Page 153 - Essencials of Sociology

126 CHAPTER 4 Social Structure and Social Interaction

How does social structure influence How do stereotypes affect social interaction?
our behavior? Stereotypes are assumptions of what people are like. When
The term social structure refers to the social envelope that we first meet people, we classify them according to our per-
surrounds us and establishes limits on our behavior. Social ceptions of their visible characteristics. Our ideas about these
structure consists of culture, social class, social statuses, roles, characteristics guide our reactions to them. Our behavior, in
groups, and social institutions. Our location in the social turn, can influence them to behave in ways that reinforce our
structure underlies our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. stereotypes. Pp. 112–115.
Culture lays the broadest framework, while social class di- Do all human groups share a similar sense
vides people according to income, education, and occupa- of personal space?
tional prestige. Each of us receives ascribed statuses at birth;
In examining how people use physical space, symbolic in-
later we add achieved statuses. Our statuses guide our roles,
teractionists stress that we have a “personal bubble” that we
put boundaries around our behavior, and give us orientations
carefully protect. People from different cultures use “per-
to life. These are further influenced by the groups to which
sonal bubbles” of varying sizes, so the answer to the question
we belong, and our experiences with social institutions.
is no. Americans typically use four different “distance zones”:
These components of society work together to help maintain
intimate, personal, social, and public. Pp. 112, 114.
social order. Pp. 99–104.
What is body language?
What are social institutions?
Body language is using our bodies to give messages. We
Social institutions are the standard ways that a society
do this through facial expressions, posture, smiling, and eye
develops to meet its basic needs. As summarized in Figure
contact. Interpreting body language is becoming a tool in
4.2 (page 105), industrial and postindustrial societies have
business and in the fight against terrorism. Pp. 114–115.
ten social institutions—the family, religion, education,
economy, medicine, politics, law, science, the military, and What is dramaturgy?
the mass media. From the functionalist perspective, social Erving Goffman developed dramaturgy (or dramaturgical
institutions meet universal group needs, or functional req- analysis), in which everyday life is analyzed in terms of the
uisites. Conflict theorists stress how the elites of society use stage. At the core of this analysis is impression manage-
social institutions to maintain their privileged positions. ment, our attempts to control the impressions we make on
Pp. 104–106. others. For this, we use the sign-vehicles of setting, appear-
What holds society together? ance, and manner. Our role performances on the front
stages of life often call for teamwork and face-saving be-
According to Emile Durkheim, in agricultural societies, peo-
havior. They sometimes are hampered by role conflict or
ple are united by mechanical solidarity (having similar views
role strain. Pp. 115–119.
and feelings). With industrialization comes organic solidar-
ity (people depend on one another to do their more special- What is ethnomethodology?
ized jobs). Ferdinand Tönnies pointed out that the informal Ethnomethodology is the study of how people make sense
means of control in Gemeinschaft (small, intimate) societies of everyday life. Ethnomethodologists try to uncover back-
are replaced by formal mechanisms in Gesellschaft (larger, ground assumptions, the basic ideas about the way life is
more impersonal) societies. Pp. 107–108. that guide our behavior. Pp. 119–120.
What is the social construction of reality?
The Microsociological Perspective: The phrase social construction of reality refers to how we
construct our views of the world, which, in turn, underlie
Social Interaction in Everyday Life our actions. Pp. 120–122.

Discuss what symbolic interactionists study and explain The Need for Both Macrosociology
4.3
dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, and the social construction of and Microsociology
reality.
What is the focus of symbolic interactionism? Explain why we need both macrosociology and
4.4
In contrast to functionalists and conflict theorists, who as microsociology to understand social life.
macrosociologists focus on the “big picture,” symbolic inter-
actionists tend to be microsociologists and focus on face-to- Why are both levels of analysis necessary?
face social interaction. Symbolic interactionists analyze how Because macrosociology and microsociology focus on differ-
people define their worlds, and how their definitions, in turn, ent aspects of the human experience, each is necessary for us
influence their behavior. Pp. 108–111. to understand social life. Pp. 122–125.