Chapter 5

Social Structure
The term structure refers to some sort of ordered arrangement of parts or components sentence has a
structure etc. In all these we find an ordered arrangement of different parts. A structure can be called
a building only when these parts or components are arranged in relationship with the other. In the
same manner society has its own structure called social structure. The components or units of social
structure are persons.
Social relations are patterned human interactions that encompass relationships among individuals,
informally organized groups, and formally organized groups, including the state. Modern-day
approaches to social relations are represented by individualist, structuralist, and institutionalist
theoretical frameworks. Exemplary thinkers have been selected in the field of labor relations and in
the study of political processes to illustrate these different approaches.
Definition
According to Herbert Spencer was the first thinker who wrote about structure of a society. He came
up with biological analogies (organic structure and evolution) to define the social structure.
According to Radcliff-Brown social structure is a part of the social structure of all social relations of
person to person. In the study of social structure the concrete reality with which we are concerned is
the set of actually existing relations at a given moment of time that link together certain human
beings.
According to Raymond Firth it makes no distinction between the ephemeral and the most enduring
elements in social activity and it makes it almost impossible to distinguish the idea of the structure of
society from that of the totality of the society itself.
According to Ginsberg the study of social structure is concerned with the principal form of social
organization that is types of groups, associations and institutions and the complex of these that
constitute societies.
Social Relationship
According to Weber the term social relationship will be used to denote the behavior of a plurality of
actors in so far as in its meaningful content, the action of each takes account of that of the others and
is oriented in these terms. The social relationship thus consists entirely and exclusively in the
existence of a probability that there will be a meaningful course of social action irrespective for the
time being of the basis for this probability. Weber expands on the meaning of social relationship
providing examples and showing the range of following social relationships that can occur. Weber
notes many forms of content- friendship, exchange, competition, conflict and economic exchange.
Meaning is not true or correct in any absolute or theoretical sense. That is each social relationship is
associated with some meaningful action that is appropriate to the relationship.

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Status and Role
Status and role are two important concepts in sociology that are closely related. They are fundamental
to the way that individuals and groups interact with each other in society. These concepts are
intertwined and shape individuals' identities, behaviour, and relationships with others. Status and role
are key components of social stratification, which categorizes individuals on factors such as wealth,
power, and prestige.
Status can be defined as the social position or rank that an individual holds in a social system with
defined rights and duties assigned to these positions. An individual's status can also be temporary or
permanent, depending on the social context. Status is an important aspect of social life because it
determines an individual's access to resources and opportunities, and it also shapes the way that
others perceive and interact with them. For example, a doctor, lawyer, or engineer holds a high status
in society as they may have more power, influence, and prestige than others, and may be treated with
greater respect and deference.
Since the influential writing of Ralph Linton (1936), status and role have become the key concepts
of sociology. By status, Linton meant a position in a social system involving designated rights and
obligation, whereas, by role, he meant the behaviour oriented to others' patterned expectations. Linton
states the long recognized and basic fact that each person in society inevitably occupies multiple
statuses and each of these statuses has an associated role.
In every society and every group, each member has some function or activity with which he is
associated and carries some degree of power or prestige. What the individual does or performs, we
generally call his role. The degree of prestige or power we refer to as his status. Roles are related to
statuses.
In a sense, ‘status’ and ‘role’ are two words for the same phenomenon. This is why, Linton remarked,
“role is the dynamic aspect of status,” or the behaviour or tasks associated with or ascribed to a status.
In other words, status and role are two sides of a single coin. It simply means that both are closely
related and one cannot be separated from the other.
Status is a socially defined position in a group or a social system, such as female, student, teacher,
child, mother, father etc. A status occupant is expected by others to behave in a special way, relative
to the specific situation. The relation of the father and the child is reciprocal and gives to each a
position in the family group. The position is always relative; status always implies a group. With
every status certain privileges, rights and duties are associated.
Most sociologists have used the two terms position and status synonymously, but some have made a
distinction between these terms. ‘Position’ denotes one’s situation in the role structure.
Which is subjective, while ‘status’ refers to the evaluative aspect of position whether others see it as
‘high’ or ‘low’. In this sense, it is an objective term.

