Social Structures

Question 1

Social Structure

Answer 1

Set of social statuses, roles, group, networks, and institutions that organize and influence that way people live

Question 2

Resources

Answer 2

Things individuals have or can acquire to accomplish goals (ex. money, education, status, and formal/informal knowledge). Shapes life chances

Question 3

Life Chances

Answer 3

Opportunities to provide yourself with material goods, positive living conditions, and favourable life experiences

Question 4

Rules

Answer 4

Formal/Informal expectations for behaving in any given situation

Formal examples: laws, organizational policies

Informal examples: don’t be naked in public, sneeze in your arm

Question 5

Social Network

Answer 5

A series of social relationships that link a person directly to other individuals and indirectly to even more people

Can constrain/enable access to resources, information, and opportunities

Question 6

Statuses

Answer 6

A person’s/group’s socially determined positions in society. It comes with social meaning and sets of social expressions

Question 7

Ascribed Status

Answer 7

Involuntary status (ex. race, gender, age, etc.). It places people in social hierarchies and influences resources society makes available to individuals

Question 8

Achieved Status

Answer 8

Voluntary status. Result of efforts/intentions (ex. college students, athletes, etc.)

Question 9

Role

Answer 9

Derived from statuses. How people act due to how others expect them to behave because of their status

Examples: baristas are expected to know about coffee, students are expected to sit and listen

Question 10

Role Strain

Answer 10

One role requires too much (ex. parenting)

Question 11

Role Conflict

Answer 11

Multiple roles contradict one another (ex. working and being a student)

Question 12

Social Groups

Answer 12

Two or more people with similar values and expectations who interact with each other on a regular basis

Question 13

Primary Groups

Answer 13

Members aren’t interchangeable and relationships are enduring and meaningful (ex. family, romantic partners)

Question 14

Secondary Groups

Answer 14

Impersonal and goal-orientated. Can be temporary and can have organized structures, rules, and authority figures (ex. coworkers, classmates)

Question 15

Institutions

Answer 15

Consists of networks, statuses, roles, and groups that guide behaviors and is the main aspect of social life (ex. education, marriage, governments, etc.)

Governed by norms and can establish social order and perpetuate inequalities

Question 16

Socialization

Answer 16

A process by which we learn to adhere to unwritten rules of social life. We learn cultures and expectations with our roles and gives us an identity

Question 17

Agents of Socialization

Answer 17

Individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions that influence sense of self and helps us learn how to be a member of society

4 major agents of socialization

1) Family
2) School
3) Peers
4) Media

Question 18

Agency

Answer 18

Acting on your own will within constraints posed by social structures and resources

Question 19

Looking-Glass Self. Who coined the term?

Answer 19

Charles Cooley. The way how our perception of how others see us affects our sense of self

Question 20

Generalized Other

Answer 20

The values and norms of the larger culture that individuals use to guide their actions

Question 21

Reference Group

Answer 21

A group of individuals that others use as a comparison to guide their own beliefs, values, and behaviors, whether they’re a part of the group or not

Question 22

Dramaturgy. Who coined the concept? What is “audience” and “performance”?

Answer 22

Erving Goffman’s theory of social interactions that uses the framework of theatre performances to describe how people behave and represent themselves

“Audience” gives the individual a certain amount of leeways, forgiving small mistakes, but interaction breaks down when the “performance” is no longer credible

Question 23

Impression Management

Answer 23

The way which people try to control how others perceive them

Examples: Facial expressions, mannerisms, appearance, what people say and how

Question 24

Face

Answer 24

The “image” presented and depends on the situation and audience

“Saving face” or “face work” is how people make adjustments based on mistakes

Question 25

Front Stage

Answer 25

Where the performance takes place (most social interactions)

Question 26

Back Stage

Answer 26

What happens out of the public eye (when someone is along or with trusted people)

People work in teams in particular situations: coworkers (ex. talking about customers), romantic partners, etc.

Question 27

Self

Answer 27

A collection of roles we enact in different situations and with different audience members

Question 28

Feeling Rules. Who coined the concept?

Answer 28

Concept from Arlie Hochschild that refers to social norms that shape the emotions people experience and express in different situations

Question 29

Emotional Management. Who coined the term?

Answer 29

Arlie Hochschild. People work to change how they feel or how they appear to feel, based on these norms. People inhibit/produce emotions based on the situation

Question 30

Emotional Labour

Answer 30

How people manage their emotions in way that are required by their occupation

Question 31

Thomas Theorem

Answer 31

“If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”

Question 32

Role Set

Answer 32

One person is associated with multiple roles/statuses