Understanding Key Concepts and Theories | Môn Sociology - Trường Đại học Quốc tế, Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING SOCIOLOGY I/ What Is Sociology?
- Sociology is, simply, the scientific study of social behavior and human groups.
- It focuses on social relationships; how those relationships influence people’s behavior;
and how societies develop and change.
❖ The Sociological Imagination
- A leading sociologist, C. Wright Mil s described such thinking as the sociological
imagination—an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider
society, both today and in the past (Mil s [1959] 2000a).
- The sociological imagination allows us to go beyond personal experiences and
observations to understand broader public issues.
- Example: Divorce is unquestionably a personal hardship for a husband and wife who
split apart. However, C. Wright Mil s advocated using the sociological imagination to
view divorce not as simply an individual’s personal problem but rather as a societal
concern. Using this perspective, we can see that an increase in the divorce rate
actually redefines a major social institution— the family. Today’s households frequently
include stepparents and half-siblings whose parents have divorced and remarried.
Through the complexities of the blended family, this private concern becomes a public
issue that affects schools, government agencies, businesses, and religious institutions.
Other examples such as the unemployment rate.
- A key element is viewing society from an outsider’s perspective
❖ Sociology and the Social Sciences
1. Natural science: is the study of the physical features of nature and the ways in
which they interact and change. Astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, and physics are all natural sciences.
2. Social science: is the study of the social features of humans and the ways in which
they interact and change. The social sciences include sociology, anthropology,
economics, history, psychology, and political science.The common focus is on the social behavior of people
3. science: the body of knowledge obtained by methods of systematic observation ❖ Sociologists study:
• The influence that society has on people’s attitudes and behavior.
• The ways people interact and shape society. Examples:
• The reasons many Americans deny that climate change is occurring or feel that
humanactivities are not responsible.
• How the impact of climate change is not evenly felt.
• Episodes of extreme violence and hatred.
• How to respond to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hurricanes Harvey andIrma in 2017. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
❖ Sociology and Common Sense
1. Sociology: is a social science based on research, data collection, and objective
analysis to understand social structures and patterns. Sociology does not rely on what
"seems true" but rather on systematic evidence and theories.
2. Common Sense: is based on personal experience, intuition, and what people
generally accept without scientific verification. These are often long-held societal
beliefs but can be inaccurate or incomplete.
-Example for both (1) & (2): Common sense might say that poor people are poor because they
are lazy, but sociology would study factors like economic structures, social inequality, and
educational opportunities to provide more accurate and in-depth explanations.
II/ What Is Sociological Theory?
- Theory: a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behaviors.
- In sociology, a theory is a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or
behavior. An effective theory may have both explanatory and predictive power.
- That is, it can help us to see the relationships among seemingly isolated phenomena,
as well as to understand how one type of change in an environment leads to other changes.
III/ The Development of Sociology (It was born in 19th century as a response to the
major social changes during the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution, as
European societies underwent rapid changes in economics, politics, and social structures) ❖
Auguste Comte (1798–1857): Early thinker, he divided sociology in 2 parts :
+ Social statics (the study of the stability of society)
+ Social dynamics (the study of social change and development).
+ Believed in the need for a theoretical science of society and a systematic investigation of behavior. + Coined the term sociology
❖ Herbert Spencer (1820–1903): Spencer applied the concept of evolution of the
species to societies in order to explain how they change, or evolve, over time.
+ Sociology and free thought. Applied Darwin’s work on evolution of species to societies
to explain how they change over time.
+ Work: "The Principles of Sociology" và "The Study of Sociology,"
+ "Survival of the fittest" (tồn tại của những người phù hợp)
+ Hoped to understand society better, not improve it
❖ Harriet Martineau (1802 to 1876): Early thinker +
Wrote the first book on sociological methods.
+ Work emphasized the impact that economy, law, trade, health, and population could have on social problems.
❖ Émile Durkheim (1858–1917): Appointed as one of the first sociology professors in
France. Developed a theory to explain how an individual behavior—suicide—can be
understood within a social context.
