Ch 4 Social Interaction and Social Structure - Key Terms

achieved statuses: positions that are earned or accomplished, or that involve at least some effort or activity on the individuals part (p. 82)

ascribed statuses: positions an individual either inherits at birth or receives involuntarily later in life p. 82)

background assumptions: deeply embedded common understandings, or basic rules, concerning our view of the world and how people ought to act (p. 97)

bioeconomic society: a society whose economy centers on the application of genetics (p. 89)

definition of the situation: see Thomas theorem.

division of labor: the splitting of a group's or a society's tasks into specialties (p. 91)

dramaturgy: an approach, pioneered by Erving Goffman, in which social life is analyzed in terms of drama or the stage; also called dramaturgical analysis (p. 95)

ethnomethodology: the study of how people use background assumptions to make sense of life (p. 97

face-saving behavior: techniques people use to salvage a performance that is going sour (p. 96)

Gemeinshaft: a type of society in which life is intimate; a community in which everyone knows everyone else and people share a sense of togetherness (p. 91)

Gesellshaft: a type of society that is dominated by impersonal relationships, individual accomplishments, and self-interest (p. 91)

group: people who have something in common and who believe that what they have in common is important; also called a social group (p. 85)

horticultural society: a society based on cultivating plants by the use of tools (p. 87)

hunting and gathering society: a human group dependent on hunting and gathering for survival (p. 85)

impression management: people's efforts to control the impressions that others receive of them (p. 95)

Industrial Revolution: the third social revolution occurring when machines powered by fuels replaced most animal and_ human power (p. 87)

macrosociology: analysis of social life focusing on broad features of social structure, such as social class and the relationships of groups to one another; an approach usually used by functionalists and conflict theorists (p. 80)

master status: a status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies (p. 84)

mechanical solidarity: Durkheim's term for the unity (a shared consciousness) that people feel as a result of performing the same or similar tasks (p. 91)

microsociology: analysis of social life that focuses on social interaction; an approach usually used by symbolic interactionists (p. 80)

organic solidarity: solidarity based on the interdependence that results from the division of labor; people needing others to fulfill their jobs (p. 91)

pastoral society: a society based on the pasturing of animals (p. 87)

role: the behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status (p. 84)

role conflict: conflicts that someone feels between roles because the expectations attached to one role are incompatible with the expectations of another role (p. 95)

role strain: conflicts that someone feels within a role (p. 96)

social class: according to Weber, a large number of people who rank close to one another in wealth, power, and prestige; according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who own the means of production, or workers, who sell their labor (p. 82)

social construction of reality: the use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real (p. 97)

social institution: the organized, usual, or standard ways by which society meets its basic needs (p. 85)

social interaction: what people do when they are in one another's presence (p. 80)

social structure: the framework that surrounds us, consisting of the relationship of people and groups to one another, which give direction to and set limits on behavior (p. 81)

society: people who share a culture and a territory (p. 85)

status: social ranking; the position that someone occupies in society or a social group (p. 82)

status inconsistency: a contradiction or mismatch between statuses; a condition in which a person ranks high on some dimensions of social class and low on others (p. 84)

status set: all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies (p. 82)

status symbols: items used to identify a status (p. 83)

teamwork: the collaboration of two or more people to manage impressions jointly (p. 96)

Thomas theorem: William 1. And Dorothy S. Thomas' classic formulation of the definition of the situation: "If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences." (p. 97)