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CHAPTER
5 SOCIAL STRUCTURE &

INTERACTION
CHAPTER OUTLINE
SOCIAL INTERACTION
Self and Society
Social Construction of Reality
ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Statuses
Social Roles
Groups
Social Networks
Online Social Networks
Social Institutions
BUREAUCRACY
Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
Bureaucratization as a Way of Life
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Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill
Education.
Chapter 5
Bureaucracy and Organizational Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

Culture Technology and Society
SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN GLOBAL Postmodern Life
PERSPECTIVE
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define social interaction and social reality.
2. Identify and discuss the various elements of social structure.
3. Discuss the differences between ascribed and achieved statuses.
4. Identify and describe the various types of social role situations.
5. Discuss the contribution of groups to the function of social structure.
6. Describe the various types of groups.
7. Discuss the impact of social networks and technology on social relationships.
8. Analyze the importance of social institutions.
9. Discuss the importance of social structure from a global perspective.
10. Describe the various characteristics of a bureaucracy.
11. Define McDonaldization and discuss the worldwide bureaucratization of society.
12. Discuss the various global perspectives on social structure.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Social interaction refers to the shared experiences through which people relate to one another.
How we interact with people is shaped by our perception of their position relative to our own.
Our response to someone’s behavior is based on the meaning we attach to his or her actions.
Reality is shaped by our perceptions, evaluations, and definitions. The ability to define social
reality reflects a group’s power within a society.
In working out the relationship between our self and society, we are engaged in the “social
construction of reality.” Sociologists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann use this phrase to
describe the interdependent relationship in which we as individuals create society through our
actions and, at the same time, become products of the society we construct. They present this
argument in a three-part model of world construction that includes the concepts of constructing
culture, constructing the self, and constructing society.
All social interaction takes place within a social structure—a series of predictable relationships
composed of various positions that people occupy and the relationships between them.
Occupying those positions shapes how someone thinks and acts and what resources he or she has
access to. For our purposes, any social structure can be broken down into six elements: (1)
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statuses, (2) social roles, (3) groups, (4) social networks, (5) online social networks, and (6)
social institutions.
Sociologists use the term status to refer to the social positions we occupy relative to others. A
person can hold a number of statuses at the same time. An ascribed status is assigned to a person
by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics, generally at birth. An
achieved status is a social position that is within our power to change. A master status
dominates other statuses and thereby determines a person’s general position within society.
A social role is a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status.
Role conflict occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social statuses held
by the same person. Role strain is a term used to describe the difficulty that arises when the
same social status imposes conflicting demands and expectations. The process of disengagement
from a role that is central to one’s self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity is
referred to as role exit.
A group is any number of people with shared norms, values, and goals who regularly interact.
Groups play a vital part in a society’s social structure. Much of our social interaction takes place
within groups and is influenced by their norms and sanctions. A primary group is a small group
characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation. Primary groups play a
pivotal role both in the socialization process and the development of roles and statuses.
Secondary groups are formal, impersonal groups in which there is little social intimacy or
mutual understanding. In-groups are groups to which people feel they belong, whereas out-
groups are groups to which people feel they do not belong. In-group members typically feel
distinct and superior to those they view as being in an out-group. Any group that an individual
uses as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior is known as a reference
group. A coalition is a temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. Some
coalitions are intentionally short-lived.
Members of different groups make connections through a series of social relationships known as
a social network. With advances in technology, we can now maintain social networks
electronically through online social networks, which can be important tools in the emergence of
new organizations, businesses, and movements. They provide opportunities for people to
establish connections, share information, and mobilize for action. Membership in online social
networking sites continues to grow in the United States, especially among teenagers.
Social institutions are integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to ensuring that
society's core needs are met. Five of the most important and most studied social institutions are
family, education, religion, economy, and government. How we organize social interaction
within these institutions helps contribute to social order. Sociologists using the conflict paradigm
pay particular attention to how our construction of social institutions reinforces inequality, acting
to maintain the privileges of the most powerful individuals and groups within a society. Others
focus on our everyday interactions within the contexts of these institutions to understand why we
think and act the way we do.
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A bureaucracy is a component of a formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking
to achieve efficiency. Max Weber constructed an ideal type (an abstract model of the essential
characteristics of a phenomenon) to help him identify a bureaucracy's core components. He
proposed that the ideal bureaucracy displays five basic characteristics: (1) division of labor, (2)
hierarchy of authority, (3) written rules and regulations, (4) impersonality, and (5) employment
based on technical qualifications. The division of labor within a bureaucracy is intended to lead
to specialization and efficiency, but it can have negative consequences. One is alienation, the
loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we
make, and isolation from our fellow producers. Another is trained incapacity, the tendency of
workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to
notice potential problems. Another issue for a bureaucracy is the possibility that following rules
and regulations will come to be treated as an end unto itself, overshadowing the organization's
larger goals. This sort of overzealous conformity to official regulations is known as goal
displacement.
Sociologists have used the term bureaucratization to refer to the process by which a group,
organization, or social movement increasingly relies on technical-rational decision making in the
pursuit of efficiency. Some also use the term McDonaldization to describe the process by which
the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and
decision making, in the United States and around the world. The iron law of oligarchy describes
the principle that all organizations, even democratic ones, tend to develop into a bureaucracy
ruled by an elite few (an oligarchy). The classical theory of formal organizations (also known as
the scientific management approach) views workers as being motivated almost entirely by
economic rewards. In this view they can be treated much like any other resource. By contrast, the
human relations approach emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a
bureaucracy.
Ferdinand Tönnies used the term Gemeinschaft to refer to a small, close-knit community, typical
of rural life, where people have similar backgrounds and life experiences. Informal techniques
work effectively to exert social control in these settings, limiting social change. Conversely, the
Gesellschaft is characteristic of modern urban life. Here, most people are strangers who feel little
in common with one another. Formal techniques like laws are necessary to maintain social
control in these settings, and social change is a normal part of life.
Émile Durkheim developed the concept of mechanical solidarity to describe the social cohesion
based on shared experiences and skills that is found in societies with a simple division of labor,
in which things function more or less as they always have. Durkheim argued that in a society
with a complex division of labor, mechanical solidarity would give way to organic solidarity—
social cohesion based on mutual interdependence. In Gerhard Lenski’s view, a society’s level of
technology is critical to the way it is organized. The hunting-and-gathering society, the
horticultural society, and the agrarian society are three types of preindustrial societies. These
societies are dependent on human and animal power, whereas an industrial society depends on
mechanization to produce its goods and services. The economic system of a postindustrial
society is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information. A postmodern society
is a technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized society.
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RESOURCE INTEGRATOR
Focus Questions Resources