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 Harry M. Johnson distinguished the three related concepts, viz., ‘role’, ‘status’ and ‘position’. He
defined a social position as something filled by an individual member of a social system.
Social statuses may be very general (such as those associated with gender roles) or maybe much more
specific (as in occupational positions). A person's social status is determined by a wide range of
factors, facts and conditions such as original nature and physical characteristics, accidental
conditions, physique, mentality, and temperament. Sex, age, race, caste, class, economic position, etc.
are also important factors that affect a person's social standing in society or the community he lives
in.
Definition of Status
Ralph Linton says that “status is the place in a particular system, which a certain individual
occupies at a particular time.”
For Morris Ginsberg, “A status is a position in a social group or grouping, a relation to other
positions held by other individuals in the group or grouping.”
According to Kingsley Davis, “status is a position in the general institutional system, recognized
and supported by the entire society.”
For Horton and Hunt, “status is the rank or position of an individual in a group.”
Types of Status
Statuses are culturally defined, despite the fact that they may be based on biological factors such as
sex, caste or race. Ralph Linton has noted two types of status:
1. Ascribed status:
An ascribed status is a social position assigned at birth and is, therefore, usually permanent. Hence, an
ascribed status is one into which a person is born and in which he or she remains throughout his or her
life, e.g., sex, caste, race and age. A Brahmin, for example, enjoys the ascribed status of a Brahmin by
virtue of his birth. In addition, sex, ethnic background, place of birth, and family name supply assigned
statuses. Such statuses are said to be ascribed. Ascribed statuses are usually fixed at birth. In India, caste
status is generally ascribed, although several changes have been going through ‘Sanskritization’ and
‘inter-caste marriages’.
2. Achieved status:
An achieved status is one that is chosen or achieved, such as a married person, a parent, a friend, a
doctor or an engineer. An achieved status is acquired through one’s efforts. Society recognizes such
changes in achieved status. Statuses that are not fixed by inheritance, biological characteristics, or other
factors, over which the individual has no control, are known as achieved statuses. An achieved status is
entered as a result of some degree of purposive action and choice. Thus, an achieved status, by contrast,
is one that is based on something the person has done. For example, a boy of 17 can be an athlete, a
guitarist, a student of history and a member of a local club enjoying different forms of achieved status.
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 Ascribed and achieved statuses have numerous differences and similarities. They each affect a person’s
and a group’s roles both socially and industrially, and they may even affect the characteristics of a
person and the public’s perception of them.
Master Status
In every society there is always one status that tends to overshadow all other statuses or is given more
importance by others. This is called the master status. Gender, race and caste for instance often become
master statuses in highly stratified societies. Conflict sociologists often engage with ascribed statuses of
gender and race as they argue that these often shape the individual’s life chances including income,
occupation, education, social networks and so on. Similarly, mental or physical disability can also
become a master status and govern the everyday behaviour of the society towards the disabled.

Status Set

Status Set (as popularized by the American sociologist, Robert K. Merton) is the set of social statuses
held by an individual at a given time. Someone is a wife, mother, daughter, nurse, charge goer etc. at the
same time and these would be her status set.

A status set is a set of social statuses people have, such as occupation, ethnic background, and gender.

Achieved status is earned through personal accomplishments, such as occupation and education.

Ascribed status is assigned at birth based on biological factors, such as age, ethnicity, gender, and birth
order.

Race, sex, gender, religion, profession etc. can be factors that determine the statuses to be assigned to an
individual these determine how that person is integrated into society.

Types of Status Sets

There are two major types of statuses and they are -

 Ascribed (statuses assigned at birth)

ROLE
A role can be defined as the behavioral or dynamic aspect associated with a particular status. It is the
way that an individual is expected to behave in a particular social position. Roles are learned through
socialization, and they vary according to the social context. For example, the role of a parent is different
from the role of a teacher. Roles provide a framework for social interaction and help to maintain social

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order. Roles also help to define relationships between individuals and groups. For example, the role of a
boss is to supervise and manage employees.
The role, in sociology, is expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status. A role
is a comprehensive pattern of socially recognized behaviour, providing a means of identifying and
placing an individual in a society. It also serves as a strategy for coping with recurrent situations and
dealing with
others' roles (e.g., parent-child roles). The term, borrowed from theatrical usage, emphasizes the
distinction between the actor and the part. A role remains relatively stable even though different people
occupy the position: any individual assigned the role of the physician, like any actor in the role of
Hamlet, is expected to behave in a particular way. An individual may have a unique style, but this is
exhibited within the expected behavior’s boundaries.
Role expectations include both actions and qualities: a teacher may be expected not only to deliver
lectures, assign homework, and prepare examinations but also to be dedicated, concerned, honest, and
responsible. Individuals usually occupy several positions, which may or may not be compatible with one
another: one person may be husband, father, artist, and patient. Each role entailing certain obligations,
duties, privileges, and rights vis-à-vis other persons.
Definition of Role
1. According to Ogburn and Nimkoff a role is “a set of socially expected and approved behavior
patterns consisting of both duties and privileges, associated with a particular position in a group.”
2. According to Johnson “role is expectations and obligations held by other members concerning the
behaviour of the position incumbent.”

