Home   >   Other Thoughts   >   Social Structure

Social Structure

By on January 17, 2014

The social structure is the framework of society. We focus on how this framework affects individuals. Think about how our position or location (social location) in the social structure affects our behaviors and attitudes and guides our behaviors.

The major influences on our behaviors are: our culture, social class (affected by education, income, occupation), and social status (including our social positions and including level of prestige). The positions we are born into affect us, group memberships especially.(Image courtesy of stockimages/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

The status positions individuals have available to them afford them different opportunities, which, in turn, can dictate who and what we become. For example think about sports. Does our ascribed status affect what sports we will play or even what positions we will play in a particular sport? Historically, this was even more apparent. For example, there was a time (not too long ago) when there were no black quarterbacks. What if a person has his heart set on being a quarterback but is blocked due to the opportunity structure? What if I am a black male and I want to be a head college football coach? How many actually are? Three? Four? The important thing to remember is that this has a great impact on children. If I have my heart set on a specific achieved status but I do not see anyone who mirrors me in that position do I begin to think it is not a possibility? It is important for children to see and have role models to look up to for resilience. There was a vignette on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumble” about this very issue. There was a sportcaster whose son had offers from four different colleges for a full ride football scholarship. Only one of these colleges had a black head coach. The son wanted to go to one college but his father told him he had to go to the other college (the one with the black head coach). His father said he wanted his son to see a person that mirrored him in a high status position. Was this father actually on to something important?

Did this send me an important message? Due to the opportunity structure and our social structure are there some things we can never achieve?

So, what is ascribed status? What is an achieved status? Think of some specific examples. Gender? Husband? Wealth? Okay, that was a trick question…wealth can be both. How does our ascribed status affect our achieved status?

 

About admin

Teaching Sociology is very enjoyable for me. Sociology is like a gateway to a plethora of knowledge and understanding. The subject material is directly applicable to real-world events and situations found in everyday life. The methods and concepts of sociology yield powerful insights into the social processes shaping the contemporary world. The ability to identify and understand these processes is valuable preparation for professional participation in an ever changing and complex society.