1. How do people define IN THE TEXT
reality? Key Terms: social interaction
2. What are roles and IN THE TEXT

statuses? Key Terms: social structure, status, ascribed status, achieved status,
master status, social role, role conflict, role strain, role exit
3. How are groups IN THE TEXT

important to social Key Terms: group
structure?
4. What are the various IN THE TEXT

types of groups? Key Terms: primary group, secondary group, in-group, out-group,
reference group, coalition
5. What are social IN THE TEXT

networks? Key Term: social network
6. What are the various IN THE TEXT

ways of viewing social Key Terms: social institution
institutions?
7. What are the IN THE TEXT

characteristics of a Key Terms: bureaucracy, ideal type, alienation, trained incapacity,
bureaucracy? goal displacement, bureaucratization, McDonaldization, iron law of
oligarchy, classical theory, scientific management approach, human
relations approach
8. How do sociologists IN THE TEXT

view the historical Key Terms: Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft, mechanical solidarity,
development of organic solidarity, hunting-and-gathering society, horticultural
societies? society, agrarian society, industrial society, postindustrial society,
postmodern society
LECTURE OUTLINE
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I. Social Interaction
• Social interaction is a reciprocal exchange between two or more people in which they
read, react, and respond to each other.
A. Self and Society
• We come to be who we are through the daily interactions we have with others.
• George Herbert Mead said, “Selves can only exist in definite relationships to other
selves. No hard-and-fast line can be drawn between our own selves and the selves of
others”
• Repeated patterns of behavior can solidify into formal and informal norms, or become
institutionalized in the form of laws. The resulting predictability allows us to know what
to do most of the time.
• These repeated patterns also influence people’s roles in greater society.
B. Social Construction of Reality

• In working out the relationship between our self and society, we are engaged in what
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann call the “social construction of reality.”
• They claim that we as individuals create society through our actions and, at the same
time, become products of the society we construct.
• Berger and Luckmann present a three-part model of world construction: constructing
culture, constructing the self, and constructing society. In summation, the social
construction of reality is an ongoing process of constructing the material, cognitive, and
normative culture that we come to share collectively.
• The more we share culture with others, the more resistant it becomes to change.
• When members of subordinate groups challenge traditional social assumptions, they can
raise our collective awareness about the consequences of group membership or social
position and help us to perceive and experience reality in a new way. Example: Black
athlete Cassius Clay rebelling against social norms, changing his name to Muhammad
Ali.
II. Elements of Social Structure

• All social interaction takes place within a social structure—a series of predictable
relationships composed of the various positions that people occupy.
• Occupying those positions shapes how we think and act and what resources we have
access to.
• For our purposes, any social structure can be broken down into six elements: (1)
statuses, (2) social roles, (3) groups, (4) social networks, (5) online social networks, and
(6) social institutions.
A. Statuses
• Status refers to the social positions we occupy relative to others. A number of
statuses can be held at the same time. Examples: U.S. president, father; dental
technician, woman, neighbor.
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1. Ascribed and Achieved Status

• Ascribed status is generally assigned at birth without regard for a
person’s unique talents or characteristics. Examples: Race, ethnicity,
gender, age.
• Achieved status is a social position that is within our power to change.
Examples: Lawyer, pianist, convict, social worker.
2. Master Status
• Dominates other statuses and thereby determines a person’s general
position in society. Example: People with disabilities often find their
status as "disabled" receives undue weight, overshadowing their actual
abilities.
B. Social Roles
• A set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status.
• Actual performance varies from individual to individual.
• Roles are a significant component of social structure.
1. Role Conflict
• Occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social
statuses held by the same person. Example: Newly promoted worker who
carries on a relationship with his or her former workgroup.
• Frequently occurs among individuals moving into occupations that are
not common among people with their ascribed status. Examples: Female
police officers and male preschool teachers.
2. Role Strain
• Difficulty that arises when the same social status imposes conflicting
demands and expectations. Example: Alternative forms of justice among
Navajo police officers.
3. Role Exit
• The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-
identity in order to establish a new role and identity.
• Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh’s four-stage model: (1) doubt, (2) search for
alternatives, (3) action stage, or departure, and (4) creation of a new
identity. Examples: Graduating from high school or college, retirement,
divorce.
C. Groups
• A group consists of any number of people with shared norms, values, and goals
who interact with one another on a regular basis. Examples: Sports team, college
sorority, hospital business office, symphony orchestra.
• Groups play a vital part in a society’s social structure.
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1. Primary and Secondary Groups

• Charles Horton Cooley coined the term primary group to refer to a small
group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation.
• Primary groups play a pivotal role in both the socialization process and
the development of roles and statuses. Examples: Family members,
sorority sisters, members of a gang.
• A secondary group is a formal, impersonal group in which there is little
social intimacy or mutual understanding.
• Distinction between primary and secondary groups is not always clear-
cut.
2. In-Groups and Out-Groups

• The term in-group describes a category of people who share a common
identity and sense of belonging.
• The term out-group describes a category of people who do not belong or
do not fit in.
• In-group members typically feel distinct from and superior to the out-
group.
• Proper behavior for the in-group can be simultaneously viewed as
unacceptable behavior for the out-group. This double standard enhances
the sense of superiority. Sociologist Robert Merton (1968) described this
process as the conversion of “in-group virtues” into “out-group vices.”
Example: terrorism.
3. Reference Groups
• Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves
and their own behavior.
• Two basic purposes: (1) serve a normative function by setting and
enforcing standards of conduct and belief, and (2) perform a comparison
function by serving as a standard against which people can measure
themselves and others.
4. Coalitions
• A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. Can
be either broad-based or narrow and take on many different objectives.
• Coalitions can be short-lived. Examples: Alliances on popular TV shows
(Survivor), political groupings for elections or legislative agendas.
D. Social Networks
• A series of social relationships that links people directly to others and, through
them, indirectly to still more people. Can center on virtually any activity.
Examples: Networking for employment; exchanging news and gossip.
E. Online Social Networks