+ “Anomie” refers to the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual
behavior has become ineffective. Often, the state of anomie occurs during a time of
profound social change, when people have lost their sense of purpose or direction. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
+ In a period of anomie, people are so confused and unable to cope with the new social
environment that they may resort to death by suicide.Durkheim was concerned about
the dangers that alienation, loneliness, and isolation might pose for modern industrial societies.
+ He researched issues such as social cohesion and the role of religion in society.
❖ Max Weber (1864–1920): Weber made significant contributions to the study of
rationality, power, and the influence of culture and religion on economic development.
He also emphasized the importance of understanding the subjective motivations
behind social behavior, which he referred to as "verstehen". Weber’s work was a
response to the work of Karl Marx
❖ Karl Marx (1818–1883): Marx was not an official sociologist, but his theories on class
conflict, capitalism, and labor have significantly influenced the development of
sociology, particularly in analyzing inequality and power. Marx argued that society is
divided between two classes that clash in pursuit of their own interests. + Owners versus the workers.
+ Economic, social, and political relationships allowed owners to maintain power and dominance over workers.
+ Marx’s writings inspired others who would later lead communist revolutions in Russia,
China, Cuba, and other countries. His work emphasized how group identifications can
influence an individual’s place in society.
+ With Friedrich Engels (1820 to 1895), produced The Communist Manifesto: Masses of
the people, the proletariat, should overthrow capitalist societies.
❖ W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963): was an early Black American sociologist, historian, and
civil rights activist, known as one of the most important thinkers in the history of
sociology and the civil rights movement in the United States. He argued that knowledge
was essential to combat prejudice and achieve tolerance.
+ Advocated research on the lives of Blacks in the United States.
+ Helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
+ Double consciousness: division of an individual’s identity into two or more social realities.
IV/ Twentieth-Century Developments
❖ Charles Horton Cooley (1864 to 1929): Used the sociological perspective to study
face-to-face groups such as families, gangs, and friendship networks.
❖ Jane Addams (1860 to 1935): + Cofounded the Hull House.
+ Worked to establish a juvenile court system and a women’s trade union.
❖ Robert Merton (1910 to 2003):
+ Developed a key theory to explain deviant behavior.
+ Emphasized the need to bring together macro-level and micro-level sociological approaches.
+ Macrosociology: focuses on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations.
+ Microsociology: focuses on small groups.
+ Mesosociology: studies formal organizations and social movements +
Global sociology: makes comparisons among nations.
❖ Pierre Bourdieu (1930 to 2002):
+ Wrote about the different forms of capital.
+ Capital sustains individuals and families from one generation to the next. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
+ Cultural capital: noneconomic goods that are reflected in knowledge of language and the arts.
+ Social capital: the collective benefit of social networks, which are built on reciprocal trust.
V/ Major Theoretical Perspectives
The three most widely used perspectives in sociology:
• Functionalist perspective. • Conflict perspective. • Interactionist perspective.
❖ Functionalist perspective: emphasizes how the parts of society are
structured to maintain social stability
Talcott Parsons (1902 to 1979):
• Key sociologist in the functionalist perspective.
• Viewed society as a network of connected parts.
• Each part helps maintain the social system.
Manifest functions: the open, stated, and conscious functions of institutions.
Latent functions: the unintended consequences of an institution.
• May reflect hidden purposes.
Dysfunctions: elements or processes of society that can disrupt the social system or reduce stability.
VI/ Conflict Perspective
Conflict perspective: assumes social behavior is best understood in terms of
tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources. Forms of tension can include:
• Labor negotiations. • Party politics.
• Competition for religious group membership. • Budget disputes.
❖ Conflict Perspective—The Marxist View
Based on the work of Karl Marx.
