Social Organization

1
Social Organization

• Roles and Identities The meeting point of
  structure, culture, and the individual
• Groups Sets of people, organizations, and
  bureaucracies

2
Roles and Identities

• Identity the way in which we see ourselves
  (announcement) and how others see us (placement)
• e.g., female, adolescent, friend, athlete, etc.
• Role normative expectation attached to a social
  position (status)
• Individuals play out these expectations in the
  form of scripts

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• They are internalized parts of social structure
• Are roles imposed on people from above or
  invented and negotiated from below?
• Role enactment (role playing) can be viewed
  structurally (fixed expectations) or
  interactionally (emerging through the give and
  take of social interaction)

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Relationship Between Roles and Identities

• Roles and identities are complimentary and
  intertwined
• Role expectations help coordinate social
  interaction
• Roles give us a sense of our position relative to
  other social actors
• Every role carries with it a corresponding
  identity (e.g., a university student)
• Identity makes coherent and purposeful action
  possible

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• In order to play roles, we need to know
  identities of other actors, as well as our own
• Importance of role expectations can be understood
  through reactions to deviance from them
• Harold Garfinkels experiment students behaving
  toward their parents as lodgers

6
Structural-functional Approach to Roles

• Roles are expected behaviours that correspond
  to status
• Individuals are accorded varying esteem/ prestige
  based on
• How successfully they enact roles
• Societys ranking of tasks (roles) relative to
  each other

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• Ralph Linton
• Status confers specific rights and duties (e.g.,
  a role) on an actor
• The role confers reciprocal rights and duties on
  actors who occupy interacting statuses
• Problems arise when people do not fully know, or
  do not embrace, the reciprocal rights and duties
  of their roles

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• Such problems are rare because a society has
  shared values (Parsons)
• If socialization is imperfect, then conformity
  must be enforced by public sanctions
• Merton each individual has a status set (a
  collection of all statuses occupied)
• e.g., Physician, parent, soccer coach, etc.

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• Role set a collection of role relationships
  tied to occupation of a specific status
• e.g., A physicians status involves role
  relationships with nurses, janitorial staff,
  colleagues, patients, etc.
• Status sequence (career) a pattern of statuses
  (and corresponding roles) occupied during a
  lifetime

10
Role Strain

• Caused by competition and conflict in roles
• Inadequate socialization as source of role strain
• e.g., High school socialization does not prepare
  students for the role of university student (no
  attendance records, infrequent testing)

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Role Conflict

• Roles make incompatible demands, so that
  conformity to one role means violation of another
  role

12
Role Competition

• Roles compete for an individuals energy and time
• The decision to honour the demands of one role
  comes at the expense of another role
• e.g., Balancing paid work, parenting, household
  work

13
Reducing Role Strain

• Established hierarchies
• e.g., Prestige of universities cause families to
  give concessions to students
• Power differences between roles
• e.g., Principals support teachers, not students,
  in conflict

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• Compartmentalization of roles
• e.g., Spatially isolated spaces pertain to
  different roles
• Established opportunities to relinquish a role
• e.g., Parental leave from work

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Interactional Approach to Roles

• Role-taking (Mead) is a dynamic process
• Scripts are not completely set
• An actor reacts to other actors actions
• Symbols interaction rests on mutual
  understanding of symbols (language)
• Role-taking our response to actions of others,
  based on understanding of their actions
• Self is based on our perception of others
  reactions to our role-taking
• Mind internal conversation with self this
  allows us to recognize objects in the environment
  and react to them

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• Turner critical of structuralist approach to
  role-playing
• Interaction comprises the reciprocal joint
  processes of role-taking and role-making
• Role-making a performance devised by the actor
  on basis of role-taking

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• There may be considerable inconsistency between
  role-taking (imputed expectations of others) and
  role-making

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• Actors use non-verbal symbols to shift axes
• To test the validity of their presumptions about
  others expectations and to adjust accordingly
• e.g., Non-verbal signals used to signal a change
  of role-making from friendship to romance

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Conflict Approach to Roles

• Peter Archibald analyzes roles at micro-social
  level, using Marxs concept of alienation
• Relationships between non-equals are alienated.
  They are characterized by
• Indifference or separation
• Egoistic purpose of interaction
• Differential control
• Feelings of dissatisfaction and hostility

