Section outline

  • Objectives
    ::目标目标目标和目标目标目标目标目标

    Describe the two main factors of social structure.
    ::说明社会结构的两个主要因素。

    Analyze how these two factors of social structure affect human interaction?
    ::分析这两个社会结构因素如何影响人类互动?

    Universal Generalizations
    ::普遍化

    Social structure gives a society its enduring characteristics and makes human interaction predictable.
    ::社会结构使社会具有持久的特征,并使人的互动可以预测。

    Each person in society occupies several statuses.  
    ::社会中的每一个人都具有若干地位。

    Roles are the components of social structure that allow statuses to exist in society.
    ::作用是社会结构的组成部分,社会结构允许地位在社会中存在。

    Role conflict occurs between statuses because it is difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status.
    ::地位之间发生作用冲突,因为难以履行对另一地位的作用期望。


    Guiding Questions
    ::问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问

    How do statuses and roles define social structure?
    ::地位和作用如何界定社会结构?

    How are status and roles related?
    ::地位和作用如何相关?

    Describe the roles and statuses of individuals and groups in as they interact in the community.
    ::说明个人和群体在社区互动时的作用和地位。

    Why do role conflict and role strain occur?
    ::为什么会发生作用冲突和作用紧张?

    What is the difference between ascribed status and achieved status?
    ::被赋予的地位和已获得的地位之间有什么区别?

    What are social institutions?
    ::什么是社会机构?

    How do social institutions help to satisfy the basic needs of society?
    ::社会机构如何帮助满足社会的基本需要?

    Learning Objectives
    ::学习目标

    1. Describe the difference between a status and a role.
      ::描述地位和作用之间的区别。
    2. Understand the difference between an ascribed status, an achieved status, and a master status.
      ::了解被赋予的地位、已获得的地位和主地位之间的区别。
    3. List the major social institutions.
      ::列出主要社会机构。

    Social life is composed of many levels of building blocks, from the very micro to the very macro. These building blocks combine to form the social structure .  refers to the social patterns through which a society is organized and can be horizontal or vertical. To recall, horizontal social structure refers to the social relationships and the social and physical characteristics of communities to which individuals belong, while vertical social structure , more commonly called , refers to ways in which a society or group ranks people in a hierarchy.
    ::社会生活由许多层次的构件组成,从微观到宏观,这些构件组成社会结构。这些构件是指一个社会组织起来的社会模式,可以是横向的,也可以是纵向的。回顾一下,横向社会结构是指个人所属社区的社会关系和社会及身体特征,而更常见的称为纵向社会结构是指一个社会或群体如何将人排在等级之下。

    Statuses
    ::状况状况

    has many meanings in the dictionary and also within sociology, but for now we will define it as the position that someone occupies in society. This position is often a job title, but many other types of positions exist: student, parent, sibling, relative, friend, and so forth. It should be clear that status as used in this way conveys nothing about the prestige of the position, to use a common synonym for status. A physician’s job is a status with much prestige, but a shoeshiner’s job is a status with no prestige.
    ::在字典和社会学中有许多含义,但现在,我们将把它定义为某人在社会中的地位。 这个职位通常是一个职称,但还有其他许多类型的职位存在:学生、家长、兄弟姐妹、亲戚、朋友等等。 很显然,以这种方式使用的地位并不代表职位的声望,而是用共同的同义词来表示地位。 医生的工作是一种非常有声望的地位,但Shoshiner的工作却是一种没有声望的地位。

    Any one individual often occupies several different statuses at the same time, and someone can simultaneously be a banker, Girl Scout troop leader, mother, school board member, volunteer at a homeless shelter, and spouse. This someone would be very busy! We call all the positions an individual occupies that person’s (see ).
    ::任何一个个人往往同时拥有几种不同的地位,同时,某个人可以同时成为银行家、女童子军部队领导人、母亲、学校董事会成员、无家可归者庇护所志愿者和配偶。 这个人会非常忙碌!我们称之为个人占据的所有职位(参见 ) 。

