Social Structure | ISC Class 11 Sociology Notes

This note covers social structure: social groups and their features, primary and secondary groups, organised and unorganised groups (the public, crowds, mobs and crowd behaviour), reference groups, in-groups and out-groups, status (ascribed and achieved) and its determinants, role, role conflict and role stereotype, C.H. Cooley's looking glass self, and the social processes of co-operation, competition and conflict with their characteristics and differences.

What is social structure?

The term social structure points to the fact that society is structured, that is, organised or arranged in particular ways. The social environments in which we exist are not random assortments of events. There are underlying regularities, or patterns, in how people behave and relate to one another.

Up to a point, social structure resembles the structure of a building, with walls, a floor and a roof that give it a particular shape (Giddens 2004: 667). But the metaphor misleads if applied too strictly, because social structures are made up of human actions and relationships, patterned by repetition across time and space.

In a school, admission procedures, codes of conduct, annual functions and daily assemblies are repeated over the years and become institutions. In families, marriage practices, duties and expectations are set. Old members pass away and new members enter, yet the institution goes on.

Constraint and agency

Emile Durkheim argued that society has primacy over the individual and exerts social constraint over its members. Like the walls of a room that define the routes of exit and entry, social structure sets limits to what we can do as individuals.

Karl Marx also emphasised the constraints of social structure, but stressed human creativity or agency to both reproduce and change it. Human beings make history, but not as they wish to or in conditions of their choice.

Human societies are therefore like buildings that are at every moment being reconstructed by the very bricks that compose them. The groups, statuses, roles and social processes in this note are the 'bricks' of social structure.

What is a social group, and what are its features?

A social group is a collection of continuously interacting persons who share common interest, culture, values and norms within a given society.

Definition: Social group. A collection of continuously interacting persons who share common interest, culture, values and norms within a given society.

Features of a social group

• Persistent interaction that provides continuity.
• A stable pattern of these interactions.
• A sense of belonging: each member identifies with the others and is conscious of the group and its own rules, rituals and symbols.
• Shared interest.
• Acceptance of common norms and values.
• A definable structure, meaning patterns of regular and repetitive interaction.

Aggregates and quasi groups

Any gathering of people does not necessarily constitute a social group. Aggregates are simply collections of people in the same place at the same time who share no definite connection, such as passengers at a bus stop or a cinema audience.

A quasi group is an aggregate or combination which lacks structure or organisation, and whose members may be unaware, or less aware, of the grouping. Social classes, status groups, age and gender groups and crowds can be seen as quasi groups.

Quasi groups may become social groups in time. Class and caste have, over a period of time, given rise to political parties, and the women's movement brought about women's groups and organisations.

What are primary and secondary groups, and how do they differ?

The groups to which we belong are not all of equal importance to us. The sociologist C.H. Cooley introduced the term primary group for groups that shape us most closely.

Primary groups

A primary group is a small group of people connected by intimate and face-to-face association and co-operation. Its members have a sense of belonging. Family, village and groups of friends are examples.

• Small size, so that every member can know every other.
• Physical closeness and face-to-face contact.
• Intimacy and strong "we" feeling.
• Durability: relations last a long time.
• Person-oriented: the relationship is valued for its own sake.
• Informal control through affection, approval and disapproval.

Secondary groups

Secondary groups are relatively large in size and maintain formal and impersonal relationships. Schools, government offices, hospitals and students' associations are examples.

• Large size, so members may not know one another personally.
• Indirect contact, often through rules, letters or offices.
• Formal and impersonal relations.
• Goal-oriented: people join to achieve a specific purpose.
• Relations are often temporary and limited to particular roles.
• Formal control through written rules and regulations.

The line is not rigid. Interaction among members of a formal group can, over time, become close and 'just like family and friends'.

What are organised and unorganised groups?

Groups also differ in how far they are organised. An organised group has a definite structure, recognised leaders, defined goals, clear membership and written or accepted rules. A political party, a trade union, a residents' welfare association or a sports club is an organised group.