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Detachment Generalization

• People of different classes, statuses, and power
  tend to avoid each other
• e.g., 19th century zoning ordinances
• People in privileged positions fear losing face
  if subordinates do not show deference, or if they
  themselves fail to project impression of
  superiority
• People in subordinate positions fear that they
  might reveal information that can be used against
  them

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Control-purposiveness Generalization

• Higher-class, higher-status, higher-power
  individuals are more likely to initiate activity
  and influence others
• e.g., drivers of high-status cars more likely to
  honk at drivers of low-status cars than vice
  versa

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Symbolic-interactionist Approach to Identity

• Aspects of identity (Hewitt)
• Situated identity emerges from and affects
  face-to-face interaction
• Social identity identification with groups and
  social categories
• Defined by similarity to and difference from
  other groups
• Personal identity unique characteristics and the
  past of an individual

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• Biographical identity consists of personal and
  social identities
• Provides continuity between situated identity
• Identities are established by the announcement of
  ourselves, and by the placement by others
• e.g., Incomplete placement of adopted
  childrenlack of placement in terms of physical
  similarity to family members

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Cooley on Identity

• Looking-glass self our identity is what we think
  others think of us
• Identity our imagination of how we appear to
  others, the imagination of how they judge our
  appearance, and the self-feeling that creates
• Influenced most strongly by primary, face-to-face
  groups

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Mead on Identity

• Mead emphasizes development of cognitive skill in
  the development of identity
• Self-development through phases
• Play stage a child assumes identity of the label
  applied by parents
• Game stage a game is an organization of roles
• There are set rules, but players must respond
  appropriately to acts of other players, and to
  anticipated outcomes of these acts.

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• Identity develops in a dialogue between
• The I
• Impulses to act, spontaneous motivations
• The me
• Behaviour deliberately chosen in response to
  impulses, self-control

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Contemporary Symbolic- interactionists on Identity

• Blumer new situations and new interactions give
  rise to new identities and coping strategies
• They rest upon and are recognized through symbols
• Stone recognizes two kinds of identity
• Identification of
• Placement coincides with announcement
• Identification with
• Compatibility between person who announces and
  the person who places

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• Identification of the other makes role-taking
  possible
• Role-taking then makes identification with the
  other possible

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Goffmans Identity Analysis

• Uses the structuralist concept of role
• Frontstage explicit role-making
• Backstage hidden role-making

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Embarrassment

• Caused by dissonance between announcement and
  placement
• Bodily accidents
• Indicates an immature or careless person
• Insufficient support for identity announcement
• e.g., A student announces that she has aced a
  test, then receives a lower grade
• Mistaken identity placement (announcement is
  adequate, but others are distracted or
  inattentive)
• e.g., Forgetting a persons name while
  introducing them to others

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Causes of Embarrassment, cont.

• Mismanagement of superfluous identities
• Giving them inappropriate importance
• Reserve identities inappropriately surface on the
  dominant identity
• e.g., Identity of a friend receiving a telephone
  call infringes on the identity of a student
  attending lecture
• Relict identity an element of biographical past
• e.g., Wearing a sweater knit by a former partner

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Identity Management

• Defensive practices
• Disclaimers and accounts
• Protective practices

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Defensive Practices

• Remedial work to prevent or remedy damage to
  identity
• Disclaimers excuses and justifications before
  the act when face-saving is expected to become
  necessary
• Accounts excuses and justifications that follow
  embarrassing acts
• Disclaimers and accounts may occur in the
  universe of discourse (verbal) or universe of
  appearance (non-verbal)

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• Verbal disclaimers
• I may be wrong, but
• Verbal accounts
• Using a disruption to negotiate a more positive
  identity (from troublemaker to an innocent
  victim)
• Non-verbal disclaimers/motive mannerisms
• e.g., avoiding a label of cheater during exams
  inaccessible placement of books and notes,
  sitting away from troublemakers, etc.