• Today people can maintain their social networks electronically.
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• Just like the real world, online social networks have become politicized and
consumer-oriented.
• Sociologists are now working to understand these environments and their social
processes. Clay Shirky suggests that group action is easier with the Internet
because it supports interactive, large-scale group formation.
• Virtual networks can aid social and political movements. Example: People
talking back and forth with each other and coordinating action during the “Arab
Spring” protests in countries including Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya in 2011.
F. Social Institutions
• Integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to ensuring that society's
core needs are met.
• How we organize social interaction within each of these institutions helps
contribute to social order.
• Sociologists have focused on five major institutions that must perform certain
functions (also known as functional prerequisites) for society to survive: (1)
families ensure society’s continued existence through biological reproduction, (2)
education teaches the more formal and public culture necessary to be members of
the larger society, (3) religion provides the glue that holds society together by
establishing a clear identity with shared beliefs and practices, (4) government
helps maintain internal order, and (5) the economy regulates the production,
distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
• Focusing on the functions social institutions fulfill helps to understand social
order but risks implying that the status quo is the way things should be.
• Studying social institutions through the conflict paradigm can give insight into
how our construction of social institutions reinforces inequality, acting to
maintain the privileges of the most powerful individuals and groups within a
society. Example: Public schools are financed largely by property taxes, so more
affluent areas have better-equipped schools and better-paid teachers.
• Others focus on our everyday interactions within the contexts of these
institutions to understand why we think and act the way we do.
III. Bureaucracy
• A component of a formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to
achieve efficiency.
A. Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
• Max Weber recognized the underlying structure of bureaucracy remained the
same regardless of location, whether in religion, government, education, or
business.
• He constructed an ideal type (an abstract model of the essential characteristics of
a phenomenon) to help him identify a bureaucracy's core components. He
proposed that the ideal bureaucracy displays five basic characteristics.
1. Division of Labor
• Specialized experts perform specific tasks.
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• Has led to significant advances and innovation.

• Fragmenting work into smaller tasks isolates workers from one another
and weakens connections they might have. Marx and Engels said this
produces extreme alienation—loss of control over our creative human
capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation
from our fellow producers.
• Can also lead to trained incapacity—a situation in which workers
become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice
potential problems. Example: U.S. government agencies failing to share
information about terrorism with each other.
2. Hierarchy of Authority
• Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority.
3. Written Rules and Regulations

• Offer employees clear standards for performance and procedure.
• Provide a sense of continuity for organizations.
• Can become too important, leading to goal displacement, Robert
Merton’s term for overzealous conformity to official regulations.
4. Impersonality
• Officials perform their duties without giving personal consideration to
people as individuals. Example: Weber’s phrase “without hatred or
passion.”
• Intended to guarantee equal treatment, but it also contributes to the cold,
uncaring feeling often associated with modern organizations.
5. Employment Based on Technical Qualifications

• As opposed to favoritism; performance is measured against specific
standards.
• The driving personnel principle is supposed to be that it is “what you
know, not who you know” that counts.
• People can appeal if they believe particular rules have been violated.
• Not every organization fully realizes Weber's characteristics, but in
general they are typical of life in modern societies.
B. Bureaucratization as a Way of Life

• The process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly
relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency.
1. The Spread of Bureaucratization

• McDonaldization—the process by which the principles of efficiency,
calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and decision
making in the United States and around the world—is an example of the
expansion of bureaucratization. George Ritzer argues these principles have
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been emulated by many organizations from medical care to wedding

planning.
• Weber predicted that even the private sphere would become rationalized.
He thought the only way to beat bureaucratization was to be more
bureaucratic.
• When workers’ performance is measured only in numbers, emotional
needs and family responsibilities are dismissed as irrelevant.
2. From Bureaucracy to Oligarchy

• Robert Michels originated the idea of the iron law of oligarchy, which is
the principle that all organizations, even democratic ones, tend to develop
into a bureaucracy ruled by an elite few (an oligarchy). Example: Labor
union leaders becoming unresponsive to members.
• Actions that violate the core principles of bureaucracy can seep in.
• Rank and file group members look to leaders for direction, enabling
leaders to cement their power.
• Concerns about oligarchy often raised when ideologically motivated
movements become institutionalized. Example: Tea Party conservatives
challenging Republican leaders in Washington to live up to conservative
ideals.
C. Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture

• New management philosophies arose to counter the negative effects of
depersonalization.
• Classical theory of formal organizations (also known as the scientific
management approach) suggests workers are motivated almost entirely by
economic rewards. Only physical constraints limit worker productivity; therefore,
workers may be treated as a resource, much like the machines that began to
replace them in the 20th century.
• Management attempts to achieve maximum work efficiency through scientific
planning, established performance standards, and careful supervision.
• Planning involves efficiency studies, not studies of worker attitudes or
satisfaction.
• This approach wasn’t revised until workers formed unions and forced
management to recognize that they were not objects.
• The human relations approach to the study of formal organizations emphasizes
the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy, especially
its informal organization.
• Planning based on this approach focuses on workers’ feelings, frustrations, and
emotional need for job satisfaction. If managers are convinced that helping
workers meet their needs increases productivity, care and concern are instituted as
a result of rational calculation.
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IV. Social Structure in Global Perspective

• Sociology arose as a discipline in order to better understand and direct the transition
from traditional to modern society.
A. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

• Ferdinand Tönnies was appalled by the rise of industrial cities during the late
1800s and coined terms to describe two different types of communities.
• A Gemeinschaft is a close-knit community that is typical of rural life. People
have similar backgrounds and life experiences. Social interactions are intimate
and familiar. Social control is maintained through informal means such as moral
persuasion and gossip. Social change is relatively limited.
• A Gesellschaft is characteristic of modern urban life. Most people are strangers
who feel little in common with one another. Relationships are governed by social
roles that grow out of immediate tasks. There is little consensus concerning values
or commitment to the group. Social control rests on more formal techniques, such
as laws and legally defined sanctions. Social change is a normal part of life.
B. Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

• Émile Durkheim wanted to use sociology as a science to better understand the
transition to modern society.
• For Durkheim, the amount of the division of labor that exists in a society shapes
the degree to which people feel connected with each other.
• Mechanical solidarity exists in societies with a minimal division of labor. A
collective consciousness develops that emphasizes group solidarity. Social
interaction and negotiation are based on close, intimate, face-to-face social
contacts, and there are few social roles.
• Durkheim felt that in societies with a complex division of labor this would give
way to organic solidarity—social cohesion based on mutual interdependence. In
this situation collective consciousness rests on the need a society’s members have
for one another. People relate to each other based on their social positions. Role
specialization forces individuals to become interdependent. Statuses and social
roles are always changing.
C. Technology and Society

