Social Role And Institutions And Social Groups example essay topic

Seventy male students at Stanford University were asked to participate in an experiment designed by Dr. Philips Zimbardo. Students were paid to give up their vacation and volunteer for the simulated prison experience in the basement corridor of a classroom building. By a flip of a coin, half were designated as prisoners and the others as guards. The guards were instructed to establish their own rules to maintain law and order.

Dr. Zimbardo designed this experiment to study prison life - whether the brutality in prisons is a result of guard brutality. The volunteers were selected after proper screening. Two dozen mature; intelligent and emotionally stable young people had been selected out of 70 applicants. None of them were anti-social and their reason for joining the experiment was money. Even though the experiment was designed for 6 weeks, it barely lasted a week. The student guards had been told that they were responsible for maintaining law and order in the mock prison, using their own rules and regulations.

Within days some guards had become "guard-like", treating prisoners with cruelty. They became abusive, they shouted commands, and treated prisoners like animals. In one case a guard ordered a prisoner into "solitary confinement" and forced him to stay overnight in a small closet. Soon after the experiment began, the prisoners became very depressed, apathetic, and helpless - or rebellious and angry. Some cried hysterically. The situation became intolerable.

Zimbardo was forced to abandon the mock prison study. The study indicated that people adopted predictable patterns of social interaction. The experiment showed that roles people play shape their thoughts, feelings and behavior because by the end of the week the experiment had become a reality. The majority had indeed become guards and prisoners!

Social interaction refers to the ways in which people respond to one another. The interactions may be personal or impersonal for example, talking over phone, communicating through computer etc. Even in the mock experiment, the social interactions between prisoners and guards were highly impersonal. Prisoners were addressed by prison numbers. Guards wore reflector sunglasses, which made eye contact impossible. The simulated prison had a social structure in which guards had complete control over the prisoners.

Social structure refers to the way in which society is organized into predictable relationships. The social structure in the experiment influenced the interactions and roles the subjects played. According to Zimbardo, it was a real prison in the minds of the subjects. To understand the interlink between social interactions and social structure is very important to sociologists. Social interaction shapes the way in which we view the world. Human beings interpret each other's actions and accordingly respond.

Social structure refers to the regular, predictable and lasting patterns that organize social relationships and social interactions. Social structure provides the framework for what we call society. By regular patterns it is meant that everyone behaves toward each other and this behavior falls into rather predictable patterns. Social structure includes everyday taken-for-granted acts like shaking hands. Social structure limits our freedom to act in certain ways, but it also frees us to act. It enables us to co-ordinate our behavior with other people to achieve both individual and collective goals.

For example, a football or crickets team. Even though the players and the setting vary, the overall structure of a football or a cricket team remains the same. Each member occupies a specific position, which is linked with specialized tasks, and these tasks are co-ordinated. Each player then contributes to the team's objective. They are able to play because all players follow rules and know what is expected of them. Without a social structure, the team would consist of unconnected individuals and there would not be any game.

The result would be chaos. Every season some new players join in and old players retire but the structure of the team remains the same. Elements of Social Structure: The four basic elements that lay the foundations of a social structure are - status, social role, and institutions (family, religion etc) and social groups. Social structure coordinates individual activities.

It transforms a group of individuals into a coordinated unit - the society. Thus social structure is a network of social relationships and statuses. Status and role: A student may act in one way toward the instructor (formal, hierarchical relationship), another way toward classmates (informal, egalitarian) and yet another way toward parents (informal, hierarchical). Different rules apply. Status is the position an individual occupies in a society, or the part an individual plays in a social drama. Status is a social address.

It tells the individual where she or he fits in society. Status refers to a full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society - from the lowest to the highest position. A person can hold more than one status at the same time - son, daughter, pianist, football player. Misjudging social status can cause embarrassment. For example if a student mistakes a young looking instructor for a graduate student. Some statuses are achieved or attained through personal effort (own choices and effort).

One must do something to acquire achieved status. Other social statuses are ascribed due to birth. Ascribed status is assigned to a person is assigned to a person by a society without any regard for her or his unique talents or characteristics. This assignment usually takes place at birth.

