Social Structure & Interaction

1. How do ascribed and achieved statuses serve to identify who a person is in a culture?

What are reference groups? How are reference groups experienced in society?

An individual is placed in certain social strata, based on two factors; his or her ascribed

and achieved statuses. While the achieved status is one which the person worked to obtain, and at

least for a period of time will be associated with that status, the ascribed status is not always an

absolute. There are cases when an individual is supposed to fall in one category but lives up to

something different; the child raised in a household rampant with domestic violence but grows

into an affluent member of society who does not commit crimes or have violent tendencies for

example.

There are however, countless times were an individuals status will dictate who he or she

is, and it is not necessarily the individual who is solely responsible for his or her outcome, the

way that society interacts with the individual will have a profound effect. Indian culture is a good

example of this; if you are borne to a specific caste, you are treated according to how society

views that caste. It becomes the luck of the draw, and has nothing to do with ones own hard

work or merit earned.

When looking for guidance for behavior, an individual may look to others for examples

of how he or she should act in various situations, this is where the reference group comes into

play.

Where I work in San Bernardino, the youth who grow up in poverty and danger of

violence, with drug abuse and narcotic sales taking place in plain sight the group they look to for

guidance is the ones which are appearing to be surviving better than others, so they take on the

persona and characteristics of the gangs which dominate their neighborhoods. (Austin Toole)
 2. What is a social role (give examples)? How does one violate his or her role? What is

meant by role exit? And how does role exit relate to the socialization process?

Distinguish between primary and secondary groups (give examples).

Social status describes the position a person occupies relative to others. A person can

have multiple statuses at the same time. For example one can have the status of female, mother,

waitress, and resident of Pasadena. For each status there are specific behavioral expectations

known as social roles. For example, a mother is expected to provide and protect her children, a

waitress is expected to be polite, greet customers, serve and take orders. One can violate his or

her role by not obliging to what is expected from them. A negligent mother, or a waitress who

does not ask what customers would like to eat would be violating their social roles.

Role exit is the process we go through when we disengage from a significant role in

order to establish a new one. The socialization process is needed in order to learn the new

attitudes, beliefs, and values of the culture in which their new role will occupy.

The terms primary and secondary groups coined by Cooley describe two types of social

groups and differ in characteristics and functions. A primary group is a small group that is made

up of individuals who associate in personal, face-to-face, and long-term interactions. Primary

groups are close-knit and serve emotional needs. Families and close friends are examples of

primary groups. Secondary groups are larger in size and impersonal. They are focused on

completing goals and tasks and are usually temporary. Examples of secondary groups are college

classes and political parties. (Jessica Sada)

3. What is meant by in-group and out-group? How is in-group connected to primary

group? How is out group connected to secondary group?

 What is meant by an in-group and out-group is that an in-group are part of an only group

of people that are or have shared interests and same type of identity. An example of this would be

particularly people who love to read only hanging out with other people that like to read because

they have the same type of interests and it is easier to get along with each other . An outgroup is

a group of people who are more likely to be the ones who are singled out of a group. An example

of an out-group would be one person who loves to skateboard in a group filled with people who

love to read. Completely different types of interests and personalities that it would be difficult to

try to fit in.

In-group is connected to primary group because both have to do with same personalities

therefore, they are able to cooperate with each other more freely and are able to help each other

out more frequently. They can also grow more together as people with the same preferences as

well. How outgroup is connected to secondary group is that both groups have a harder time

trying to communicate as a group and then end up having to work alone and making them more

far apart rather than closer to each other. (Anthony Mendoza)

4. What are the five functional prerequisites that a society must satisfy if it is to survive?

Describe the differences between organic and mechanical solidarity.

A society must have a core of family, education, religion, economy, and government.

With family, people are able to produce a population and they can teach their kids about culture.

The family also protects their children. With education, people are taught formal culture. A side

effect is that people are able to socialize outside of their family, With religion, people are able to

have meaning with shared practices. Government is also important because the government

makes the laws that keep everything in order. Lastly, economy allows people to produce and
distribute goods. Each society has a different way of operating, so how important each of these

will be different for each society.

Mechanical solidarity is usually happens when people all work doing the same thing. An

example of this is like farming work. The group will feel closer because they share values.

People would grow up already knowing what they will do for the rest of their lives in mechanical

solidarity. There isnt much individuality because people all do similar things. Organic solidarity

is similar to how society works today. Work today is specialized, so there is less shared values

between people and more focus on individualism. An example is that it takes a lot of different

type of people to build a building nowadays. The thing is that even though people may feel less

close than in mechanical solidarity, they need each other more than ever to make things work.

(Leslie Wong)