• In Gerhard Lenski’s view, a society’s level of technology is critical to the way it
is organized. New social forms arise as technology changes.
1. Preindustrial Societies
• Hunting-and-gathering societies rely on available foods; technology is
minimal. There is little division of labor.
• Horticultural societies plant seeds and grow crops rather than subsist
only on available foods. Technology remains limited.
• Agrarian societies use technological innovations (e.g., the plow) to
increase crop yields. Although most members are still engaged primarily
in food production, division of labor and specialization does increase and
social institutions become more established.
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2. Industrial Societies
• Industrial Revolution transformed social life.
• An industrial society depends on mechanization to produce its goods and
services.
• New inventions facilitated agricultural and industrial production and new
sources of energy significantly altered the way people lived and worked
and undercut taken-for-granted norms and values.
• Individuals, villages, and regions became interdependent.
• Education emerged as a social institution distinct from the family due to
need for specialized knowledge.
3. Postindustrial Societies
• Mechanized production continues to play a substantial role in shaping
social order, but the economic system of a postindustrial society is
primarily engaged in the processing and control of information.
• Main output is services rather than manufactured goods.
• Differential access to resources has hidden consequences.
D. Postmodern Life
• A postmodern society is a technologically sophisticated, pluralistic,
interconnected, globalized society.
• Four elements provide a sense of the key characteristics of such societies:
1. Stories
• People hold many different, often competing, sets of norms and values.
Fewer people assume that a single, all-inclusive story (a particular
religious tradition or an all-encompassing scientific theory) can unite
everyone.
• Multiplicity of stories undercuts the authority that singular accounts of
reality have had in the past.
2. Images
• Importance of images is emphasized by the explosion of mass media.
• Our knowledge of what is real is always constrained by the images we
construct.
3. Choices
• We pick and choose our reality from the images and experiences
presented to us. Examples: Food, clothes, partners, jobs, identities.
• Contrast with a society characterized by mechanical solidarity, where
one's life path is all but set at birth.
4. Networks
• Increasingly, all corners of the globe are linked into a vast, interrelated
social, cultural, political, and economic system.
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KEY TERMS
Achieved status A social position that is within our power to change.

Agrarian society The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members are
engaged primarily in the production of food, but they increase their crop yields through
technological innovations such as the plow.
Alienation Loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the
products we make, and isolation from our fellow producers.
Ascribed status A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s
unique talents or characteristics.
Bureaucracy A component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to
achieve efficiency.
Bureaucratization The process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly
relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency.
Classical theory An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being
motivated almost entirely by economic rewards.
Coalition A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.
Gemeinschaft A close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds
unite members.
Gesellschaft A community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to
the group or consensus on values.
Goal displacement Overzealous conformity to official regulations of a bureaucracy.
Group Any number of people with shared norms, values, and goals who interact with one another
on a regular basis.
Horticultural society A preindustrial society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than
merely subsist on available foods.
Human relations approach An approach to the study of formal organizations that emphasizes
the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy and tends to focus on
the informal structure of the organization.
Hunting-and-gathering society A preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods
and fibers are readily available in order to survive.
Ideal type An abstract model of the essential characteristics of a phenomenon.
Industrial society A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services.
In-group A category of people who share a common identity and sense of belonging.
Iron law of oligarchy The principle that all organizations, even democratic ones, tend to develop
into a bureaucracy ruled by an elite few.
Master status A status that dominates others and thereby determines a person’s general position
in society.
McDonaldization The process by which the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability,
and control shape organization and decision making in the United States and around the world.
Mechanical solidarity Social cohesion based on shared experiences, knowledge, and skills in
which things function more or less the way they always have, with minimal change.
Organic solidarity Social cohesion based on mutual interdependence in the context of an extreme
division of labor.
Out-group A category of people who do not belong or do not fit in.
Postindustrial society A society whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing
and control of information.
Postmodern society A technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized
society.
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Primary group A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and

cooperation.
Reference group Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their
own behavior.
Role conflict The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more
social statuses held by the same person.
Role exit The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-identity in order
to establish a new role and identity.
Role strain The difficulty that arises when the same social status imposes conflicting demands
and expectations.
Scientific management approach Another name for the classical theory of formal organizations.
Secondary group A formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual
understanding.
Social institution Integrated and persistent social networks dedicated to ensuring that society's
core needs are met.
Social interaction A reciprocal exchange in which two or more people read, react, and respond
to each other.
Social network A series of social relationships that links individuals directly to others, and
through them indirectly to still more people.
Social role A set of expected behaviors for people who occupy a given social position or status.
Social structure The underlying framework of society consisting of the positions people occupy
and the relationships between them.
Status The social positions we occupy relative to others.
Trained incapacity The tendency of workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they
develop blind spots and fail to notice potential problems.
ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS
5-1: Social Roles amidst Disasters

Lewis Killian studied the reaction of four Oklahoma and Texas communities to physical
disasters such as explosions and tornadoes. He and his researchers found that individuals
experienced unusual role conflicts because of the abnormal and stressful social conditions.
In one case, the heroic role of rescue worker conflicted with a person’s occupational
duties. As a result, a minister gave up an opportunity to act as a hero. This minister, hearing an
explosion on the shipping docks, headed in that direction to join the rescue effort. On his way, he
realized that he had to make a choice between serving as a rescue worker and serving as a
minister. He chose his counseling role rather than the physical rescue work.
In a second situation, Killian found a conflict between the roles of community member
and member of a group with ties outside the community, specifically, a labor union. At the time
of the disaster studied by Killian, telephone workers were on strike. Because of the emergency,
union leaders allowed the strikers to return to their jobs. However, a few days later the union
determined that the emergency was over—a judgment that was not shared within the
community—and ordered the workers to walk out again. Rather than forsaking their role as
community members, the telephone workers resigned from the union. Killian reports, “it was
almost a year before union officials were able to reorganize the local in this town, and some
workers never rejoined” (Killian 1952: 313).
The choices faced by the minister and the union members could not have been anticipated
before disaster struck in their communities. Therefore, role conflicts can arise not only out of
Witt, SOC, 2014e IM-5 | 15
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everyday familial and occupational situations, but also out of extraordinary circumstances such
as a natural disaster.
See Lewis M. Killian, “The Significance of Multiple-Group Membership in Disaster,”
American Journal of Sociology 57 (January 1952): 309–314.
5-2: China and People with Disabilities