Even though these are biological traits, they have social meanings - Women, men, blacks and whites often occupy different statuses because of "what they are" and not what they do. Usually people can not do much to change their ascribed status. All these biological traits have social meanings. They reflect privileges or lack thereof. The ascribed status does not have the same meaning in all societies. For example, the view that respect for the elderly is an important cultural norm in China and India.

In many cases, the prefix "old" is used respectfully. It implies "your honor". Huang, a sociologist, points out that positive age seniority distinctions in language are absent in the United States. Consequently the term "old man" is viewed as an insult. A Master status is one that dominates all other traits and determines a person's general position within a society.

For example, in the U.S. people with disabilities find that their status as "disabled" is given more weight. In Japan there is a bias against people with disabilities - these people are discouraged from marrying or working. They are treated as a source of shame and are treated as outcasts. Often race and gender dominate our lives. Thus often an ascribed status can influence an achieved status. Mass media have contributed to stereotyping of people who are physically challenged by treating them with a mixture of pity and fear.

Political movements are now re-modeling laws so that physically challenged people can be fully integrated into the mainstream society. The law prohibits discrimination against physically challenged people in areas of employment, transport, public accommodations and telecommunications. Individuals may occupy many different roles at the same time. The same person may be a Mexican (ascribed status), an urban planner (achieved), a wife (achieved) etc. Daughter 20 years old Hispanic Female sister ME Classmate student Roommate Friend Employee Social Roles: Role is culturally defined rights, obligations and expectations that accompany a status. Status and role are opposite sides of the same coin.

For example, the word "father" implies - a male with children. The male is expected to support his children, nurture them and guide them until they are adults. From a functionalist perspective roles contribute to a society's stability by enabling people to anticipate behavior of others and pattern their own behavior. Social can also be dysfunctional by restricting people's interactions and relationships.

By defining the situation we get an idea of what is expected of us (our role). Our culture, family traditions and experience provide guidelines for our behavior. However, different people interpret different situations differently. Often defining a situation often becomes a collective process, although arriving at a collective definition is not always easy. Sometimes people may disagree completely about what the situation calls for. Social roles determine the nature of interactions.

Role conflict - occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions by the same person. Fulfilling role associated with one status might violate the role linked with a second status. For example, a working mother - by meeting requirements of a full-time job she certainly violates the expectation that a mother will put all her children's' need before anything else. In meeting the demands of motherhood, she violates the requirements of a 9 to 5 job.

Today some companies have father friendly policies for stay-at-home-fathers (paternity leave). These firms have a rather enlightened leave policy, giving workers (who are fathers) a year off. This certainly brings about a better work environment. Sometimes role conflict calls for important ethical choices for example the conflict between being a good worker or a good friend. Also, people experience role strain when a single role makes contradictory demands. For example by going to school a child may fulfill her or his parent's dreams.

But the child also learns to question things she or he always took for granted. Role set - refers to cluster of social relationships owing to the social status a person occupies. For example, a student who works at the campus bookstore is also the captain of football team, is also someone's son, brother, student etc. Role Exit: it is a process of disengagement from a role that is central to one's self-identity and re-establishment of an identity in a new role.

It refers to adjustment involved in leaving social roles. Social interactions - range from superficial contacts (strangers in the street or attending the same concert) to deep, long lasting, complex relationships (between husband and wife or parent and child). Some relationships are formal and others are free form. For example, a job interview or two children meeting in a park and playing. When seated while traveling, we take note of a person's gender, age, and clothing and adjust our behavior accordingly.

Thus numerous social forces shape interaction. Symbolic interaction ists focus on the role of language and other symbols in construction of relationships. Some draw an analogy between real life and the stage. For instance even if the audience knows the play, they do not know how each of the actors will interpret their roles and perform them. This is what happens in real life. Social expectations set the stage for interaction but still do not dictate behavior.

Each person interprets his or her role and hence acts accordingly, just like on a stage. Negotiations: In all social interactions, roles are subject to negotiation. Initially the participants present the image they want to show and gradually they edge into position they would like to claim. At the same time they note other people's reactions and perhaps adjust accordingly. Ideally they arrive at a workable definition of situation. Exchange and reciprocity Exchange is the key ingredient of all social relationships.