3. Alex Inkles ‘role’ refers to “the set of expected or normative rights and obligations allowed to and
demanded of persons generally felt to be incumbent of a recognized status by others who participate in
the same social system.”
Interrelationships between social status and role
The concepts of status and role have a growing significance in the social sciences. Status and role are
simplified by Ralph Linton when he said, ‘you occupy a status, but you play a role’. Every position or
status in society carries with it a set of expected behaviour patterns. Status and role are ‘two sides of the
same coin’.
Types of Roles
Cultural Role − these are roles that are influenced by cultural values, beliefs, and norms, such as the
traditional gender roles of men as breadwinners and women as homemakers.
Performance Role − these are roles that individuals perform to meet the expectations of others or to
fulfil social norms, such as the role of a good student or a responsible employee.
Role Conflict − Role conflict occurs when an individual is expected to fulfil the expectations and
requirements of two or more roles. For example, a working parent may experience role conflict when
they have to balance the demands of their job with their responsibilities as a caregiver.
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Role Set − A role set refers to the different roles and relationships that are associated with a particular
status or position. For example, the role set of a teacher may include their relationship with students,
parents, and colleagues.
Role Expectation - In order to perform effectively to validate one's social position the actor must learn
either at first-hand what performances are associated with what positions. He must be acquainted with
certain sectors of social system, obligations, privileges, rights and duties as the defining characteristics
of each position. Role expectations may be viewed as actions or qualities expected of the occupant of a
position. It is viewed as actions and codified. Expectations must be inferred from overt conduct,
including self-reports etc.
Role making - describes how expected behavior is created and modified in interaction, a tentative
process in which roles are identified and given content on shifting as interaction proceeds. Symbolic
interactionist tend to avoid the extreme relativism implied by role making. Roles are fluid and every
interaction produces a different and unique role and asserts that role making produces consistent patterns
of behavior that can be identified with various types of social actors.
Multiple Roles - In a social structure roles are more important than role occupants. The roles are
associated with the various statuses held by an individual at a given time. By established usage, the term
multiple roles refers not to the complex of roles associated with a single social status but with the
various social statuses in which people find themselves.
Role set - Robert K Merton introduced the term role set to identify number of roles attached to a single
status. A role set is a situation where a single status has more than one role attached to it. According to
Linton a person holds a status and performs a role. Roles do not exist by themselves in isolation from
one another; each role has its complementary or associated role or roles. Any given social status
involves an individual actor in a number of social relationships that are always or usually found to be
necessary for persons in that particular status. The various social statues in a society may require
common associated roles that continually bring functionally different statuses together. In such an
overlapping of associated roles people who have different positions in a society may often meet and
interact in a manner that promotes social integration.
Role Strain- Role strain refers to the situation where different and conflicting expectations exist with
regard to a particular status e.g a professor may enjoy with his students within or outside the class. At
the same time he is responsible for ascertaining that their performance is up to par and that they attend
class regularly to achieve this end, he may have to be strict with his students.

Role Enactment -The behavior that serves as the dependent or outcome variable is seen as role
enactment; interest is focused on what the occupant of a given position does or says such behavior is
noted by observers who may use behaviors rating scales or free response verbalization to make known
their observations. The effectiveness, validity or propriety of such role enactments varies between
persons and situations. Among the variables that have been demonstrated to be antecedent to variation in
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effectiveness or proprietary of role enactment. They are: validity of role expectations held by the actor.
Accuracy of the actor in locating the others and reciprocally the self in the proper role system.
Sensitivity to situational generated role demands. Available general and specific skills. Congruence of
self and role.
Role Primacy - The precedence of one role over another is called role primacy. The primacy of a role is
determined by the extent to which it is important or essential to the individuals. Role primacy is not
simply an individual matter. The primacy of particular role varies with historical, cultural and situational
factors and structure of a society or a social group is crucial in the determination of role primacy for its
members. There is tendency toward consensus regarding the content of roles in interaction. There is a
tendency for stabilized roles to be assigned the character of legitimate expectations implying that
deviation from expectations is a breach of rules. The degree to which ego ascribes legitimacy to his
expectations for alters role varies directly with the degree to which the selection and enactment of his
role depend on altar's role and role behavior.
Role model - concept attributes to Merton that refers to an individual whose behavior in a particular role
provides a pattern or model upon which another individual basis his behavior in performing the same
role. The role model provides a standard used by the other person in determining the appropriate
attitudes and actions of an occupant of the role. A role model needs not be personally known to the
individual not living or real and may include public figures, historical figures and legendary heroes.

Role Distance - Role distance is a term coined by E Goffman that refers to the detachment of the
performer from the role he or she is performing. This makes an important distinction between the
existence of expectations concerning role performance of a role and individual commitment to role. The
act of presenting yourself as being removed or at a distance from the role you are being required to play.

Role Set vs. Status Set

 A status set defines a position occupied by a person in society, while a role set is the behavioral
aspect of a person's societal status.
 Statuses are occupied, while roles are played.
 Status is a sociological concept, while role set is a social psychology phenomenon.
 Roles change with each new prevailing status, while status changes when norms attached to it
change.

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