Having a disability is a master status found throughout the world. Sometimes its power
surfaces in unusual ways. In 1994, Fang Zheng was hailed as China’s discus champion among
athletes with a disability. In his case, the disability that he had overcome was the loss of both
legs. But the Chinese government barred him from international competition when Communist
party officials learned that his disability occurred during the Tiananmen Square uprising of June
4, 1989, when students and workers were demonstrating for democratic reforms. A Chinese
Army tank ran him down, crushing his legs and dragging him 30 feet as the tank plunged into the
crowd to suppress dissenters. His legs were later amputated. Prior to the publicity associated with
this event, sociologist C. Edward Vaughan evaluated public policy and the existing laws
regarding people with disabilities in the People’s Republic of China. In 1988, China published its
first five-year plan for the rehabilitation and education of people with disabilities. The
Handicapped People’s Association, an organization sponsored by the Chinese government,
participated in the preparatory work and discussions that led to the final document. The plan
focuses on improving educational opportunities for people with disabilities and on strengthening
special education programs. While the plan encourages all levels of government to enhance the
employment, health, education, and general welfare of people with disabilities, these policies are
outlined in broad terms and lack specific goals.
In 1990, China’s national government issued the “Law of the People’s Republic of China
on the Protection of Disabled Persons.” This law was shaped, in part, through the advocacy
efforts of the Disabled People’s Association. The law suggests that employers offer work
opportunities to people with disabilities who pass entrance examinations. All levels of society are
encouraged to offer access to people with disabilities, including access to cultural materials and
transportation. To bring greater recognition to the contribution of people with disabilities, the
third Sunday of every May was established as National Disabled Persons’ Day.
The new legislation prohibits public officials from violating the interests or rights of
people with disabilities. It outlaws violent and insulting behavior aimed at the disabled, as well
as mistreatment of people with disabilities by family members or caregivers. Unfortunately, as
Vaughan observes, it will be difficult for many people with disabilities to obtain justice. Few
attorneys are available to represent disabled people in cases arising from the 1990 law. Most
people with disabilities have limited economic resources and few connections to powerful public
officials.
See Patrick E. Tyler, “China Discus Champ: Alone, Disabled, and Barred,” New York
Times (September 8, 1994): A3; C. Edwin Vaughan, “The Development of Public Policy and
New Laws Concerning the Rights of People with Disabilities in the People’s Republic of China,”
Journal of Disability Policy Studies 4 (Summer 1993): 131–140.
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5-3: Role Transitions

Sociologists and other social scientists have examined the transitions that people make
from one social role to another. Usually, researchers look at major turning points in the life
course, such as rites of passage when people move between different sets of social networks.
Sociologist Ira Silver notes that these studies fail to acknowledge the importance of
material objects and the physical space in which role transitions take place. He explores one
particular role transition, moving away to college, to illustrate that objects play a central role in
how students contract their social identities. The term social identity refers to the meaning
individuals perceive that others may attach to their particular social roles. Following the work of
Erving Goffman and the dramaturgical approach, Silver pays specific attention to the objects that
are used as props, used to manage the impressions that others form about the roles a given
individual occupies. Students make what amounts to strategic choices about which objects to
leave at home, objects that Silver refers to as anchors, or prior identities, and which ones to bring
to school as masters of new identities.
The researcher conducted interviews with freshmen and sophomore students at a
residential university. Students indicated the strong ties they had to their anchors, those objects
that they associated exclusively with prior stages in their lives, such as childhood or early
adolescence. Students commented that leaving behind the objects representing the ties they felt
to their parents seemed to assume that most of their prized possessions were left behind. The
anchors that the students chose to bring with them often reflected a conscious assemblage of
their different past activities or accomplishments.
By contrast, markers (for example, record and CD collections and mementos from trips
to exotic places) are objects symbolic of where the students saw themselves presently and of the
type of impression they wanted to generate. For example, one female student made it clear that
she never considered bringing her stuffed animals. Another made a similar statement about dolls.
While this may seem obvious, such decisions are conscious efforts to move into another social
role. Conscious efforts also go into deciding what to display on the walls of one’s room. One
male student, for example, purposely put up an unusual Beatles poster to signal to others that he
was a real fan and had not just bought one that could be conveniently obtained anywhere.
The research confirms the enduring accuracy of the famed interactionist Herbert
Blumer’s three fundamental principles: (1) human beings act toward things on the basis of the
meaning that the things have for them; (2) the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises
out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s peer group; and (3) these meanings are
handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by people in dealing with the
things they encounter (1996: 2).
Sources: Herbert Blumer. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969; Blumer, “Role Transitions, Objects, and Identity,” Symbolic
Interaction 19 (Winter 1996): 1–20.
5-4: Bowling Alone

What are our relationships with others? Do we even have relationships with others?
These questions have been raised because of a provocative book by Robert D. Putnam, Professor
of International Affairs at Harvard University. Putnam states in Bowling Alone: The Collapse
and Revival of American Community that civic life in the United States is collapsing; people are
not joining, as they once did, the groups and clubs that promote trust and cooperation. This lack
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Chapter 5
of connectedness in turn undermines democracy. Putnam takes his title (and central emblem of
decline) from the fact that bowling league membership has dropped 40 percent since 1980;
hence, we are “bowling alone.”
Putnam’s premise has led to much discussion; even President Clinton made references to
it during his first term. Is there empirical support for his thesis? Putnam contends that there is.
Drawing on NORC General Social Survey data, he finds a 25 percent drop in all group
membership since 1974, once the data are adjusted for rising educational levels. Putnam adjusts
for schooling because better-educated people typically have belonged to more organizations.
Once we adjust for more people being educated, says Putnam, it turns out we are less a nation of
joiners. Looking at the same data, economist Robert J. Samuelson does not feel that there has
been such a change. Most of the decline has been in church groups, and if one factors that out,
the change has been mixed, but certainly not a trend of major decline. Furthermore, while
membership in some traditional groups is declining, many new groups are developing and
flourishing. Little League participation is giving way to soccer leagues, YMCA to health clubs,
and church organizations to fellowships such as Promise Keepers.
Sources: Robert D. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American
Community. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Robert J. Samuelson, “Join the Club,”
Washington Post National Weekly Edition 13 (April 18, 1996): 8; Richard Stengel, “Bowling
Together,” Time 146 (July 22, 1996): 35–36.
5-5: Social Networks in the United States