Reciprocity binds individuals to one another. The norm of reciprocity demands that we respond in kind to certain behavior. Whenever a person accepts a gift, invitation, assistance, advice or compliments, she or he is expected to reciprocate. Exchange may not be purely economical. It is more subtle and diffuse.

Because of the norm of reciprocity, one is not free to ignore a greeting from a friend. Summit meetings also involve norms of reciprocity. When Presidents reach arms agreement, each one has to convince her or his nation that they will receive benefits equal to what they are giving up. Social relationships Relationships take many different forms - some are multi faceted (people who work in the same company, living in the same area, having the same social circle) and others are single faced (coworkers who never meet after work, people who use the pool or gymnasium at the same time).

Some relationships involve face to face interaction (student - teacher), others are indirect (student and the dean of their university are involved in a relationship but never meet, or parents who take their children to the park or walk their dogs). Social Institutions: The media, health care systems, economy, the family are all social institutions. Social institutions are organized patterns of beliefs and behavior based on social needs. They help us understand social structure of a society. For example, the need to replace personnel is fulfilled by family and also the government (immigration). Need for family, economy, education, religion etc fulfill teaching new recruits.

This is the functionalist view. According to the conflict perspective, institutions such as education help to maintain privileges of the very powerful while contributing to the powerlessness of others. For example, public schools in the U.S. are financed through property taxes. This allows more affluent areas to provide their children with better-equipped schools and better-paid teachers than low-income areas can afford.

Children from prosperous schools may be better prepared to compete academically. As mentioned, societies are held together by relationships among people and also among institutions. Social institutions like the political (maintains social order and protects members of society); educational (ensures that young people acquire knowledge and skills to perform adult roles); economic (production and distribution of goods and services); religious (reinforces shared values and gives purpose to life) and family (cares for and raises children thus replacing members of society who have died or moved away). All institutions provide for our material needs, shape our understanding of the world and prepare us for the world of work. Other institutions include health care, legal systems, military, and entertainment.

Social institutions are stable sets of norms and values and social behavior. Although all social institutions are varied, they are interrelated and are parts of an integrated whole. They are deeply rooted in custom and tradition and establish links between past, present and future. Institutions play an important role in both social change and social continuity. For example the institution of marriage has undergone vast change. Life-long marriage is no longer taken for granted.

Divorce rates have gone up and people are also choosing to stay single. Remarriage is common but one can no longer assume that mother's husband is also the child's father. The child may refer to him as "mom's husband". Groups: A group is any number of people with similar social norms, values and expectations. Groups play a vital part in society's social structure. Much of social interaction occurs within groups and is influenced by norms and sanctions imposed by the group.

Social Networks (web of social contacts) This is the web of social relationships that connects an individual to many other people. Sometimes connections overlap and sometimes they lead to new relationships. When people meet at a party, they exchange cards and expand their networks. When we apply for jobs, we look for who can give us inside information. People are more likely to join jobs through networks than through newspaper ads or employment agencies. When we meet a stranger, we search for connections and often find them.

Members of a group feel they have something in common and draw a boundary between "us" and "them". Groups achieve consensus and most of the time some members become leaders and others become followers. The smallest possible group is dyad. This is a two-person group. People interact by sending and receiving messages and this way they also influence one another.

A dyad is extremely fragile compared to other groups. It depends on a high degree of commitment. There is no third party to mediate disputes. Members must reconcile their differences, endure continuing hostilities, or split. An example of a dyad is a husband and wife.

When a child is born, the group becomes a triad. Triad or a three-person group differs from a dyad in two important ways. Addition of a third person creates a possibility of coalition. Two can "gang up" against one. Mother and son can get together and oppose the dad. This shifts the balance of power.

Although triads divide into coalitions, members often shift alliances and that maintains solidarity. Also, a triad may lose a member and still be a group. But this is not true of a dyad. With the addition of a fourth member, complexity of the group increases. With five, the group becomes even more complex. The larger the group the more vulnerable it is to subdivisions.

This holds true for all - whether it is a group of children or it is nation states. As the number increases, so do the social roles. A husband and wife become a mother and father. If they have another child, the first born has another role - that of a sister or a brother. For example, brother and sister behave differently with classmates than they do with each other. Primary and secondary groups According to Cooley (1909), a primary group is a small, warm association based on ongoing, personal intimate relationships.