    Figure 4.1 Example of a Status Set
    ::图4.1 状况集示例

    Sociologists usually speak of three types of statuses. The first type is , which is the status that someone is born with and has no control over. There are relatively few ascribed statuses; the most common ones are our biological sex, race, parents’ social class and religious affiliation, and biological relationships (child, grandchild, sibling, and so forth).
    ::社会学家通常谈论三种身份。 第一类是,一个人出生而无法控制的地位。 相对而言,被描述的地位较少;最常见的是我们的生理性别、种族、父母的社会阶级和宗教信仰以及生物关系(孩子、孙子、兄弟姐妹等等 ) 。

    Status refers to the position an individual occupies. Used in this way, a person’s status is not related to the prestige of that status. The jobs of physician and shoeshiner are both statuses, even though one of these jobs is much more prestigious than the other job.
    ::身份是指个人占据的位置。 以这种方式使用,一个人的地位与这种地位的声望无关。 医生和行医者的工作都是地位,尽管其中一项工作比另一项工作更有声望。

    © Thinkstock
    ::智商

    The second kind of status is called , which, as the name implies, is a status you achieve, at some point after birth , sometimes through your own efforts and sometimes because good or bad luck befalls you. The status of student is an achieved status, as is the status of restaurant server or romantic partner, to cite just two of the many achieved statuses that exist. (college student, movie star, teacher, or athlete).
    ::第二种身份被称作“(如名字所暗示的) ” , 也就是在出生后某个时刻,有时是通过你自己的努力,有时是因为运气好或坏,有时是因为运气好或坏。 学生的地位是一种已经实现的地位,就像餐厅服务机或浪漫伴侣的地位一样,仅举许多已经实现的地位中的两个(大学学生、电影明星、教师或运动员)。

    Two things about achieved statuses should be kept in mind. First, our ascribed statuses, and in particular our sex, race and ethnicity, and social class, often affect our ability to acquire and maintain many achieved statuses (such as college graduate). Second, achieved statuses can be viewed positively or negatively. Our society usually views achieved statuses such as physician, professor, or college student positively, but it certainly views achieved statuses such as burglar, prostitute, and pimp negatively.
    ::有关已实现地位的两件事应该记住。 首先,我们被赋予的地位,特别是我们的性别、种族和族裔,以及社会阶级,常常影响我们获得和保持许多已实现地位的能力(比如大学毕业生 ) 。 其次,已经获得的地位可以被正面或负面地看待。 我们的社会通常认为取得了医生、教授或大学生等地位,但肯定认为取得了盗窃、妓女和皮条客等地位。


    The third type of status is called a . This is a status that is so important that it overrides other statuses you may hold. In terms of people’s reactions, master statuses can be either positive or negative for an individual depending on the particular master status they hold. Barack Obama now holds the positive master status of president of the United States: his status as president overrides all the other statuses he holds (husband, father, and so forth), and millions of Americans respect him, whether or not they voted for him or now favor his policies, because of this status. Many other positive master statuses exist in the political and entertainment worlds and in other spheres of life.
    ::第三种身份被称为“一个 ” 。 这是一个非常重要的地位,以至于它压倒了你可能持有的其他身份。 在人们的反应方面,主身份对一个人来说可以是正的,也可以是负的,取决于他们拥有的特定主身份。 奥巴马现在拥有美国总统的积极主身份:他作为总统的地位压倒了他拥有的其他所有身份(丈夫、父亲等等 ) , 数百万美国人尊重他,不管他们是否投票支持他,也不管他们是否支持他的政策,都因为这一身份。 许多其他积极的主身份存在于政治和娱乐世界以及其他生活领域。