Sociologist Peter Marsden used the 1985 NORC General Social Survey (GSS) to gain an
overview of the features of social networks. Respondents in the national interview survey were
asked to name all the people with whom they discussed “important matters” (family, finances,
health, politics, recreation, and so forth) within the past six months. Subsequent questions
focused on the first five names mentioned, as a concession to time constraints. The respondents
were asked to describe the relationship between themselves and each of their confidants as, say,
“especially close” or “total strangers.” Items describing the respondent’s relationship with each
confidant (in terms of closeness, frequency of contact, duration of acquaintance, and role
relations) were included, as were questions asking for the sex, race or ethnicity, education, age,
and religious preferences of each confidant.
Among the findings was the distribution of network size. Comparatively large
percentages of respondents reported that they had recently discussed important matters with no
one, or with only one person. Nearly a quarter of the respondents had networks of zero or one,
and thus had relatively little counseling support. Few respondents indicated that they had more
than six discussion contacts; the mean and mode were three.
The networks drew heavily on kinship as a source of relationships. Respondents cited a
mean of 1.5 relatives, slightly more than the 1.4 nonrelatives cited. There is substantial
variability in the extent to which these interpersonal networks consisted of relatives rather than
nonrelatives: 30 percent consisted only of people having some family relation to the respondent,
while nearly 20 percent contained no family members. The average network had a proportion of
relatives of 0.55. Marsden found this comparable with the level of “kin composition” found in
previous surveys of large populations, including network items based on “intense name
generators.”
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Chapter 5
The racial and ethnic homogeneity of the networks was pronounced; only 96 respondents
(8 percent of those with networks of size 2 or greater) cited “confidants” with any racial or ethnic
diversity. By contrast only 22 percent of the respondents had networks with “alters” of only one
sex.
If anything, these estimates understate the extent of homogeneity in interpersonal
environments because of the high “kin composition” of the networks, which had many ties
bridging generations and many cross-sex links to spouses, siblings, parents, and children. A
higher proportion of kin is associated with greater age, educational, and sexual heterogeneity. If
these networks had been composed only of nonrelatives, they would have been substantially less
heterogeneous in these respects than the detailed findings indicated. “Kin composition” does,
however, tend to decrease racial and ethnic heterogeneity.
Overall, these descriptive figures suggest that interpersonal environments in which
Americans discuss important matters are “core” networks, as the choice of a relatively intense
name generator implies. They are small, centered on relatives, comparatively dense, and
homogeneous. See Peter Marsden, “Core Discussion Networks of Americans,” American
Sociological Review 52 (February 1987): 122–131; “Social Network Theory,” in Edgar F.
Borgatta and Marie L. Borgatta (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sociology, vol. 4. New York: Macmillan,
1992, pp. 1,887–1,994.
5-6: Daily Life in a Hunting-and-Gathering Society

Looking at daily life in a hunting-and-gathering society can give some perspective on the
range of variation in social structure in human societies. A close examination of life in the most
famous of contemporary hunting-and-gathering societies—the Kalahari San—also suggests some
interesting comparisons to life in an industrialized society, particularly when it comes to gender
inequality.
The Kalahari San are clustered in the country of Botswana, but can also be found
throughout Southern Africa. Unfortunately, in recent decades they have been forced to give up
their nomadic lifestyle, as other African populations began to encroach upon traditional San
living areas. But the nomadic San lifestyle prior to the 1970s has been well documented in a
number of studies.
Prior to becoming stationary, the San typically lived together in bands of 10–85, who
traveled seasonally within a specific geographical territory. For much of the year, the band
moved camp every few weeks, once the food sources in a given area had been depleted. During
the dry season—when it was difficult to extract water from plant sources—the band might camp
for several months near a large water resource.
Despite the common assumption that these bands were analogous to households, there
were actually distinct nuclear families within each band. To some extent, each nuclear family
within a band was economically independent from the others. On another level, the sharing of
resources across bands was far more common than it is in industrial societies. The social
processes through which meat was distributed well illustrates the extent of interdependence
across families. Technically, the spoils of a large-animal hunt belonged to just two or three
people: the man who shot the animal, if applicable, the man who lent him the arrow, and the man
who accompanied him on the hunt. In practice, though, meat was shared much more widely.
Once a portion for his nuclear family was secured, the owner of a carcass would often give some
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Chapter 5
of the meat to married children or to in-laws, who would then distribute the meat further.
Ultimately, nearly everyone in the band could expect to eat part of the carcass.
As in industrial societies, gender was often the basis for assigning work among members
of the band. Although both genders engaged in a variety of activities, a primary activity for
women was to gather plant foods for their families, and a primary activity for men was to hunt
large animals with a bow and arrow. Does this imply that women were considered inferior to
men, or that women’s work was considered less important than men’s work? This is definitely
not the case. It is clear that plant food gathered by women was far more central to the diet of the
San than meat. Depending on the season, band members might go for long periods without
meat—as long as two months—and total annual meat consumption was not high. Ethnographic
evidence also suggests that San society was fairly gender equitable, in the sense that women had
substantial autonomy and political power. They were often influential in the band as a whole,
and had a strong voice in important family decisions.
Sources used for this essay and additional reading ideas include: Marjorie Shostak. Nisa:
The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman. New York: Vintage Books, 1983; George B.
Silberbauer. Hunter and Habitat in the Central Kalahari Desert. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1981; Jiro Tanaka. The San Hunter-Gatherers of the Kalahari. Tokyo:
University of Tokyo Press, 1980; Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. The Harmless People. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1959.
5-7: Organizational Variables

How do sociologists study the wide range of formal organizations found in American
society? Sociologist Dean Champion has arranged the variables that have been studied under
four headings:
1. Organizational structure
a. Size: payroll or clientele
b. Complexity: differentiation of duties
c. Formalization: written rules or codes
2. Organizational control
a. Size of administrative component
b. Bureaucratization: degree of specialization and dependence on written rules
c. Centralization: power retained by the central organizational hierarchy
d. Level of authority: numbers of layers of different positions
3. Organizational behavior
a. Climate: feelings of workers toward the organization
b. Effectiveness: ability of an organization to achieve its goals
c. Goals: intentions and activities
4. Organizational change
a. Labor turnover: percentage of people who leave in the course of a year
b. Conflict: tension, interference, and disagreements
c. Flexibility: degree to which an organization is adaptable to external and internal
changes
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Chapter 5
d. Growth: change in number of employees, assets, departments, new product

markets, and so forth
e. Administrative succession: turnover among administrative heads in an
organization
f. Technology: mechanisms or processes, including automation
This model of variables for study is only one of many ways of examining organizations.
Owing to the complexity and importance of this subject, there are many interpretations of
organizational structure, control, behavior, and change. See Dean Champion. The Sociology of
Organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
5-8: Reforming Socialist Work Organizations

