SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND INTERACTION IN EVERYDAY LIFE
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND INTERACTION IN EVERYDAY LIFE
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Learning Objectives Explain why social structure is important in our interaction with others.
Distinguish among ascribed, achieved, and master statuses, and give examples of each.
Explain each of these terms: role, role expectation, role performance, role conflict, role strain, and role exit.
Compare functionalist and conflict views on social institutions.
Explain how social change occurs in preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial societies.
Discuss the symbolic interactionist view on the social construction of reality and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Compare ethnomethodology and dramaturgical analysis as two research methods for observing how people deal with everyday life.
State three reasons why the sociology of emotions and the study of nonverbal communication add to our understanding of human behavior.
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E ighner’s “diving” activities reflect a specific pattern of social behavior. All activities in life—including scavenging in garbage bins and living “on the streets”—are social in nature. Homeless persons and domiciled persons (those with homes) participate in a social world that has predictable patterns. This is true for the rest of us as well. In this chapter we look at the relationship between social structure and social interaction in everyday life. In the process, homelessness is used as an example of how social problems may occur and how they may be reduced or perpetuated within social structures and patterns of interaction in com- munities and nations.
Let’s start by defining social interaction and social structure. Although we frequently are not aware of it, our daily interactions with others and the larger patterns found in the social world of which we are a part are important ingredients in the framework of our individual daily lives. Social interaction is the process by which people act toward or respond to other people and is the foundation for all rela- tionships and groups in society. As discussed in Chapter 4, we learn virtually all of what we know from our interactions with other people.
Socialization is a small-scale process, whereas social structure is a much more encompass- ing framework. Social structure is the complex
The Art of Diving for Dinner I began Dumpster diving [scavenging in a large garbage bin] about a year before I became homeless. . . . The area I frequent is inhabited by many affluent college students. I am not here by chance; the Dumpsters in this area are very rich. Students throw out many good things, including food. In particular they tend to throw everything out when they move at the end of a semester, before and after breaks,
and around midterm, when many of them despair of college. So I find it advantageous to keep an eye on the academic calendar. I learned to scavenge gradually, on my own. Since then I have initiated several companions into the trade. I have learned that there is a predictable series of stages a person goes through in learning to scavenge.
At first the new scavenger is filled with dis- gust and self-loathing. He is ashamed of being seen and may lurk around, trying to duck behind things, or he may dive at night. (In fact, most people instinctively look away from a scavenger. By skulking around, the novice calls attention to himself and arouses suspicion. Diving at night is ineffective and needlessly messy.) . . . That stage passes with experience. The scavenger finds a pair of running shoes that fit and look and smell brand-new. . . . He begins to understand: People throw away perfectly good stuff, a lot of per- fectly good stuff.
At this stage, Dumpster shyness begins to dissipate. The diver, after all, has the last laugh. He is finding all manner of good things that are his for the taking. Those who disparage his pro- fession are the fools, not he. —Author Lars Eighner recalls his experiences as a Dumpster diver while living under a shower curtain in a stand of bamboo in a public park. Eighner became homeless when he was evicted from his “shack” after being unemployed for about a year (Eighner, 1993: 111–119).