Conflict is now viewed as a part of everyday life. Conflict theorists:
• Focus on how social institutions maintain privilege and subservience
ofdifferent groups. • Emphasize social change. • Emphasize the redistribution
of resources. • Are more radical than functionalists. ❖ Conflict Perspective—Feminism lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
Feminist perspective: inequity in gender is central to all behavior and organization.
The focus tends to be on the macro level.
Women’s subordination is inherent in capitalist societies.
+Intersectionalities: the interlocking matrix of domination.
• Multiple social factors—such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation,and
religion—help determine privilege and lack of privilege. ❖ Conflict
Perspective—Queer Theory
Queer theory: the study of society from the perspective of a broad
spectrum of sexual identities, including: • Heterosexuality. • Homosexuality. • Bisexuality.
Foucault wrote that what is acceptable human sexuality varies between cultures
and periods of time. Sedgwick argued that analyzing society is incomplete
without including sexual identities.
VII/ Interactionist Perspective
Interactionist perspective: generalizes about everyday forms of social
interaction to explain society as a whole.
Humans are viewed as living in a world of meaningful objects, including:
• Material things. • Actions. • Other people. • Relationships. • Symbols.
Symbols are especially important to this perspective.
• Central to communication. • Have a shared meaning among all members ofsociety.
Nonverbal communication: gestures, facial expressions, and postures. • All express meaning.
George Herbert Mead (1863 to 1931):
• Founder of the interactionist perspective.
• Wanted sociologists to focus more on the micro level of behavior
Erving Goffman (1922 to 1982):
• Developed the dramaturgical approach, in which people are seen astheatrical performers.
• Compared everyday life to the settings of the theater and stage.
• Presentation of self in public and private settings lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008 CHAPTER 3: CULTURE I/ What Is Culture?
❖ Culture: the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge,
material objects, and behavior.
• Includes the ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people.
• Consists of all objects in a society.
❖ Society: a fairly large number of people living in the same territory, who
are relatively independent of people outside their area, and who
participate in a common culture.
• The largest form of a human group.
Culture is learned and transmitted from one generation to the next.
Having a common culture simplifies daily interactions.
People take for granted small cultural patterns:
• Theaters provide seats for the audience. • Doctors won’t discuss
confidentialinformation. • Parents will care for their children.
“Culture industry”: the worldwide media industry that standardizes goods and
services demanded by consumers.
• Philosopher Theodor Adorno: the primary effect is to limit people’s choices.
II/ Cultural Universals
Cultural universals: certain common practices and beliefs that all societies have developed.
• Many are adaptations to meet essential human needs
Anthropologist George Murdock compiled a list of cultural universals, which includes:
• Athletic sports. • Visiting. • Personal names. • Marriage. • Funeral ceremonies. • Sexual restrictions. III/ Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism: the tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life
represents the norm or is superior to others. •
A person’s group is the center or defining point of culture, and all
othercultures are deviations from what is “normal.” lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008 •
Our view of the world is dramatically influenced by the society in which wewere raised.
IV/ Cultural Relativism
Cultural relativism: viewing people’s behaviors from the perspective of their own culture.
• Priority is placed on understanding other cultures. • Employs value neutrality.
Cultural relativism does not suggest we must unquestionably accept every cultural variation.
It does require an unbiased effort to consider the distinctive culture in evaluating
norms, values, and customs. V/ Sociobiology and Culture
Sociobiology: the systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior.
• Sociobiologists assert that many cultural traits are not learned but are rootedin our genetic makeup.
Sociobiology is founded on Darwin’s theory of evolution.
• Natural selection: term coined by Darwin to describe the process ofadaptation
to the environment through random genetic variation.
Sociobiologists assume that particular forms of behavior become genetically
linked to a species if they contribute to its fitness to survive.
Ex: (ví dụ: khả năng tìm kiếm thức ăn, tránh nguy hiểm) có thể trở thành di sản
di truyền qua các thế hệ.
Instead of focusing on individual behavior, they focus on how human nature is
affected by the genetic composition of a group of people who share certain characteristics.