Among the reforming socialist economies of Eastern Europe and Asia, China has been a
standout success story. Although still ruled by a socialist government, China’s economy has seen
sustained economic growth for decades, and its state-owned work organizations are now much
more profit oriented than before. How is it that China has experienced such a smooth road to
capitalism, when so many other post-socialist economies have faltered? Much of the secret lies
in the techniques used to revamp its system of government-owned work organizations.
Prior to 1978, provincial and municipal governments, work organizations, and workers,
were all linked hierarchically to the national government through a centralized system of
resource distribution. State-owned enterprises—for-profit industrial firms incorporated into the
national budget—were the centerpiece of this system. They operated under soft budget
constraints, receiving funds from the national government for labor costs and production, and
benefiting from low, state-set prices on factor resources. In return, they were required to fulfill
production plans set by the government, adhere to low, state-set wages for employees, sell goods
at state-set prices, and turn over the bulk of their profits to municipal and provincial
governments. These governments in turn handed profits over to the state.
Such a system minimized opportunities and risks for local governments, state enterprises,
and individuals. Urban residents were limited in employment opportunities to public enterprises
in which wages were uniformly low and not linked to performance. This was due in part to the
fact that local governments and firms lacked the autonomy, responsibility, and profit incentives
required to create substantial wage differentials. Municipal and provincial governments had few
rights to profit from the state enterprises that dominated industrial output, and could not develop
private businesses within their territories. State enterprises were not held responsible for their
losses, faced little competition, and had no autonomy to funnel profits into investments or wages.
However, in the late 1970s, new laws legalizing private firms and foreign investment,
coupled with fiscal reforms granting greater autonomy and responsibility to local governments,
gave provincial and municipal governments strong incentives to encourage the emergence of
economic growth. Fiscal reforms allowed provincial governments to pay a fixed-sum tax from
enterprise profits each year, and retain the rest. Reforms implemented in state-owned enterprises
paralleled these fiscal reforms, making state firms more autonomous of the government.
Government-owned firms were allowed to retain a far greater share of their profits than before,
and to sell commodities on the open market, setting their own prices for them. Firm managers
were allowed greater autonomy in controlling the day-to-day operations of their companies. At
the same time, firms were now expected to operate under hard budget constraints, risking
bankruptcy if they failed to do so.
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Chapter 5
Faced for the first time with profit incentives, harder budget constraints, and new
competition from private and collectively owned businesses, state-owned firms have responded
by increasingly allocating wages on the basis of worker performance, and bonuses on the basis of
firm profitability. In other words, they now operate much more like capitalist firms.
Sources used for this essay and additional reading ideas include: Doug Guthrie. Dragon
in a Three-Piece Suit. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999; Gary Jefferson and
Inderjit Singh (eds.). Enterprise Reform in China: Ownership, Transition, and Performance.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1999; Xiaobo Lu and Elizabeth Perry. Danwei: The
Changing Chinese Workplace in Comparative and Historical Perspective. Armonk, NY: M. E.
Sharpe, 1997; Barry Naughton. Growing out of the Plan. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1995; Andrew Walder. Communist Neo-Traditionalism. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1986.
5-9: Profile: Little People of America

We have all heard of the legendary 33-inch-tall circus performer, Tom Thumb. Unlike
this famous performer, most midgets and dwarfs receive no fanfare; instead, they have
significant social problems. As a result, the Little People of America organization (LPA) was
established in 1957 to meet the special needs of our nation’s “little people.”
Little people include two distinct groups: midgets and dwarfs. Midgets are perfectly
proportioned miniatures who generally bear normal-sized children. Dwarfs, by contrast, have
short arms and legs, normal-sized trunks, and large heads. They are likely to pass their physical
characteristics on to their children.
Little people in the United States must make a number of psychological and social
adjustments that people of average height never face. They are frequently seen as unemployable
outside of the world of entertainment. Dating presents a special problem for little people who are
isolated from others of similar stature. Our culture perpetuates many prejudices about people
who look different from the norm, and little people can face unjustified fear, ridicule, hostility,
and prejudice solely because of their appearance.
The LPA has instituted a number of programs to solve these problems. For example, the
organization maintains contacts with adoption agencies and alerts members when dwarf children
are available for adoption from normal-sized parents. The LPA provides information on how to
modify automobiles and homes to make them more comfortable and practical for midgets and
dwarfs. In addition, its meetings and annual conventions provide a pleasant way for the
organization’s 4,000 members to meet other little people and share experiences.
The LPA does not attempt to engulf its members; rather, it encourages people to live
meaningful lives within the dominant culture. At the same time, members of the organization
know that they have at least one place to turn to for assistance, understanding, and support. At a
meeting of Little People of America, a midget or dwarf can expect that his or her size—and
problems—will genuinely be seen as “normal.”
Weinberg (1968) asked a number of members what they had gained through association
with the LPA. One replied, “I have learned not to be afraid of other people because they are
bigger than you.” Another answered, “Friends, happiness, and a million dollars worth of living.”
See Denise S. Askey, ed. Encyclopedia of Associations. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983, p. 857.
See also Judith Fagan Burbank, “Roundup of Current Research: Little People of America,”
Transaction 6 (March 1969): 6–7; Ann Japenga, “Suicide Spotlights Problems of Small People,”
Witt, SOC, 2014e IM-5 | 22
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Chapter 5
International Herald Tribune (July 21–22, 1984); Martin S. Weinberg, “The Problem of Midgets
and Dwarfs and Organizational Remedies: A Study of Little People of America," Journal of
Health and Social Behavior 9 (March 1968): 65–71.
TOPICS FOR STUDENT RESEARCH AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION
1. Ask students to spend a few days testing social reality by facing toward the rear wall in
an elevator, or continually talking with others while in the elevator. Have them record the
general reaction of their observers. Discuss how social reality is shaped by perceptions,
evaluations, and definitions.
2. Ask students to list charities or organizations to which they or their families have donated
money. Compare this to the amount of money they have given to homeless people on the
street. Discuss the impact of master statuses in producing any differences.
3. Ask students to view the movie Kindergarten Cop, and discuss the implications of role
conflict.
4. Ask students to find various evidentiary indicators used by society to encourage older
workers to retire, and discuss the four stages of role exit as developed by Helen Rose
Fuchs Ebaugh.
5. Ask students to find examples of how written rules and regulations concerning their
behavior at college may stifle their initiative or imagination, and discuss the various vices
associated with bureaucracies.
6. Ask students to search magazines for examples of American culture influencing foreign
nations, and discuss George Ritzer’s concept of McDonaldization.
7. Ask students to research the various advantages and disadvantages of learning college
curriculum via the Internet, and discuss the social implications of virtual classrooms.
REEL TALK
Office Space (Twentieth Century Fox, 1999, 89m). This satire of office life stars Ron Livingston
as Peter Gibbons. He hates his job as a software engineer at Initech, he thinks his girlfriend
(Alexandra Wentworth) is cheating on him, and he has a crush on a beautiful waitress (Jennifer
Aniston). A visit to a hypnotherapist, however, frees him from worry. Just as his company is
downsizing, he no longer cares about keeping his job, which—paradoxically—makes him more
valuable in the company’s eyes. When two of his friends—Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael
(David Herman)—are laid off, the three of them scheme to use a computer virus to siphon
company money into their own account. Director: Mike Judge. Lawrence: Diedrich Bader. Bill
Lumbergh: Gary Cole. Milton: Stephen Root.
Topic: Social structure, bureaucracy.
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Chapter 5
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the characteristics of a bureaucracy as they relate to Initech.