Members of a primary group care about one another, share experiences, and feel "at home" together. They have an intense feeling of belonging. They usually only argue of they feel they are not getting enough attention or if one member is being disloyal. They identify with one another's triumphs and disappointments.

To some extent they derive their identity from the group. A family is an example of a primary group. When family members step out, they interact with a larger structure. Secondary group is an impersonal association, where relationships are limited and instrumental. These are created to achieve specific goals.

They are a means to an end, not an end in themselves (like primary groups). Members do not know much about each other. They do not even have to like each other. Conversation is usually limited to small, polite talk. However, in reality, it is difficult to find groups that are purely primary or secondary. Some groups may start off as secondary and overtime turn into a primary group.

For example, a theatre company may start as a secondary group where members come together in rehearsals and performances, but they are likely to turn into a primary group (members become involved in one another's personal lives and sensitive to one another's moods) and even feel like a family. Groups to which people feel they belong are called in-groups and are referred to as "we"; while groups to which they feel they do not belong are out-groups, referred to as "them". Both in-groups and primary groups can influence the way an individual thinks and behaves. Individuals use these groups as a standard of evaluating themselves.

These are known as reference groups. Reference groups serve as normative function. By setting standards of conduct and belief. Individuals are often influenced by two or more reference groups. Family members, neighbors, coworkers shape the different aspects of an individual. Group behavior: Groups have a significant impact on the way people think and behave.

Patterns like emergence of leadership, response to group pressure and group decision making form traits of all groups. We often believe that leadership depends on personality traits. Research indicates that it is as much a trait of the group as it is of the individual. Participation is one criterion for leadership - a person who offers suggestions and opinions is more likely to be the leader.

Groups need two types of leaderships - instrumental - goal -oriented and the other, expressive leader who specializes in interpersonal relationships - resolving group conflicts and maintaining group morale. Sometimes one individual may fill both roles. Group conformity: Groups conformity often is seen in a negative light - as something which is blind, unreasoning, adherence to patterns of behavior established by others or to the demands of authority. However, to some degree, conformity is necessary. Also, groups have a great deal of power over its members (Asch's experiment of standard lines and comparison lines).

Loyalty to the group may lead to groupthink. Once a tentative decision has been made, members of the group withhold information that may cast doubt on that course of action. They don't want to be seen as criticizing their colleagues or as "rocking the boat". If outside experts raise doubts, members unite in opposing and discrediting the information. Organizations As societies have advanced technologically, social structures have become more complex and our lives have become increasingly dominated by secondary groups which take the form of formal organization designed for a specific purpose. CAE is an example of a formal organization.

Formal organizations fulfill personal and social needs and shape the lives of all individuals. Formal organizations became inevitable in countries that had state controlled irrigation networks (India, China). To see how formal organizations develop let us see the example of a carpenter. HE began his life as a self-employed artisan who performed all the tasks himself.

He cut the wood, sawed it, made furniture and sold it. As his business grew, he could not personally serve it. At first he hired a single assistant. As it grew more, he had to hire a small group of workers each of them specialized in a specific aspect of furniture making. Before long, the carpenter had become the owner of a small furniture factory. He also found that by coordinating the work of several assistants he could produce furniture more quickly and with less expense.

This convergence from one-person operation to a small group of workers is called bureaucracy. Thus a bureaucracy is a formal organization where rules and hierarchical ranking are used to achieve efficiency. Characteristics of a bureaucracy include: Division of labor; Hierarchy of authority, written rules and regulations, impersonality and employment based on technical qualifications. All these have both negative and positive consequences. Division of labor - it produces efficiency in large-scale corporations but it produced a narrow perspective. Hierarchy of authority - it clarifies who is in command but deprives the employees of a voice in decision-making and permits concealment of mistakes.

Written rules - let workers know what is expected of them but stifles imagination and initiative and may lead to goal displacement due to excessive conformity. Impersonality - reduces bias but contributes to feeling of alienation and discourages loyalty to company. Employment based in technical qualifications - discourages favoritism but discourages one to improve oneself elsewhere. Weber viewed an ideal type of bureaucracy. He emphasized its positive aspects. No actual organization corresponds to Weber's ideal type..