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Protective Practices

• They protect the user, as well as the communal
  assembly
• Gaffes by one person disrupt the interactional
  tone of the assembly
• Studied non-observance
• Studious inattention to small lapses (e.g.,
  ignoring a burp)

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Overlapping of Role and Identity

• Evident in concepts of
• Role embracement playing a role in such a way
  that one is seen fully in terms of the role, and
  to confirm expressively ones acceptance of it
• Role distance playing a role in such a way that
  others place one at a distance from the announced
  role
• Boys on merry-go-round pretending they are stunt
  riders

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• Role exit disengagement from a role that is
  central to ones self identity
• Phases of role exit (Ebaugh)
• First doubts (leads to unconscious cueing)
• Anticipatory socialization to a new reference
  group
• Role exit
• Accommodating the new identity to the old one

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Sets of People

• Categories
• Networks
• Communities
• Groups
• Organizations
• Sets differ by
• Organization
• Effects they have on members

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Categories

• Aggregates with shared characteristics
• e.g., age, gender
• Have no social structure (no connections, members
  do not know each other)
• For this reason categories are of limited
  interest to sociologists

40

• Categorical differences may be socially
  constructed as significant
• e.g., Male/female, young/old, white/black
• In this case, boundaries are enforced, and
  categorical differences serve as base for social
  and cultural differentiation
• i.e., To formation of communities or social
  movements

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Networks

• People connected directly (kinship, friendship,
  acquaintanceship) or indirectly
• Granovetter weakly tied networks (based mostly
  on indirect links) may be more useful than
  strongly tied networks
• They have large outreach and conduct valuable
  resources (information, social support, etc.)
• Networks are made of dyadic relationships (pairs
  based on regular social exchange)

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• Networks change as people enter and leave
  relationships
• Networks lack
• Collective identity (such as communities have)
• Complete awareness of their membership and its
  characteristics (such as a group has)
• Collective goals (such as an organization has)

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Communities

• Communities are sets of people with a common
  sense of identity
• Based on common experiences or common values
• Members are often prepared to make efforts for
  survival of communities

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• Tonnies distinguishes between
• Gemeinschaft (community-based social life) a
  stable, homogeneous group lead similar lives
  share values have dense/highly connected
  networks controlling elites
• Gesellschaft a fluid, heterogeneous group lead
  different lives few shared values impersonal
  brief relationships interact around similar
  interests weakly-tied networks less cohesion
  and less control.

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Groups

• Groups
• Awareness of membership
• All members are connected (directly or
  indirectly)
• Members have roles (e.g., parentchild
  teacherstudent leaderfollower)
• Cooley
• Primary groups small regular face-to-face
  interactions
• Secondary groups larger members may not
  interact regularly

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• Importance of secondary groups
• Facilitate stable patterns of social interaction
• Responsible for much social learning
• Formal organizations are a subtype of secondary
  groups

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Organizations

• Organizations are
• Secondary groups that work together,
  with communication and
  leadership, to achieve common goals

48

• Organizations differ by
• Origin (spontaneous or deliberate)
• Spontaneous organizations arise to meet a single
  goal. They disband when the goal is achieved or
  beyond reach, or are absorbed by formal
  organizations
• Division of labour (crude or complex)
• Formal/informal structure and leadership
• Goals (one specific goal or a range of goals)

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• Cliques are informal organizations that
• Satisfy peoples needs for interaction and
  support
• e.g., cliques providing support for New York
  transsexuals
• Produce roles, rules, and cultural values
• e.g., distinct circles of membership within
  Bohemia
• Have a purpose to raise status of members at the
  expense of outsiders
• Accomplished by interaction and exchange of
  resources among members and exclusion of
  non-members

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• Have a hierarchy of influence and popularity
• Leaderfavouritesother members
• Form on the basis of both similarity and choice
• Common in schools, because of the similarity of
  potential members
• Screen potential members, and control current
  members to ensure that they remain similar

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• Cohesion is based on loyalty to the leader and to
  the group
• Isolation from and ignorance of outsiders
  reinforces solidarity

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Formal Organizations

• Formal organizations are deliberately planned
  groups that coordinate people and resources
  through formalized roles, statuses, and
  relationships to achieve a division of labour
  intended to attain specific goals
• Members normally pursue not only organizational
  (e.g., creation of corporate profit), but also
  personal goals (e.g., career goals)

53

• Explanations of success of formal organizations
• Organization fills a social need
• Organization controls necessary resources
• Organizational goals match personal goals
• Organization adapts to its environment, or
  changes the environment

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Bureaucracy

• Potentially very efficient formal organizations
  because
• Resources belong to the organization, not to
  persons
• Resources are distributed on the basis of office,
  not of personal favour
• Office holding is based on expertise
• Written rules govern relationships in the
  organization