2. Discuss Peter’s social roles. How do they change throughout the movie?
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. In the movie, Peter, Samir, and Michael are computer programmers. This is an example
of a (an):
a. ascribed status.
*b. achieved status.
c. master status.
d. in-group.
2. Which type of society does the movie depict?

a. mechanical
b. postindustrial
c. industrial
*d. postmodern
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Describe Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s three-tiered concept of the social
construction of reality.
2. How do ascribed and achieved statuses serve to identify who a person is in a culture?
3. How does a master status differ from an ascribed status? An achieved status?
4. Explain the kinds of dilemmas a person may face in carrying out a social role.
5. Define and present an example of role conflict.
6. Distinguish between role conflict, role strain, and role exit and provide an example of
each.
7. What is meant by role exit and how does it relate to the socialization process?
8. What part do groups play in a society’s social structure?
9. Distinguish between primary and secondary groups.
10. What does Robert Merton mean by “in-group virtues” and “out-group vices”?
11. What are the similarities and differences among reference groups, primary groups, and
secondary groups?
12. Explain how coalitions develop as a group grows larger.
13. What impact, if any, has computer technology had on group formation?
14. What does the term social network mean?
15. What role do social networks play for women in the business world?
16. How has the Internet changed social networking?
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Education.
Chapter 5
17. Distinguish between the various views of social institutions.

18. What are the five functional prerequisites that a society must satisfy if it is to survive?
19. How does ascribed status have an impact within formal organizations?
20. Briefly summarize Max Weber’s five characteristics of bureaucracy.
21. Discuss the positive consequences of a bureaucracy.
22. Discuss the negative consequences of a bureaucracy for the individual and the
organization.
23. What are some of the positive and negative consequences of a bureaucracy’s rules and
regulations?
24. What are some of the positive and negative consequences of employment based on
technical qualifications in a bureaucracy?
25. Why does Max Weber’s characterization of a bureaucracy constitute an ideal type?
26. Explain what Robert Michels meant by the iron law of oligarchy.
27. Distinguish between the classical theory of formal organizations and the human relations
approach.
28. Describe the differences between organic solidarity and mechanical solidarity.
29. Distinguish between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.
30. How does Ferdinand Tönnies use ideal types?
31. Outline Gerhard Lenski’s discussion of sociocultural evolution.
32. Compare and contrast the approaches to social structure introduced by Émile Durkheim,
Ferdinand Tönnies, and Gerhard Lenski.
33. What role does technology play in understanding how societies are organized?
34. What are the differences among industrial, postindustrial, and postmodern societies?
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
1. Would you have more respect for a person who is born wealthy or a person who becomes
wealthy through hard work? Address the differences associated with ascribed and
achieved statuses in your answer.
2. Discuss the various ways a person may experience role strain. Give examples to support
your answer.
3. Describe how the impact of political terrorist attacks is likely to affect various social
interactions among groups. Include your own observations of events following the 9/11
terror attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in your answer.
4. Distinguish the differences between primary and secondary groups, and describe how
social relationships in groups evolve as society becomes more populated and formal in its
functions. Give examples to support your answer.
Witt, SOC, 2014e IM-5 | 25
Education.
Chapter 5
5. Describe the various ways that certain reference groups can affect a person’s behavior
patterns, and how we may be influenced by a variety of reference groups during our
lifetime. Give some examples to help illustrate your answer.
6. Analyze the importance of social institutions from the various views discussed in the text.
How are the views similar and different?
7. Discuss how social life and interaction would be affected if the Internet permanently
disappeared today.
8. Describe the negative consequences of bureaucracy as viewed from both the individual
and organizational perspectives. Be sure to include examples to support your answer.
9. Discuss what personally motivates you to perform work. Would you be more likely to
respond to scientific management approaches or human relations approaches in reaching
your goals? Give some examples to support your ideas.
Witt, SOC, 2014e IM-5 | 26
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Chapter 5

Solution Manual for SOC 2014 3rd Edition Jon Witt

5 SOCIAL STRUCTURE &

Bureaucracy and Organizational Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

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Focus Questions Resources

2. What are roles and IN THE TEXT

3. How are groups IN THE TEXT

4. What are the various IN THE TEXT

5. What are social IN THE TEXT

6. What are the various IN THE TEXT

7. What are the IN THE TEXT

8. How do sociologists IN THE TEXT

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A. Self and Society

B. Social Construction of Reality

II. Elements of Social Structure

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1. Ascribed and Achieved Status

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1. Primary and Secondary Groups

2. In-Groups and Out-Groups

E. Online Social Networks

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• Has led to significant advances and innovation.

3. Written Rules and Regulations

5. Employment Based on Technical Qualifications

B. Bureaucratization as a Way of Life

1. The Spread of Bureaucratization

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been emulated by many organizations from medical care to wedding

2. From Bureaucracy to Oligarchy

C. Bureaucracy and Organizational Culture

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IV. Social Structure in Global Perspective

A. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

B. Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

C. Technology and Society

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Achieved status A social position that is within our power to change.

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Primary group A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and

ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS

5-1: Social Roles amidst Disasters

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5-2: China and People with Disabilities

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5-3: Role Transitions

5-4: Bowling Alone

5-5: Social Networks in the United States

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5-6: Daily Life in a Hunting-and-Gathering Society

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5-7: Organizational Variables

d. Growth: change in number of employees, assets, departments, new product