Social Roles, Interaction, 5

and Organization

Learning Objectives
After reading chapter 5, you will be able to
 distinguish between status/status set and role/role set.
 explain the difference between ascribed and achieved status using examples.
 distinguish between role strain and role conflict using examples.
 define role exit and provide an example.
 outline the emergence of bureaucracy and formal rationalization.
 explain the four elements and consequences of Max Weber’s formal rationalization.
 describe the four elements of George Ritzer’s McDonaldization using examples.

Chapter Summary
Status and role are two central concepts in the study of sociology. They are the basis of individual
identity and social interactions and impose responsibilities and expectations in relation to other
members of society. A status is a recognized social position that an individual occupies. The collec-
tion of statuses held by an individual is called a status set. An ascribed status is one you are born
into or enter involuntarily (e.g., sex). In contrast, an achieved status is one you enter voluntarily at
some stage in your life, often reflecting individual ability and/or accomplishment (e.g., an occupa-
tion). Everett C. Hughes (1945) introduced the concept of master status, the status of an individual
that dominates all other statuses and plays the greatest role in an individual’s social identity.

Status hierarchy is a term used to describe the ranking of statuses from high to low based on their
power and prestige. In Canadian society, male is ranked over female, heterosexual over homosexual,
and white over non-white, for example. When a person occupies statuses that are highly ranked in
one status category, but not in others, status inconsistency can result. For example, a working-
class, white male is highly ranked in terms of “race” and gender but lowly ranked in economic class.
On the other hand, status consistency means that all of the social status hierarchies line up for an
individual.

Elements of Sociology, Fourth Edition

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A role is a set of behaviours and attitudes associated with a particular status. Robert Merton devel-
oped the idea of a role set, which comprises all the roles attached to a status. Role strain develops
when there is conflict between roles within the role set of a particular status. Role conflict occurs
when a person is forced to reconcile incompatible expectations generated from two or more statuses
they hold. Role exit involves disengaging, voluntarily or involuntarily, from a role that has been cen-
tral to one’s identity and attempting to establish a new one.

The study of small-group interaction has long been a part of sociology. Georg Simmel was one of
the first sociologists to focus on the daily social interactions of individuals. William I. Thomas fur-
thered work on individuals and small groups by developing an important sociological concept
known today as the Thomas Theorem, which states that when a situation is defined as real, it be-
comes real in its consequences. This theorem became central to symbolic interactionist theory, and
builds on the concept of the definition of the situation, which states that individuals will define the
same situation in different ways based on their own subjective experiences. Therefore, in order to
understand a person’s actions and reactions in any given situation, we must first understand how
that individual defines the situation.

Social organization refers to the social and cultural principles around which things are structured,
ordered, and categorized. Max Weber was one of the first sociologists to systematically examine social
organizations and bureaucracy. Advances in the fields of organizational theory and organizational
behaviour were made in the 1980s, when the study of organizations shifted from the examination of
social institutions to the examination of businesses and corporations in an effort to uncover more
effective management practices. During the last two decades, these studies have become more inter-
disciplinary (such as anthropology) and shifted their focus to organizational culture. In the wake of
increasing globalization, critical management studies have gained prominence. These are analyses
which are critical of traditional theories of management and their focus on increasing profits above all
else. Feminist organizations are generally structured around feminist principles and challenge tradi-
tional patriarchal, hierarchical organizations, paying particular attention to internal distribution of
power and control, the division of labour, and decision-making rules.

Bureaucracies have existed for at least 5,000 years; however, sociological analyses of them only began
in the nineteenth century, particularly through the work of Max Weber, who studied bureaucracy
marked by formal rationalization. Weber described formal rationalization as a model for improving
organizational effectiveness composed of four basic elements: efficiency, quantification, predictability,
and control. Weber was critical of bureaucracy, because of its dehumanizing nature and of formal ra-
tionalization because it led to disenchantment and alienation. Building on the notion of formal ration-
alization, Frederick W. Taylor developed scientific management. Now known as Taylorism, this
practice was designed to maximize efficiency for any given job by eliminating non-essential move-
ments. However, efficiency standards limit the work processes to a single set of repetitive actions,
thereby undermining skill development. Taylorism was still practised in North America through the
1990s, but now alternate practices like the team approach are being implemented more widely.