An unorganised group has little or no formal structure. It forms for a short time, has no fixed rules or recognised leadership, and its members may not know one another. The public, the crowd and the mob are unorganised groups.

The public

A public is a scattered group of people who share an interest in an issue and form opinions about it, without being physically together. Readers of a newspaper or viewers of a television debate on a policy form a public.

Members of a public communicate indirectly, through the media and discussion, and can express a public opinion. Because they are not face to face, they are usually more reasoned and less emotional than a crowd.

The crowd

A crowd is a temporary gathering of people at one place who share a common focus of attention, such as a street performance, a cricket match or an accident on the road.

Crowds may be casual (onlookers who gather by chance), conventional (an audience gathered for a planned event), expressive (people releasing emotion, as at a festival) or acting (people who move to act together).

The mob

A mob is an acting crowd that is highly emotional and bent on immediate, often violent, action against a target. A mob has a temporary leader and a definite aim, such as attacking a person or property, and its members lose their usual restraint.

What is crowd behaviour, and how do organised and unorganised groups differ?

Crowd behaviour is the way people act when they are part of a crowd, which is often different from how they act alone. The French writer Gustave Le Bon argued that individuals in a crowd develop a kind of collective mind.

Features of crowd behaviour

• Anonymity: individuals feel unknown, so they feel less personally responsible.
• Suggestibility: people readily accept ideas and commands without thinking critically.
• Emotional contagion: feelings such as excitement, fear or anger spread rapidly from person to person.
• Irrationality: emotion tends to override reason and judgement.
• Loss of restraint: normal social controls weaken, so people may do what they would not do alone.
• Temporary nature: crowd behaviour usually ends when the crowd disperses.

These features explain why a calm crowd can quickly turn into a mob, and why the police try to break up tense crowds early.

What are reference groups, in-groups and out-groups?

Three further kinds of group are defined by how members see themselves in relation to others.

• Reference group: a group whose lifestyle people look up to and aspire to emulate, though they do not belong to it. In the colonial period many middle-class Indians aspired to behave like proper Englishmen.
• In-group: a group marked by a sense of belonging, which separates 'us' or 'we' from 'them' or 'they'. Children of a particular school may form an in-group against those who do not belong to it.
• Out-group: a group to which the members of an in-group do not belong. Its members can face hostile reactions from the in-group. Migrants are often considered an out-group.

Who belongs and who does not changes with time and social context. While carrying out a census in Rampura in 1948, M.N. Srinivas found villagers distinguishing recent immigrants, described almost contemptuously, from old immigrants and 'old lineages'.

Reference groups are important sources of information about culture, lifestyle, aspiration and goal attainment. The colonial example was also gendered: Indian men often wanted to dress and dine like British men but wanted Indian women to remain 'Indian' in their ways.

What is status, and how do ascribed and achieved status differ?

A status is simply a position in society or in a group, with defined rights and duties. A mother occupies a status that has norms of conduct as well as responsibilities and prerogatives.

Definition: Status. A social position in a society or group, with defined rights and duties attached to it.

In a modern society each individual occupies many statuses at once, called a status set. Statuses also follow one another through life: a son becomes a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather. This is a status sequence.

Ascribed status

An ascribed status is a social position a person occupies because of birth, or assumes involuntarily. The most common bases are age, caste, race and kinship. Simple and traditional societies are marked by ascribed status.

• It is given at birth or assigned without choice.
• It does not depend on ability or effort.
• It is fixed and hard to change.
• It is dominant in traditional, caste-based societies.

Achieved status

An achieved status is a social position a person occupies voluntarily by personal ability, achievements, virtues and choices. The most common bases are educational qualifications, income and professional expertise.

• It is earned through effort and ability.
• It is open to competition.
• It can change during a person's life.
• It is dominant in modern societies, where people are told "you have to prove yourself".

Even in modern achievement-based societies, ascribed status matters. A caste system is fixed and rigid, while the modern class system is open and achievement-based, yet for the most part the structure of the class system persists.

What determines a person's status?

The determinants of status are the factors on which a person's position and its value in society depend. Some are ascribed and some achieved.