Most social scientists agree that there is a biological basis for social behavior;
but most sociologists would likewise agree that it is behavior that defines social reality. VI/ Role of Language
Language is one of the major elements of culture. An abstract system of word
meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
• Fundamental to shared culture. • Foundation of every culture.
• Important component of cultural capital—the noneconomic assets reflectedin
a person’s knowledge of language and the arts.
• Facilitates day-to-day exchanges.
Language includes both the written and spoken word and nonverbal communication.
Language shapes the reality of a culture.
• For example, gender-related language.
Nonverbal communication: the use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate.
• Like other forms of language, these are learned expressions.
Symbols: the gestures, objects, and words that form the basis of human communication.
• Many symbols are rich in meaning and may not convey the same meaning inall social contexts. NORMS
Norms: the established standards of behavior maintained by a society. To be
significant, a norm must be widely shared and understood.
For example: one persistent social norm in contemporary society is heterosexuality.
• One in five mothers sees homosexuality as abnormal.
• One in four mothers teaches her young children that homosexuality is wrong.•
Only one in four parents has even considered whether his or her child might grow up to be gay or lesbian.
Formal norms: generally have been written down and specify strict punishment for violators.
Law: formal norms enforced by the state.
• Described by sociologist Donald Black as “governmental social
control.”Informal norms: generally understood but not precisely recorded.
• Standards of proper dress are an example
Mores: norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society.
• Societies demand obedience to mores.
• The United States has strong mores against murder, treason, and childabuse.
Folkways: norms governing everyday behavior.
• Society is less likely to formalize folkways.
• Violations do not raise much concern.
Sanctions: penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
• Positive sanctions: include pay raises, medals, words of gratitude, and patson the back.
• Negative sanctions: include fines, threats, imprisonment, and stares ofcontempt.
People do not follow norms in all situations.
• A norm may be weakly enforced.
• A behavior may adhere to a group norm but not a societal norm.
• Norms may be violated because they conflict with other norms.
Acceptance of norms is subject to change.
• For example, norms regarding interracial marriage have changed over
time.Sudden violation of longstanding cultural norms can upset an entire population. VALUES
Values: the collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper—or
bad, undesirable, and improper—in a culture.
• Indicate what people in a culture prefer, find important, find morally right or wrong.
• Can be specific or general.
Values, norms, and sanctions are often directly related to each other.
Values can differ in subtle ways not just among individuals and groups, but from one culture to another.
• Example: “cram schools,” which are valued in Japan but are considered an unfair advantage in Korea.
• Example: public opinion regarding government efforts to reduce income inequality.
VII/ Global Culture War
The polarization of society over controversial cultural elements has been
referred to as the “culture war.”
• In 1990s, the term referred to political debates over abortion, religious
expression, gun control, and sexual orientation.
• Soon, especially after 9/11, it took on a global meaning.
Research over the past 30 years finds that around the world, certain values are widely shared.
Nevertheless, some scholars see the conflicts of the early 21st century as a “clash of civilizations.”
• The concept discuses the sharp divisions that exist within large groups. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
VIII/ Sociological Perspectives on Culture
-Functionalists maintain that social stability requires a consensus and the
support of society’s members and that strong central values and common norms provide that support.
-Conflict theorists argue that the common culture serves to maintain the privileges of certain groups.
-Both agree that culture and society are mutually supportive.
-The conflict perspective argues the dominant ideology has major social significance.
-Dominant ideology: a set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain
powerful social, economic, and political interests. The most powerful groups:
• Control wealth and property.
• Control the means of producing beliefs about reality—through religion, education, and the media. IX/ Cultural Variation
Cultures adapt to meet specific circumstances.
• Climate, level of technology, population, and geography.
Even within a single nation, groups develop cultural patterns that differ from those of the dominant society X/ Subcultures
Subculture: a segment of society that shares distinctive pattern of mores,
folkways, and values that differs from those of the larger society. • The
existence of subcultures is characteristic of complex societies.
Argot: a specialized language that distinguishes a subculture from the wider society.