George Ritzer built on Weber’s four elements of formal rationality—efficiency, quantification, predict-
ability, and control—in his conception of McDonaldization, which he described as the application of
principles used in the fast-food industry to other sectors of society (e.g., health care, education). In
Ritzer’s analysis, efficiency involves streamlining the movement of people and things, often by break-
ing tasks up into smaller, repeated tasks performed only by specific people. Quantification involves
counting and measuring as many elements as possible so that success is defined in terms of completion

Elements of Sociology, Fourth Edition

© Oxford University Press Canada, 2017
of quantifiable tasks rather than in terms of quality, which is more difficult to measure. Predictability
means creating a uniform set of rules so that administration, workers, and clients know what to expect
from each other. Control is always hierarchal and involves an explicit division of labour, through
which each employee is assigned well-defined tasks with limited room to exercise judgment.

Society requires social organization in order to avoid chaos. But organizational principles and struc-
tures greatly affect society and must therefore be examined critically. Organizations, instead of serving
the interests and needs of individuals, often dictate values and interactions. By doing so, they ensure
that societal norms and values are obeyed and supported. Organizational bureaucracies have become
increasingly self-serving, losing sight of “the greater good” and their social connections to others.

Study Questions
1. Define ascribed and achieved status and provide an example for each.

2. Consider your own status set. What are your ascribed statuses? What are your achieved statuses?

3. Think of a situation at school or in your life that was interpreted differently by the various peo-
ple involved. Describe the situation in terms of the Thomas theorem and the concept of the defi-
nition of the situation.

4. Briefly describe the three different models of feminist organizations identified by Carol Mueller
(1995) and provide an example for each.

5. How has scientific management been applied to the automobile industry?

6. Differentiate between status and role.

7. What is a master status? What is your master status?

8. Why might a woman who is both a mother and a student experience role conflict?

9. Compare Aboriginal and Judeo-Christian cosmologies.

10. Describe the principles of McDonaldization and apply these to an organization with which you
are familiar.

Exploration and Discussion Exercises

1. Watch the movie Avatar. Explore how the two societies depicted in the movie are structured and
organized. What are the cosmologies that underlie each society? Describe the social organization
of each society. Explore the roles and statuses of individuals in each culture.

2. Do your own study of a bureaucracy or organization in which you have been involved. Apply
some or all of Weber’s elements of formal rationality (efficiency, quantification, predictability,

Elements of Sociology, Fourth Edition

© Oxford University Press Canada, 2017
 and control), as George Ritzer did in his study of fast-food restaurants. What conclusions can
you draw about the effects of this organization on individuals?

Further Readings
Briody, E., T.M. Pester and R. Trotter (2012). A story’s impact on organizational‐culture
change. Journal of Organizational Change Management 25(1): 67–87.
Qualitative research on organizational culture change at a General Motors manufacturing plant.

Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other
Inmates. New York: Anchor Doubleday.
Applies to both sections: status and roles and organizations

Merton, R.K. (1940). Bureaucratic structure and personality. Social Forces 18(4): 560–568.
On the relationship between structural functionalism and bureaucracy

Film recommendation: Office Space (1999)

Addresses issues of organizational culture, bureaucracy, status

Helpful Websites
Tales from the Kingston Pen: http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episodes/tales-from-the-kingston-penn

Status and Role: http://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Status-and-Role.php

Additional information on the concepts of status and role

Lou Gehrig’s Disease: http://www.lougehrigsdisease.net/

Good resource to understand living with disabilities as a master status

Sociology of Organization: http://www.sociosite.net/topics/organization.php

Good resource for sociology of organizations research

Individuals in Organizations: http://www.sociologyguide.com/organization-and-individual/index.php

Additional information on organizations and the role of the individual in organizations

Elements of Sociology, Fourth Edition

© Oxford University Press Canada, 2017