Social structure

To better understand human behavior, we need to understand social structure, the framework of
society that was already laid out before you were born. Social structure refers the stable patterns
of interactions, statuses (positions), roles (responsibilities), and organizations that provide
stability for the society and bring order to individuals’ lives. The sociological significance of
social structure is that it guides our behavior.
This framework of society exists above the level of individuals and provides the social setting in
which individuals interact with one another to form relationships. Social structure tends to override
our personal feelings and desires.
People learn behaviors and attitudes because of their location in the social structure (privileged,
deprived, or in between), and they act accordingly.

Elements of Social Structure

All social interaction takes place within a social structure. Social structure can be divided into five
elements: statuses, social roles, groups, culture, and social institutions. These elements make up
social structure just as a foundation, walls, and ceilings make up a building’s structure.

1. Statuses
Status refers to the socially defined positions within a large group or society that range from the
lowest to the highest. The position that someone occupies. That position may carry a great deal of
prestige, as in the case of a judge or vice chancellor, or it may bring little prestige, as in the case
of a janitor or a waitress. The status may also be looked down on, as in the case of the homeless,
street children, an ex-convict, or a thief.

Our statuses (e.g. daughter or son, teacher or student) provide guidelines for how we are to act and
feel. Like other aspects of social structure, statuses set limits on what we can and cannot do.
Because social statuses are an essential part of the social structure, all human groups have them.

Status Sets: All of us occupy several positions at the same time. You may simultaneously be a
son or daughter, a worker, a date, and a student. Our status set changes as your particular statuses
change.
For example, if you graduate from college, take a full-time job, get married, buy a home, and have
children, your status set changes to include the positions of worker, spouse, homeowner, and
parent.

Ascribed and Achieved Status

An ascribed status is involuntary. We do not ask for it, nor can we choose it. At birth, you inherit
ascribed statuses such as our race–ethnicity, sex, and the social class of our parents, as well as our
statuses as female or male, daughter or son, niece or nephew.
Other ascribed status, such as teenager and senior citizen, are related to the life course given to us
later in life.
Though these characteristics are biological in origin, they are significant mainly because of the
social meanings they have in our culture.
An ascribed status does not necessarily have the same social meaning in every society.
An achieved status comes through our own efforts. They are voluntary. We earn or accomplish
“university student” and “prison guard” are achieved statuses, as are “lawyer,” “pianist,”
“president,” “convict,” and “professor.” We must do something to acquire an achieved status, for
instance go to school, learn a skill, establish a friendship, and invent a new product. As a result of
your efforts, you become a student, a friend, a spouse, or a lawyer. Or, for lack of effort (or for
efforts that others fail to appreciate), you become a school dropout, a former friend, an ex-spouse,
or a debarred lawyer. As you can see, achieved statuses can be either positive or negative; both
college president and bank robber are achieved statuses.
Our ascribed status heavily influences our achieved status. First, ascribed status heavily influences
achieved status. Being male, for example, would decrease the likelihood that a person would be
encouraged to consider a career in child care. Second, a given status may or may not be desirable.
Your family background, an ascribed status, can place you in a positive or negative position. Third,
some statuses can be either achieved or ascribed, depending upon the individual’s circumstances.
For example religion: it is an ascribed status if a person carries on the family’s faith, but it is an
achieved status if he or she settles on a religion after exploring a variety of belief systems.

2. Social Roles
Throughout our lives, we acquire social roles. A social role is a set of expectations for people who
occupy a given social position or status. Thus, we expect that cab drivers will know how to get
around a city, that receptionists will be reliable in handling phone messages, and that police
officers will take action if they see a citizen being threatened. With each distinctive social status
(whether ascribed or achieved) come particular role expectations.
Your status is student, but your role is to attend class, take notes, do homework, take tests and
pass.
Roles are a significant component of social structure. From a functionalist perspective, Roles
contribute to a society’s stability by enabling members to anticipate the behavior of others and to
pattern their actions accordingly. However, social roles can also be dysfunctional if they restrict
people’s interactions and relationships. If we view a person only as a “police officer” or
“supervisor,” it will be difficult to relate to him or her as a friend or neighbor.
Role sets: Each status has many roles

Role conflict
It occurs when conflict (challenge) arise from two or more social positions held by the same
person. Fulfillment of the roles associated with one status may directly violate the roles linked to
a second status.
Example 1: college athletes face role conflicts from competing demands on their time. They must
complete their studies on time, attend practices and be prepared for games, perhaps attend meetings
of a School club (Red cross) to which they belong, and get home for a little brother’s birthday.
Example 2: a student may be going to school, holding down a part-time job to help make ends
meet, and raising a family. If the student’s child gets sick, the status of parent comes into conflict
with that of student and worker.

Role Strain
Role strain to describe the difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting
demands and expectations. The tension among roles within a status. Most people have faced times
in their lives when they simply could not carry out all the obligations of a status.
Example: A student has to write a business plan, study adequately for three CATs, attend group
discussions, finish the individual assignments for two classes, and prepare for class presentation
all in the same week.

3. Social Groups

In sociological terms, a group is any number of people with similar norms, values, and
expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis. The members of a women’s
basketball team, a school’s debate club, a women’s merry-go-round (chama), a vegan group
constitute a social group. However, the residents of a suburb would not be considered a group,
since they rarely interact with one another at one time. 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.
The groups to which we belong (just like social class, statuses, and roles) are powerful forces in
our lives. By belonging to a group, we assume an obligation to affirm the group’s values, interests,
and norms. To remain a member in good standing, we need to show that we share those
characteristics. This means that when we belong to a group, we yield to others the right to judge
our behavior.
Although this principle holds true for all groups, some groups wield influence over only small
segments of our behavior e.g. a school’s basketball team, may only influence the aspects of a
person’s life linked to the game (attending practice on time, being sober for practice, improving
their skills). Other groups, in contrast, such as the family, control many aspects of our behavior.
Parents may set a curfew (be at home by 6pm) for their teenage daughter, hence showing an
expectation that their teenager, as a member of the family, will conform to their ideas about many
aspects of life, including their views on curfew. They are saying that as long as the teenage
daughter wants to remain a member of the family in good standing, her behavior must conform to
their expectations.

4. Social Institutions
The mass media, the government, the economy, the family, and the health care system are all
examples of social institutions found in our society. Social institutions are organized patterns of
beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs, such as replacing personnel (the family) and
preserving order (the government).