Ascribed determinants

• Age: elders often receive respect and authority in the family and community.
• Sex and gender: societies assign different positions to men and women.
• Kinship and birth: the family one is born into confers a position, such as heir.
• Caste and race: in a caste system an individual's position depends on status attributes ascribed by birth.

Achieved determinants

• Education: qualifications open the way to valued positions.
• Occupation: different occupations carry different standing.
• Income and wealth.
• Personal ability and achievements, such as skill in sport, art or science.
• Political power and influence over decisions.

Status and prestige

Every status is accorded certain rights and values. The kind of value attached to a status or office is called prestige. People rank statuses as having high or low prestige.

The prestige of a doctor may be high in comparison to a shopkeeper, even if the doctor may earn less. Ideas of which occupation is prestigious vary across societies and across periods.

What are role, role conflict and role stereotype?

Status and role are often seen as twin concepts. A role is the dynamic or behavioural aspect of status. Status is occupied, but roles are played.

Definition: Role. The expected behaviour attached to a status; the way a person acts out the rights and duties of a social position.

People perform their roles according to social expectations, which is called role taking and role playing. A student plays the role of student to a teacher, customer to a grocer and passenger to a bus driver.

Role conflict

Role conflict is the incompatibility among roles corresponding to one or more statuses. It occurs when contrary expectations arise from two or more roles.

A common example is the middle-class working woman, who has to juggle her role as mother and wife at home with that of a professional at work. Men face role conflict too. Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men, who are torn between their natal house and their wife and children.

Role stereotype

Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some members of society. Men and women are often socialised in stereotypical roles, as breadwinner and homemaker respectively.

Roles and status are often wrongly seen as fixed. In fact individuals create and negotiate roles through social interaction, and people make efforts to fight discriminatory roles based on caste, race or gender.

What is C.H. Cooley's looking glass self?

The American sociologist C.H. Cooley explained how the self, our sense of who we are, develops through interaction. He called it the looking glass self: other people act as a mirror in which we see ourselves.

Definition: Looking glass self. Cooley's theory that a person's self-image is formed by imagining how others see and judge them, and reacting to that imagined judgement.

The theory has three elements, which lead to a fourth result:

1. We imagine how we appear to others.
2. We imagine how they judge that appearance.
3. We develop a self-feeling, such as pride or shame, from that imagined judgement.
4. Result: repeated over time, these reflections shape our self-image and how we play our roles.

An example

Anjali answers a difficult question in class. She sees her teacher smile and nod, and imagines that the teacher thinks she is clever. She feels proud and begins to see herself as a good student, so she prepares more eagerly and speaks up more often.

The looking glass self links status and role to the self. A child learns to behave in accordance with how her behaviour will be seen and judged by others, and this is how statuses and roles become part of who we are.

What is co-operation?

Co-operation is the social process in which individuals or groups work together to achieve common goals. It is argued that without human co-operation it would be difficult for human life to survive.

Characteristics of co-operation

• It involves two or more individuals or groups.
• It is directed to a common goal.
• It may be voluntary or enforced.
• It may be direct, where people do the same work together, or indirect, where people do different tasks that combine through a division of labour.
• It is closely linked to the division of labour.

Two perspectives on co-operation

For Durkheim, solidarity, the moral force of society, is fundamental to co-operation. He wrote: "Wherever there are societies, there is altruism, because there is solidarity." Mechanical solidarity rests on sameness; organic solidarity rests on the division of labour and interdependence.

For Marx, co-operation is not voluntary in a society where class exists. He used the term alienation for workers' loss of control over their work and its products. A factory worker who only pulls a lever all day co-operates, but the co-operation is enforced.

Can co-operation conceal conflict?

In a study of attitudes to women's property in their natal family, a significant number of women (41.7 per cent) evoked the theme of a daughter's love. Yet they said they would not claim full or any share of natal property, because they were afraid this would sour relations with their brothers.

Apparently co-operative behaviour can thus be a product of deep conflicts. A functionalist view often uses the term accommodation for such situations: an effort to compromise and co-exist despite conflict.