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• This makes bureaucracy superior to earlier
  organizational forms, such as clientelism
• Historic origins of bureaucracy
• European nation-building and international
  warfare
• Capitalism
• Industrialization
• All three relied on rationalization view of the
  world based on accumulation of evidence
• Favours impersonal authority based on universal
  application of codified rules

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Characteristics of Bureaucracy

• Division of labour each members duties are
  specified and differentiated
• Based on technical competence and centralized
  provision of resources
• Hierarchy determines range of authority
• Each member is responsible to a specific superior
  and for a specific group of subordinates
• Aim to increase efficiency. However, it may
  become cumbersome
• Informal communication channels are used to
  compensate for it

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• Rules guarantee impersonal, predictable responses
  to specific situations
• Separation of the person from the office
• Duties, functions, and authority are properties
  of the office, not of an office-holder.
  Relationships are between roles, not between
  people
• Hiring and promotion are based on technical
  merit, not on ascribed characteristics

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• Careers are protected
• Bureaucratic personality bureaucracies press
  their members to conform, and train them to deal
  with routine situations. This results in
• Trained incapacity to deal with new situations
• View of clients as representatives of categories,
  instead of as individuals with unique needs
• These needs are therefore not met the
  bureaucracy becomes efficient but not effective

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Informal Organizations in Bureaucracies

• Members develop complex personal and informal
  networks that
• Support and protect workers at the lower levels
  of hierarchy
• Conduct information, favours, and influence
• Provide a sense of community
• Hawthorne studies informal organization can
  either help a formal organization attain its
  goals or hinder it

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• This depends on the quality of the relationship
  between workers and the management
• The study expected that good group relations
  would increase productivity (human-relations
  school of management)
• In the absence of formal supervision, good group
  relations decreased productivity
• Explanation the management consistently raised
  productivity standards ? The workers deliberately
  limited the speed of work

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Actual/informal Structure of a Bureaucracy

• Actual/informal structure and ideal/formal
  structure do not coincide
• Actual flow of information
• Controlling the flow changes power relations
  between superiors and subordinates
• Workers awareness of inequality and of the power
  of information control varies across societies
• Actors below the top level cannot use routine
  channels to negotiate in the ideal manner
• They therefore organize informally, on basis of
  trust and reciprocity

62

• Organizations increasingly introduce horizontal
  reporting, which depends on swift trusttrust
  based on limited informationwhich works best
  when roles and expectations are clear

63
Organizational Cultures and Flexibility

• Introduction of horizontal groupings may create
  conflicts or inconsistent demands
• Because of this, greater flexibility must be
  sought both from workers and the organization
• Flexibility requires continuous education and
  workers participation in planning

64

• Some organizations (e.g., universities) solve the
  problem of motivation by giving workers autonomy
  and rewarding strong identification with the
  institution

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• Higher receptivity for collective culture (e.g.,
  in Japan, Korea, and China) results in higher
  worker commitment and employee retention
• Organizational culture may apparently empower the
  workers, without changing relationships of
  differentiation and control
• Result increased control and intensification of
  work

66
The Problem of Rationality

• Impersonal decisions and rewarding merit are more
  rational than patronclient relations
• The concern with the survival of the organization
  may undermine the quality of decisions (e.g.,
  red tape) and thus produce irrationality
• Presumption of knowledge and reliance on official
  procedures create a paper reality

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• Formal rules and separation of person from the
  office undermine personal responsibility
• So-called collective decisions are usually made
  by corporate elites
• Deviant behaviour continues until challenged from
  the outside
• Bauman Holocaust displays characteristics of
  rationality

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Relations with the Outside World

• One-way glass the outside world cannot see into
  the organization, but the organization can see
  the world
• Decision-making authority is separated from
  front-line work
• Groupthink the us vs them frame of mind
• The organization does not take criticism
  seriously
• It is unresponsive to change

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Total Institutions

• Goffman mental hospitals, prisons, and military
  camps have total control over inmates
• Staff watch and control inmates behaviour 24
  hours a day
• Founded on procedural rigidity
• Contrary to public organizations democratic
  participation by employees and clients

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• Totalitarian societies
• Bureaucratic
• Resocialize uncooperative citizens Blau
• Bureaucracy is a constant threat to democracy
• Bureaucracy is formed to achieve set objectives
• Organizing principle is efficiency and the
  structure is hierarchical

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• Democracy is formed to discover the objectives of
  the group
• Organizing principle is freedom of dissent and
  the structure is egalitarian