Basic Sociological Concepts - Social Structure: Statuses, Roles, and Norms

How Do We Understand Social Context?

  1. Social order:

    • Why does social context matter? Because it provides \textbf{order} in our world.
    • Sociologists often study the processes that enable social order; the formal and informal rules that allow society to function.
    • Social order is created and maintained through:
      1. Laws and formal rules
      2. Informal social processes/factors

  2. Social context defined:

    • Definition:

      Social Context (Social Environment): External reality formed by interactions between individuals.

    • Notes on the definition:

      1. Can range from micro (family) to macro (nation).
      2. Individuals live in multiple contexts at the same time (e.g., family, religious group, city, nation).
      3. Individuals experience the primacy of one context over others at particular times.
      4. Sociologists seek to uncover, understand, and explain different social contexts, as well as their influence over individual behavior.

  3. Social Structure and Culture:

    • They way sociologists study social context is by analyzing two major aspects of it:

      1. Social structure
      2. Culture

    • Social Structure:

      The predictable rules or patterns of interaction between people and groups.

      • How relations among people are structured.
      • How parts of society are related.

    • Culture:

      What the structures interactions mean.

      1. Shared system of meaning that exists in any society/social context.
      2. Shared way of life - shared way of doing things/practices that undergird structure.

    • Social Structure and culture enable social order -> allows us to know how to behave.

    • Social Structure and culture co-exist in social contexts.

Social Structure: Status and Role

  1. Status

    • Definition:

      Social positions people occupy.

      Any social position that has rights, obligations, and expectations that go along with that position.

    • Ascribed status:

      A position given at birth or assigned at different stages of life.

    • Achieved status:

      A position acquired through personal effort.

    • Status-set: combination of various statuses. It is the sum of positions that we occupy in society.

    • Master status: when one status assumes a certain priority and appears to override other statuses that you hold.

  2. Role

    The expressions and behavior of a person who occupies a particular status.

    • Roles involve expressions and behaviors that are appropriate to the status.

    • Roles define our interactions with occupants of other statuses.

    • Roles involve not just actions, but also expressions of feeling and emotion.

    • Statuses vs. Roles

  3. Status and Role in Interaction: Goffman

    • Goffman: People in their everyday interactions are like \textbf{actors performing on a stage}

    • Social interaction = theatrical performance

    • Status = Character in a play

    • Role = Script; the dialogue and action of the character.

      Example: Our "performance" includes:

      • The way we dress (costume)
      • The objects we carry (props)
      • Our tone of voice and gestures (manner)
      • Performances vary according to where we are (context/set)

    • "Presentation of Self" = each individuals' performance.

      • Individuals can influence the performance.
      • As we present ourselves in everyday situations, we reveal information to others.
      • We try to create specific impressions about ourselves.
      • This is also called "impression management"
      • It has several distinct elements:
        1. Defining the situation (set) a certain way
        2. Presenting a certain status
        3. Managing how we play our role
        4. Working consensus - overall agreement on definition of the situation.

    • Stage 1 - "Definition of the Situation": This is like the stage/set

      • We know something about the play simply by seeing the set or setting.
      • We "define" interactions with other people based on information we initially perceive about the setting:
        1. Physical surroundings
        2. Props
      • We also "define" the situation based on people's \textbf{statuses}.
      • When we interact, we are constantly searching for \textbf{cues to their statuses}.

    • Stage 2 - "Presentation of Self": Here is where the play begins: the action or interaction begins

      • We play the role connected to our status (or the status we would like to have):

        1. The techniques that people use to get others to see them in a certain light.

        2. How we give information to others that we interact with - express ourselves.

        3. Expressiveness of the individual: a. Expressions given = verbal communication

          b. Expressions given off = non-verbal communication - gestures; facial expressions

    • Stage 3 - "Managing the Situation": Here, individuals can "manage" aspects of the performance in order to get people to see them a certain way - Going beyond the mere script (role)

      • Individual who is presenting self can manage the situation to some extent
      • To control conduct of others, especially their treatment of you. -> Must get others to define the situation the way you do.
      • Can do this by managing your expressions.

    • Stage 4 - "Working Consensus":

      • For interactions to be successful, people must agree about the definition of the situation.

      • Must agree on statuses and roles for particular context.

      • Definition:

        Together the participants contribute to a single overall-definition of the situation, which involves:

        1. Not so much real agreement as to what exists.
        2. But rather real agreement as to whose "definition" will be honored in that situation.

  4. Summary of Goffman: Interaction is like play

    We can present ourselves in a certain way, manage impressions of ourselves, and define situation:

    • Because of our shared understanding of statuses.
    • Because those statuses have roles and expectations attached to them.
    • And expectations associated with roles are norms.

Social Structure: Norms and Social Control

  1. Norms:

    • Definition:

      The shared rules and expectations that govern our behavior.

      1. Norms vary depending on context or situation.

      2. Norms are most often tied to \textbf{statuses}, and govern \textbf{roles}. $$ \text{Status}\ \longrightarrow\ \text{Role}\ \longrightarrow\ \text{Norms} $$

    • Norms inform us how we are to act, toward whom, where, and when.

    • And, not only how we are to act, but to anticipate in others.

  2. Social Control:

    • Norms make our interactions orderly and predictable.

    • Thus, society has mechanisms to ensure that people conform to norms.

    • Definition:

      The ways that society (people or institutions) attempts to keep people in line with social norms.

    • Types of Social Control:

      • Positive sanction: Rewards for approved behavior.

      • Negative sanction: Punishment for disapproved behaviors.

    • Mechanisms of Social Control:

      • Vary in severity
      • Vary informality

  3. Further Characteristics of Social Norms:

    • Norms are comprehensive

      • Norms shape all our behavior.
      • Even our perceptions - how we perceive things have predictable patterns.

    • Norms vary in intensity: Norms vary in the intensity of their moral significance.

      • "Mores": Norms that have great moral significance; very important to a society.
      • "Folkways": Norms for routine or casual interaction in a society.

  4. Limits to Norms:

    • Norms can be manipulated:

      • As Goffman shows, we can regulate our "presentation of self" in society.
      • We can also engage in "role distance"
      • Show we aren't really occupier of a particular status.

    • Norms are not always clearly defined.

      • Case of unclear script
      • Very often with new statuses in society

    • Status Conflict:

      In some cases, roles are incompatible because statuses are in conflit.

  5. Norms in Interaction: Goffman

    Example: Cahill's article on "Front Stage/Back Stage" of bathrooms

    • Front stage is public place where we expect to "perform".
    • Back stage is area where we get ready for our front stage performances.
    • Different "norms" govern these spaces.
    • Questions to consider:
      • What is the purpose of the public bathroom?
      • What are the two performance regions and how are they regarded?
      • How do people interact in public bathrooms - what are the bathroom "interpersonal rituals"?
      • What are the norms that govern interaction in this particular social context, with its distinct performance regions?
      • Why do we have these norms?
      • What is a secondary purpose of the public bathroom?
    • In summary, why do we do certain things in a bathroom? (The norms in this private yet public setting)
      • Show that we are loyal to the "behavioral guidelines" of our society (norms/values about privacy and bodily functions)
      • Contribute to social order

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