• Allows insiders to understand words with special meanings.
• Establishes patterns of communication outsiders can’t understand. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008 XI/ Countercultures
Counterculture: a subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes
certain aspects of the larger culture.
Countercultures typically thrive among the young.
Counterterrorism experts in United States are concerned about the growth of
ultraconservative militia groups.
• Tend to be anti government, and often tolerate racism. XII/ Culture Shock
Culture shock: a feeling of disorientation, uncertainty, being out of place, or
fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture.
• People tend to take for granted the cultural practices of their society.
• Customs that seem strange are considered normal and proper in other cultures.
XIII/ Development of Culture around the World
Innovation: the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture.
Discovery: involves making known or sharing existence of an aspect of reality.
Invention: results when existing cultural items are combined into form that did not exist before.
XIV/ Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology
Diffusion: the process by which cultural items spread from group to group or society to society.
McDonaldization of society: how the principles of fast-food restaurants,
developed in the United States, have come to dominate throughout the world (George Ritzer).
• Hair salons and medical clinics now take walks-ins.
• Religious groups use marketing techniques.
McDonaldization is associated with the melding of cultures.
Technology: cultural information about how to use material resources of the
environment to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski).
Technology accelerates the diffusion of scientific innovations. Technology transmits culture. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
Material culture: the physical or technological aspects of daily lives.
Nonmaterial culture: ways of using material objects; and customs, beliefs,
philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication.
Culture lag: the period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture struggles to
adapt to new material conditions.
CHAPTER 5: SOCIAL INTERACTION, GROUPS, SOCIAL STRUCTUE I/ A Look Ahead
Social interaction: the ways in which people respond to one another, whether
face-to-face or over the telephone or on the computer.
Social structure: the way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships.
This chapter looks at the following:
• What determines a person’s status in society?
• How do our social roles affect our social interactions?
• What is the place of social institutions such as the family, religion,
andgovernment in our social structure?
II/ Social Interaction and Reality
Reality is shaped by our perceptions, evaluations, and definitions.
Our response to someone’s behavior is based on the meaning we attach to his or her actions.
Further, that meaning is shaped by our interactions with the larger society.
The nature of social interaction and what constitutes reality varies across cultures.
• In Western cultures, couples see marriage as both a relationship and asocial
status; and professions of love are an expected part of marriage.
• In Japan, marriage is considered more of a social status. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
The ability to define social reality reflects a group’s power within a society.
Members of subordinate groups challenge traditional definitions and begin to
perceive and experience reality in a new way.
III/ Elements of Social Structure
Social structures can be broken down into five elements:
• Statuses. • Social roles. • Groups. • Social networks. • Social institutions. STATUS
Status: any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or
society, from lowest to highest. A person can hold more than one status at the same time.
Examples: • Son or daughter. • Neighbor. • Student or teacher. • Parents.
Ascribed status: assigned to a person by society without regard for the
person’s unique talents or characteristics.
• Generally assigned at birth.
• Examples include race, gender, and age.
• Significant because of social meanings.
Achieved status: status one earns through one’s own efforts.
• Examples: lawyer, social worker, prisoner, and computer programmer. Statuses are complex.
• Ascribed status heavily influences achieved status.
• Whether ascribed or achieved, a status can be positive or negative.
• Some statuses can be either achieved or ascribed, depending on thecircumstances.
Master status: a status that dominates other statuses and determines a
person’s general position in society.
• For example, many people find that their status of disabled receives undueweight. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008 SOCIAL ROLES
Social role: a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status.
Role conflict: occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more
social positions held by the same person.
• Roles of one status may conflict with roles of another status.
• Conflict can also occur when individuals move into occupations that are
notcommon among people with their ascribed status.
Role strain: the difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes
conflicting demands and expectations.
• People who belong to minority cultures can experience role strain
whileworking in the mainstream culture.
Role exit: the process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-
identity in order to establish a new role and identity.