Technology also affects co-operation. A Charas, an indigenous well-irrigation device, needs two pairs of bullocks and four men, so households borrowed bullocks and men from one another. A Rehat (Persian wheel) needs only one pair of bullocks and one person, reducing the need to co-operate.

What is competition?

Competition is the social process in which individuals or groups strive to obtain goals or rewards that are limited in supply, such as admission to a prestigious college or the best jobs.

Characteristics of competition

• It arises where rewards are scarce.
• Attention is focused on the goal rather than on defeating the rival.
• It is usually impersonal; competitors may not even know one another.
• It is generally governed by rules and norms.
• It is continuous in modern societies, from admission to school onwards.

Is competition natural?

Discussions often assume that competition is universal and natural. Sociology sees it instead as a social entity that emerges and becomes dominant at a particular historical point.

A school teacher in a remote area of Africa offered children a race with a chocolate as a prize. Instead of enthusiasm, the idea caused anxiety and distress, because for the children fun was a co-operative and collective experience, not one with 'winners' and 'losers'.

In the contemporary world competition is the dominant norm. Durkheim and Marx noted the growth of individualism and competition respectively in modern societies. The assumptions of capitalism are expansion of trade, division of labour, specialisation and hence rising productivity.

The ideology of competition assumes that individuals compete on an equal basis. But individuals are placed differentially in society. If many children do not go to school or drop out, they remain out of the competition entirely.

What is conflict, and how does it compare with co-operation and competition?

The term conflict implies a clash of interests. Conflict theorists believe that scarcity of resources produces conflict as groups struggle to gain access to and control over those resources. Its bases may be class, caste, tribe, gender, ethnicity or religious community.

Characteristics of conflict

• It is a conscious clash of interests between individuals or groups.
• It tends to be personal, with attention on the opponent.
• It may be overt (open) or covert (hidden).
• It is intermittent, appearing at particular times rather than continuously.
• It has always been part of society, though its nature and form change.

Conflicts are not new. M.N. Srinivas reminded sociologists that "the old order was not conflict-free and that it perpetrated inhuman cruelties on vast sections of the population." Greater assertion of democratic rights by disadvantaged groups makes conflict more visible.

A peasant movement is an overt expression of conflict over land, but the absence of a movement does not imply the absence of conflict. Amartya Sen noted the possibility of enforced co-operation within families. Findings of many studies seem to suggest that covert conflict and overt co-operation is common.

A land conflict

1. In 1956 Harbaksh, a Rajput, borrowed Rs 100 from Nathu Ahir (the Patel) by informally mortgaging 2 acres of land, and died the same year.
2. In 1958 his successor Ganpat claimed the land back, offering Rs 200, but Nathu refused.
3. Ganpat could not go to court, because the exchange was not recorded in the revenue records.
4. In 1959 Ganpat used force and cultivated the land; being a police constable, he could influence the police.
5. The Patel was taken to the police station and forced to agree to return the land.
6. At a meeting of villagers, the money was given to the Patel and Ganpat received the land back.

The case shows how power and access to resources shape the course and outcome of conflict.

The three processes are different, yet they often co-exist, overlap and sometimes exist in a concealed fashion, as in forced co-operation.