    Some master statuses have negative consequences. To recall the medical student and nursing home news story that began this chapter, a physical disability often becomes such a master status. If you are bound to a wheelchair, for example, this fact becomes more important than the other statuses you have and may prompt people to perceive and interact with you negatively. In particular, they perceive you more in terms of your master status (someone bound to a wheelchair) than as the “person beneath” the master status, to cite Matt’s words. For similar reasons, gender, race, and sexual orientation may also be considered master statuses, as these statuses often subject women, people of color, and gays and lesbians, respectively, to discrimination and other problems, no matter what other statuses they may have.
    ::一些硕士地位具有负面后果。 回顾本章开始的医科学生和护理家庭新闻故事,身体残疾往往会成为这样的硕士地位。 比如,如果你被绑在轮椅上,这一事实会比其他你所拥有的地位更重要,并可能促使人们与你产生消极的感知和互动。 特别是,他们更多地从你的硕士地位(有人被绑在轮椅上)的角度来看待你,而不是从“处于主地位下的人”的角度来看待你,引证Matt的话。 出于类似的原因,性别、种族和性取向也可能被视为硕士地位,因为这些地位常常分别让妇女、有色人种的人、同性恋者和同性恋者遭受歧视和其他问题,而不管他们可能拥有什么其他地位。

    Whatever status we occupy, certain objects signify any particular status. These objects are called . In popular terms, status symbol usually means something like a Rolls-Royce or BMW that shows off someone’s wealth or success, and many status symbols of this type exist. But sociologists use the term more generally than that. For example, the wheelchair that Matt the medical student rode for 12 days was a status symbol that signified his master status of someone with a (feigned) disability. If someone is pushing a stroller, the stroller is a status symbol that signifies that the person pushing it is a parent or caretaker of a young child.
    ::无论我们所处状态如何, 某些物体都代表特定状态。 这些物体被称为 。 以流行术语来说, 状态符号通常意味着像劳斯莱斯或宝马(BMW)这样的展示某人财富或成功的标志, 而许多这种类型的状态符号也存在。 但社会学家使用的术语比这个更为笼统。 比如, 马特这名医科学生骑了12天的轮椅是一个标志性标志,象征着他拥有某种(被指责的)残疾的人的主人身份。 如果有人推着婴儿车,漫步器是一个标志性标志,表明推车的人是幼儿的父母或看护人。

    Roles
    ::角色角色角色

    Whatever its type, every status is accompanied by a , which is the behavior expected of someone—and in fact everyone —with a certain status. You and most other people reading this book are students. Despite all the other differences among you, you have at least this one status in common. As such, there is a role expected of you as a student (at least by your professors); this role includes coming to class regularly, doing all the reading assigned from this textbook, and studying the best you can for exams. Roles for given statuses existed long before we were born, and they will continue long after we are no longer alive. A major dimension of socialization is learning the roles our society has and then behaving in the way a particular role demands.
    ::不论类型如何,每个状况都伴有某种行为,即某个人——事实上每个人——应该有某种身份。你和阅读这本书的大多数人都是学生。尽管你们之间存在其他各种差异,但至少有一个共同的地位。因此,期望你扮演学生的角色(至少是你的教授);这一角色包括定期上课,完成本教科书中分配的所有阅读,并研究你能够接受的考试。特定地位的角色早在我们出生之前就已经存在了,在我们不再活着之后,他们还会继续很长一段时间。社会化的一个主要方面是学习我们社会的角色,然后以特定的角色要求的方式行事。

    Because roles are the behavior expected of people in various statuses, they help us interact because we are familiar with the roles in the first place, a point to which the second half of this chapter returns. Suppose you are shopping in a department store. Your status is a shopper, and the role expected of you as a shopper—and of all shoppers—involves looking quietly at various items in the store, taking the ones you want to purchase to a checkout line, and paying for them. The person who takes your money is occupying another status in the store that we often call a cashier. The role expected of that cashier—and of all cashiers not only in that store but in every other store—is to accept your payment in a businesslike way and put your items in a bag. Because shoppers and cashiers all have these mutual expectations, their social interaction is possible.
    ::因为角色是不同身份的人所期望的行为,他们帮助我们互动,因为我们首先熟悉角色,这是本章后半部分的回报点。假设你在百货商店购物。你的地位是一头沙巴,你的角色是一只沙巴,你作为偷看者的角色,以及所有商店的顾客——参与静静地看商店中各种物品,把你想购买的物品带到支票线上,并付钱给他们。拿你的钱的人正在商店中占据另一个地位,我们经常叫收银员。该出纳员和所有出纳员不仅在那家商店,而且在其他商店中预期的作用是接受你以商业方式支付的款项,把物品放进袋子。因为店员和出纳员都有这些共同的期望,他们的社会互动是可能的。