Ebaugh’s four-stage model of role exit:
• Doubt. • Search for alternatives.
• Action stage or departure. • Creation of a new identity. GROUPS
Group: any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who
interact with one another on a regular basis.
• Play a vital part in society’s social structure. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
• Social interaction often takes place within groups and is influenced by theirnorms and sanctions.
• Expectations associated with many social roles are more clearly defined inthe context of a group.
• Group solidarity can influence recovery from traumatic events.
Primary group: a small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation.
• Examples include family, street gangs, and fraternities and sororities.
• Pivotal role in socialization and development of roles and statuses.
Secondary group: a formal, impersonal group in which there is little social
intimacy or mutual understanding.
• Examples include workplace groups and larger social clubs.
In-group: any group or category to which people feel they belong.
• Everyone who is regarded as “we” or “us.”
Out-group: any group or category to which people feel they do not belong. • “They” or “them.”
Proper behavior for the in-group is simultaneously viewed as unacceptable behavior for the out-group.
• “In-group virtues” are “out-group vices.”
Reference group: any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating
themselves and their own behavior. Two basic purposes of reference groups:
• Serve a normative function by setting and enforcing standards of conductand belief.
• Perform a comparison function by serving as a standard against whichpeople
can measure themselves and others.
Coalition: a temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.
• Can be broad-based or narrow. • Some intentionally short-lived. SOCIAL NETWORKS
Social network: a series of social relationships that link a person directly to
others, and through them indirectly to still more people.
• Social networks are one of the five basic elements of social structure.
• They can center on virtually any activity. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
• Research indicates that in person and online, not everyone participatesequally in social networks.
• Involvement in a social network is referred to as networking. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Social institutions: organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs.
• Government preserves order. • Family replaces personnel.
From the functionalist perspective, there are five major tasks or functional
prerequisites that a society or relatively permanent group must accomplish if it is to survive:
• Replacing personnel. • Teaching new recruits.
• Producing and distributing goods and services. • Preserving order.
• Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose.
Conflict theorists object to the idea that the outcome is necessarily efficient and desirable.
• Major institutions help maintain privileges of most powerful individuals andgroups within society.
• Social institutions such as education have an inherently conservative nature.
• Social institutions also operate in gendered and racist environments.
Social institutions affect everyday our behavior.
Interactionist theorists emphasize that our social behavior is conditioned by:
• The roles and statuses we accept. • The groups to which we belong.
• The institutions within which we function.
IV/ Understanding Organizations
Formal organization: a group designed for a special purpose and structured for maximum efficiency. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008 •
Examples include the U.S. Postal Service, McDonald’s, and the Boston Popsorchestra. •
Formal organizations vary in size, specificity of goals, and degree
ofefficiency—but they are all structured to facilitate large-scale operations. •
In our society, formal organizations fulfill an enormous variety of personaland societal needs. •
Ascribed statuses can influence how we see ourselves within formalorganizations.
V/ Characteristics of a Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy: a component of formal organization that uses rules and
hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency.
For analytical purposes, Max Weber developed an ideal type of bureaucracy.
• Ideal type: a construct or model for evaluating specific cases.
• Perfect bureaucracies do not exist.
• Weber emphasized the basic similarity of structure and process found
inotherwise dissimilar enterprises of religion, government, education, and business.
Characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy: (1) Division of labor:
• Specialized experts perform specific tasks.
• Fragmentation of work can divide workers and remove any connection
theymight feel to the objective of the bureaucracy.
• Alienation: a condition of estrangement or dissociation from the surroundingsociety.
• Trained incapacity: workers become so specialized that they develop
blindspots and fail to notice obvious problems. (2) Hierarchy of authority:
• Each position is under the supervision of a higher authority.
(3) Written rules and regulations:
• Written rules and regulations offer employees clear standards for anadequate performance.
• They also provide a valuable sense of continuity in a bureaucracy. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
• Goal displacement: the term used by Robert Merton to refer to
overzealousconformity to official regulations. (4) Impersonality:
• Work is carried out “without hatred or passion” (sine ira et studio).
