricular organizations are a better example as they’re defined by a shared interest.

Question 12

This group can be more tight-knit than are peer groups, but they also involve people of very different ages, and may span different cultural backgrounds as well, all of which can lead to some degree of tension

Answer 12

Family groups

Question 13

Categories that someone identifies as a member of, or feels that he or she belongs to.

Answer 13

In-groups

Ex. School, workplace, race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, and religion

Question 14

In-group vs Out-group mindset

Answer 14

In-group vs our-groups become relevant for phenomena like stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

Question 15

Groups that we compare ourselves to

Answer 15

Reference groups

Question 16

T or F. Reference groups are limited to in-groups

Answer 16

False. We can compare ourselves to members of an out-group

*MCAT: clear indication of reference group is when someone evaluates him/herself in reference to a group

Question 17

Dryads vs Triads

Answer 17

Dyads- group of 2
Triads- group of 3
*Dyads are thought to be less stable than triads

Question 18

Network technicalities

Answer 18

Circle/ node- person

Connecting line- relationship

Question 19

Researchers can apply various mathematical techniques to analyze the connections among people in networks, allowing them to identify the most central nodes, to predict how info might move through networks to characterize ow spread-out or centralized a certain group is, and so on

Answer 19

Social network analysis

Question 20

This organization is strictly defined. It has defined rules for entering and exiting the organization, and the organization will continue to exist even when all of its current members are long gone

Answer 20

Formal organization

Question 21

This organization is one that you don’t choose to be a part of, but have to anyway
Ex. Prison

Answer 21

Coercive organization

Question 22

Organization that people join because of some shared idea or ethical goal
Ex. Volunteer organizations

Answer 22

Normative organization

Question 23

Organization where people join to make Money or be compensated for in some direct way.
Ex. Employees of a company

Answer 23

Utilitarian organization

Question 24

Researchers have argued that they are the most representative type of modern political and commercial organization.

Answer 24

Bureaucracy

Question 25

A rational, well-organized, impersonal, and typically large administrative system .
Ex. Governments, hospitals, schools, corporations, and courts

Answer 25

Bureaucracy

Question 26

Who famously studied bureaucracy?

Answer 26

Max Weber

Question 27

According to Weber, an ideal bureaucracy has the following major characteristics

Answer 27

1. Hierarchical structure with well-defined roles, repsonsibilities, and chains of command
2. It is organized by specialization, with each role corresponding to a clearly defined skill
3. Run impersonally
4. Recruitment and employment are grounded in technical, merit-based qualifications
5. A predictable career path
6. Political Neutrality

*Ideal does not mean good (it means it fits the definition as closely as possible)

Question 28

Iron cage of bureaucracy is coined by Max Weber to describe what?

Answer 28

The sense of stagnation in the bureaucratic system

Question 29

Posits that any organizations that starts off with democratic decision-making will ultimately wind up being dominated by a smaller group of decision makers, or an oligarchy

Answer 29

Iron law of oligarchy

Question 30

An organizational approach that focuses on efficiency, calculability, uniformity, and technological control

Answer 30

McDonaldization

• while profitable, it makes the experience much less personal
• can be related to the state of our healthcare system today