    Roles help us interact because we are familiar with the behavior associated with roles. Because shoppers and cashiers know what to expect of each other, their social interaction is possible.

    © Thinkstock
    ::智商

    Any individual occupies several statuses and thus has several roles. Many employees are also parents and must often juggle the expectations their employers have of them with the needs of their children.
    ::许多雇员也是父母,他们必须经常将雇主对他们的期望与其子女的需要混为一谈。


    :: 。

    Whatever its type, every status is accompanied by a role , which is the behavior expected of someone—and in fact everyone —with a certain status. You and most other people reading this book are students. Despite all the other differences among you, you have at least this one status in common. As such, there is a role expected of you as a student (at least by your professors): this role includes coming to class regularly, doing all the reading assigned from this textbook, and studying the best you can for exams.
    ::不论类型如何,每个地位都伴随着一个角色,这就是对具有某种地位的人 — — 事实上也是每个人 — — 的预期行为。你和阅读这本书的大多数人都是学生。尽管你们之间存在其他差异,但至少有一个共同的地位。因此,人们期望你作为学生(至少是你的教授)的角色:这个角色包括定期来上课,完成从教科书中分配的所有阅读,并学习最好的考试。


    Role Problems
    ::作用问题

    Roles can help our interactions run smoothly and automatically and, for better or worse, shape our personalities, but they can also cause various kinds of problems. One such problem is , which occurs when the roles of our many statuses conflict with each other. For example, say you are a student and also a parent. Your 3-year-old child gets sick. You now have a conflict between your role as a parent and your role as a student. To perform your role as a parent, you should stay home with your sick child. To perform your role as a student, you should go to your classes and take the big exam that had been scheduled weeks ago. What do you do?
    ::角色可以帮助我们的相互作用顺利和自动地运行,并且,不管好坏,塑造我们的个性,但是它们也可以造成各种各样的问题。其中一个问题是,当我们许多地位的角色相互冲突时,就会发生这样的问题。例如,说你是学生,也是父母。你的3岁孩子生病了。现在你作为父母的角色和作为学生的角色之间有冲突。为了履行你作为父母的角色,你应该留在家里与生病的孩子呆在一起。为了履行你作为学生的角色,你应该去上课,参加几周前排定的大型考试。你做了什么?

    Obviously, you cannot perform both roles at the same time. To resolve role conflict, we ordinarily have to choose between one role or the other, which is often a difficult choice to make. In this example, if you take care of your child, you miss your classes and exam; if you go to your classes, you have to leave your child at home alone, an unacceptable and illegal option.
    ::显然, 您不能同时同时同时同时同时履行两种角色。 为了解决角色冲突, 我们通常必须在角色或角色之间做出选择, 而这往往是一个难以选择的选择。 例如, 如果您照顾孩子, 您会错过课程和考试; 如果您去上课, 您不得不将孩子留在家中, 这是一种无法接受和非法的选择 。

    Another way to resolve role conflict is to find some alternative that would meet the needs of your conflicting roles. In our sick child example, you might be able to find someone to watch your child until you can get back from classes. It is certainly desirable to find such alternatives, but, unfortunately, they are not always forthcoming. If role conflict becomes too frequent and severe, a final option is to leave one of your statuses altogether. In our example, if you find it too difficult to juggle your roles as parent and student, you could stop being a parent—hardly likely!—or, more likely, take time off from school until your child is older. Most of us in these circumstances would try our best to avoid having to do this. 

