Components of Social Structure: Terms and Definitions
Social Institution: A set of organized beliefs and rules that established how a society will attempt to meet its basic social needs (ex: the family, religion, education, the economy, government, media, military).
Social group: consists of two or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence.
Primary group: a small, less specialized group in which members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions over an extended period of time.
Secondary group: a larger, more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time.
Social statuses: a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties.
Ascribed states: a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life, based on attributes over which the individual has little or no control.
Achieved status: a social position a person assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice, merit, or direct effort.
Master status: the most important status a person occupies, determines their general social position.
Status set: all the statuses that a person occupies at a given time.
Status symbol: material signs that inform others of a person’s specific status.
Role: a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status.
Role expectation: a group’s or society’s definition of the way a specific role ought to be played.
Role performance: how a person actually plays the role
Role conflict: occurs when incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time.
Role strain: occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies.
Role exit: a situation in which people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self-identity.