Glossary

• Social structure: The patterned, repeated regularities in how people behave and relate to one another in a society.
• Social group: A collection of continuously interacting persons who share common interest, culture, values and norms within a given society.
• Quasi group: An aggregate lacking structure or organisation, whose members may be unaware or less aware of the grouping.
• Primary group: A small group of people connected by intimate, face-to-face association and co-operation, such as the family.
• Secondary group: A relatively large group with formal, impersonal and goal-oriented relationships, such as a school or hospital.
• Crowd: A temporary gathering of people at one place who share a common focus of attention.
• Mob: A highly emotional acting crowd bent on immediate, often violent, action against a target.
• Public: A scattered group of people who share an interest in an issue and form opinions without being physically together.
• Reference group: A group whose lifestyle people look up to and emulate, though they do not belong to it.
• Ascribed status: A social position occupied because of birth or assumed involuntarily, based on age, caste, race or kinship.
• Achieved status: A social position occupied voluntarily through personal ability, achievements, virtues and choices.
• Role conflict: The incompatibility among roles corresponding to one or more statuses, when contrary expectations arise.
• Looking glass self: Cooley's theory that our self-image comes from imagining how others see and judge us.
• Alienation: Marx's term for workers' loss of control over the nature of the labour task and the products of their labour.
• Accommodation: A functionalist term for efforts to compromise and co-exist despite conflict.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Every gathering of people is a social group. Correct: An aggregate, such as a cinema audience, has no definite connection; a social group needs persistent interaction, belonging and shared norms.
• Misconception: A crowd and a mob are the same. Correct: A crowd is any temporary gathering with a common focus; a mob is an emotional acting crowd bent on immediate, often violent, action.
• Misconception: Ascribed status disappears in modern societies. Correct: Modern societies stress achievement, but ascribed status based on caste, gender or race still matters.
• Misconception: Only women face role conflict. Correct: Men face it too; Khasi matriliny, for example, generates intense role conflict for men.
• Misconception: Competition is natural and universal. Correct: Sociology sees competition as a social entity that became dominant at a particular historical point, especially with capitalism.
• Misconception: If there is no open conflict, there is no conflict. Correct: Conflict may be covert; apparent co-operation can conceal deep conflicts, as with women not claiming natal property.
• Misconception: The looking glass self means we see ourselves as others actually see us. Correct: It rests on how we imagine others see and judge us, which may differ from their real view.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Define a reference group and give one example. [2 marks]

1. A reference group is a group whose lifestyle people look up to and aspire to emulate, though they do not belong to it.
2. In the colonial period, many middle-class Indians treated the English as a reference group and aspired to behave like proper Englishmen.

Q2. What is role stereotyping? Give an example. [2 marks]

1. Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some members of society.
2. For example, men and women are often socialised in stereotypical roles as breadwinner and homemaker respectively.

Q3. Distinguish between primary and secondary groups on any four bases. [4 marks]

1. Size: primary groups are small, while secondary groups are relatively large.
2. Contact: primary groups involve intimate, face-to-face contact, while secondary groups involve formal and impersonal, often indirect, contact.
3. Orientation: primary groups are person-oriented, while secondary groups are goal-oriented.
4. Examples: family, village and groups of friends are primary groups; schools, government offices, hospitals and students' associations are secondary groups.

Q4. Dr Meera, a surgeon, is called for an emergency operation on the evening of her son's school annual function, which she had promised to attend. Identify the concept illustrated and explain it with four points. [4 marks]

1. The concept illustrated is role conflict.
2. Role conflict is the incompatibility among roles corresponding to one or more statuses, arising when contrary expectations come from two or more roles.
3. Here Meera's status as a surgeon expects her to attend the emergency, while her status as a mother expects her to attend her son's function.
4. This matches the common case of the working woman who must juggle her role at home with that of a professional at work.

Q5. Explain C.H. Cooley's looking glass self with the help of one example. [4 marks]

1. Cooley held that the self develops through interaction, with other people acting as a mirror in which we see ourselves.
2. First, we imagine how we appear to others; second, we imagine how they judge that appearance.
3. Third, we develop a self-feeling, such as pride or shame, from that imagined judgement.
4. For example, a student who sees her teacher smile at her answer imagines that the teacher thinks she is clever, feels proud and comes to see herself as a good student.

Q6. Distinguish between ascribed and achieved status, and state the determinants of status. [7 marks]

1. Ascribed status is a social position occupied because of birth or assumed involuntarily, while achieved status is occupied voluntarily by personal ability, achievements, virtues and choices.
2. The common bases of ascribed status are age, caste, race and kinship; those of achieved status are educational qualifications, income and professional expertise.
3. Ascribed status is fixed and hard to change, while achieved status can change through effort.
4. Ascribed status marks simple and traditional societies, while modern societies are characterised by achievement, though ascribed status still matters in them.
5. Ascribed determinants of status include age, sex and gender, kinship and birth, and caste and race.
6. Achieved determinants include education, occupation, income and wealth, personal ability and achievements, and political power.
7. The value attached to a status is its prestige; a doctor may have higher prestige than a shopkeeper even if the doctor earns less.