• Intended to guarantee equal treatment for each person.
• Contributes to the cold and uncaring feeling of modern organizations.
(5) Employment based on technical qualifications:
• Hiring based on qualifications.
• Performance measured against specific standards.
• Peter principle: every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or herlevel of incompetence.
Bureaucratization: the process by which a group, organization, or social
movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic. • Can take place in large and small group settings.
Iron law of oligarchy: describes how even a democratic organization will
eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few, called an oligarchy.
• People who achieve leadership roles have the skills, knowledge,
andcharismatic appeal to direct or control others.
Classical theory of formal organizations: workers are motivated almost entirely by economic rewards.
• Also known as the scientific management approach.
• Only the physical constraints on workers limit their productivity. • Workers are a resource.
• The formation of unions helped change this view.
Human relations approach: emphasizes the role of people, communication,
and participation in a bureaucracy.
• Planning focuses on workers’ feelings, frustrations, and emotional need forjob satisfaction.
• Stresses the less formal aspects of bureaucracies, such as informal groupsand social networks.
Bureaucracy’s other face: term coined by Charles Page to refer to the
unofficial activities and interactions that are a basic part of daily organizational life.
VI/ Social Structure in Global Perspective
Modern societies are complex, especially compared to earlier social arrangements. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
Sociologists Émile Durkheim, Ferdinand Tönnies, and Gerhard Lenski
developed ways to contrast modern societies with simpler forms of social structure.
DURKHEIM’S MECHANICAL AND ORGANIC SOLIDARITY
Durkheim argued in Division of Labor (1893) that social structure depends on
the division of labor in a society.
Mechanical solidarity: a collective consciousness that emphasizes group solidarity.
• Characteristic of societies with minimal division of labor.
• All individuals perform the same tasks.
• The group is the dominating force.
• There are few social roles.
Organic solidarity: a collective consciousness resting on the need a society’s members have for one another.
• Greater division of labor as societies become more technologicallyadvanced.
• Dependence on others is essential for group survival.
TONNIES’S GEMEINSCHAFT AND GESELLSCHAFT
Gemeinschaft: a close-knit community that is typical of rural life.
• People have similar backgrounds.
• Everyone knows each other. • Little privacy.
• Social control maintained through informal means.
Gesellschaft: an ideal community characteristic of modern life.
• Most people are strangers.
• Relationships governed by social roles that grow out of tasks.
• Little consensus concerning values or commitment to the group.
• Social control maintained through formal means. LENSKI’S SOCIOCULTURAL EVOLUTION APPROACH
Sociocultural evolution: human societies undergo a process of change
characterized by a dominant pattern.
• Long-term social trends resulting from the interplay of continuity, innovation,and selection.
• Society’s level of technology is critical to the way it is organized.
Technology: cultural information about the ways in which the material
resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires. lOMoAR cPSD| 58097008
The first type of preindustrial society was the hunting-andgathering society.
Hunting-and-gathering society: people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available. • Technology is minimal.
• People constantly move in search of food.
• Kinship ties are strong and the source of authority.
By the close of the 20th century, hunting-and-gathering societies had virtually disappeared.
Horticultural societies: people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods. • Much less nomadic.
• Greater emphasis on the product of tools and household objects. Agrarian
society: engage primarily in the production of food.
• Technological innovations such as the plow increase crop yields.
• Emergence of larger settlements.
Industrial society: a society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services.
• Reliance on inventions and energy sources.
• Many societies shifted to an industrial base.
• Specialization of tasks and manufacturing of goods became common.
• People move away from family as a self-sufficient production unit.
Postindustrial society: economic system engaged primarily in the processing and control of information.
• Main output is services rather than manufactured goods.
• Decline in organized working-class groups.
Postmodern society: a technologically sophisticated society preoccupied with
consumer goods and media images.
• Consumption of goods and information on a mass scale. • Global perspective.