Q7. "Co-operation may conceal conflict." Discuss this statement with suitable examples. [7 marks]

1. Co-operation is the process in which individuals or groups work together for common goals, but it may be voluntary or enforced.
2. For Marx, co-operation is not voluntary in a society where class exists; the factory owner and worker co-operate daily, yet a conflict of interests defines their relationship.
3. Marx used the term alienation for workers' loss of control over their work and its products, which makes their co-operation enforced.
4. In a study on women's natal property, 41.7 per cent of women evoked a daughter's love, but said they would not claim full or any share because they were afraid this would sour relations with their brothers.
5. Such apparently co-operative behaviour is a product of deep conflict that is not openly expressed; functionalists call such compromise accommodation.
6. Amartya Sen noted the possibility of enforced co-operation within families, where conflicts are moulded into a general format of co-operation.
7. Findings of many studies seem to suggest that covert conflict and overt co-operation is common, so the absence of open conflict does not mean the absence of conflict.

Q8. Compare co-operation, competition and conflict as social processes on any seven bases. [7 marks]

1. Meaning: co-operation is working together for a common goal, competition is striving for scarce rewards, and conflict is a clash of interests.
2. Focus: co-operation focuses on the shared goal, competition on the reward rather than the rival, and conflict on the opponent.
3. Nature: co-operation brings people together, competition is impersonal, and conflict tends to be personal.
4. Rules: competition is usually governed by rules and norms, while conflict may break them.
5. Continuity: co-operation and competition are continuous, while conflict is intermittent.
6. Violence: co-operation and competition usually involve none, while conflict may involve force or violence.
7. Examples: households sharing bullocks to run a Charas co-operate, students seeking college seats compete, and the land dispute between Ganpat and Nathu was a conflict; yet the three often co-exist and overlap.

Key takeaways

• Social structure refers to patterned regularities in behaviour; it constrains individuals, as Durkheim stressed, yet people can change it, as Marx stressed.
• A social group needs persistent interaction, a stable pattern, belonging, shared interest, common norms and a structure; aggregates and quasi groups lack some of these.
• Primary groups are small, intimate and person-oriented; secondary groups are large, formal and goal-oriented.
• Organised groups have structure, rules and leaders; unorganised groups such as the public, crowd and mob are temporary and loosely formed.
• Crowd behaviour shows anonymity, suggestibility, emotional contagion and loss of restraint, which can turn a crowd into a mob.
• Status is a position with rights and duties; ascribed status comes by birth, achieved status by ability and effort; prestige is the value attached to it.
• A role is the behavioural aspect of status; role conflict arises from contrary expectations, and role stereotyping reinforces fixed roles for some groups.
• Cooley's looking glass self explains how we form our self-image by imagining others' view and judgement of us.
• Co-operation, competition and conflict differ in aim, focus and continuity, but they often co-exist, and co-operation can conceal conflict.

Test yourself

What is a quasi group? Give two examples.

An aggregate that lacks structure or organisation, whose members may be unaware of the grouping; social classes and crowds are examples.

Who introduced the term primary group?

The American sociologist C.H. Cooley, who also proposed the theory of the looking glass self.

How does a public differ from a crowd?

A public is scattered and shares an interest in an issue without meeting; a crowd is physically gathered at one place with a common focus.

What is a status sequence?

The statuses a person attains in succession at various stages of life, as when a son becomes a father and then a grandfather.

What is an out-group?

A group to which the members of an in-group do not belong; its members can face hostile reactions, as migrants often do.

How did the Rehat change co-operation in irrigation?

A Rehat needs one pair of bullocks and one person, unlike the Charas's two pairs and four men, so households needed to co-operate less.

What did the African race anecdote show about competition?

The children found a race with winners and losers distressing, showing that competition is socially learnt rather than natural.

What are the four assumptions of capitalism named in the discussion of competition?

Expansion of trade, division of labour, specialisation and, hence, rising productivity.