    ::另一种解决角色冲突的方法是找到一些能满足你角色冲突需要的替代办法。在我们生病的孩子身上,你也许能找到一个人来照看你的孩子,直到你从班上回来。当然,找到这样的选择是可取的,但不幸的是,他们并非总是会出现。如果角色冲突变得过于频繁和严重,最后的选择就是完全放弃你的地位。以我们为例,如果你觉得很难发挥你作为父母和学生的角色,你就可以不再做父母——很难做到!——或者,更有可能的是,从学校放学到你的孩子长大之前。在这种情况下,我们大多数人会尽力避免这样做。


     

    Another role-related problem is called . Here you have one status, and a role associated with it, that is causing problems because of all the demands coming to you from people in other statuses with which your own status is involved. Suppose you were a high school principal. In your one role as a principal, you come into contact with people in several different statuses: teachers, students, custodial and support staff, the superintendent, school board members, the community as a whole, and the news media. These statuses may make competing demands on you in your one role as a principal. If your high school has a dress code, for example, the students may want you to abolish it, the teachers and superintendent may want you to keep it, and maybe the school board would agree with the students. As you try to please all of these competing factions, you certainly might experience some role strain!
    ::另一个与角色相关的问题被称作 。 这里您有一个身份, 和一个角色相关联, 正在引起问题, 因为您遇到来自您自身身份涉及的其他身份的人的所有要求。 假设您是高中校长。 在您担任校长时, 您会与不同身份的人接触: 教师、 学生、 监管和辅助人员、 校长、 学校董事会成员、 整个社区以及新闻媒体。 这些身份可能会在您担任校长时对您提出相互竞争的要求。 比如, 您的高中学生可能会希望您废除着装守则, 教师和校长可能会希望您保留它, 也许学校董事会会同意学生们的意见。 您在试图取悦所有这些竞争派别时, 您可能会遇到一些角色压力 。

    A third type of role problem occurs when we occupy a status whose role demands a certain type of personality that differs from the one we actually have. Can you imagine a police officer who was afraid of guns? An athlete who was not competitive? Although most people avoid this type of role problem by not taking on a role to which their personality is ill suited, such problems occur nonetheless. For example, some people who dislike children and do not have the patience to be good parents end up being parents anyway. In another example, your author once knew a new professor who was woefully nervous lecturing in front of students. You might wonder why he became a professor in the first place, but he probably just loved the subject matter so much that he thought he would overcome his nervousness. He did not.
    ::第三种角色问题发生在我们所处的地位,其角色要求一种不同于我们实际的人格。你能想象一个害怕枪械的警官吗?一个没有竞争力的运动员?虽然大多数人通过不承担其个性不适合的角色而避免了这种角色问题,但这类问题仍然会发生。例如,有些人不喜欢孩子,没有耐心做好父母,最终最终还是成为父母。在另一个例子中,你的作者曾经认识一位新教授,他当着学生的面紧张地讲课。你可能会怀疑他为什么成为教授,但他可能只是太喜欢这个主题,以为他能克服紧张。他没有这样做。

    Another consideration about groups and our roles in them is the fact that one single role can place a rather heavy burden on you (IE: student). Role Strain is the burden one feels within any given role. And when one role comes into direct conflict with another or other roles you might experience Role Conflict includes conflict and burdens one feels because the expectations of one role compete with the expectations of another role.
    ::关于团体和我们在这些团体中的角色的另一个考虑是,一个角色可以给您带来相当沉重的负担(IE:学生 ) 。 角色斯特林是任何特定角色中人们感到的负担。 当一个角色与另一个或者其他角色直接冲突时,你可能会经历角色冲突包括冲突和负担,因为对一个角色的期望与对另一个角色的期望相竞争。


    Role strain involves the competing demands placed on someone in a given status from the many people in other statuses. This diagram illustrates the role strain that a high school principal may experience in trying to please teachers, students, and members of other statuses.

    ::角色紧张涉及到对处于某种特定地位的人提出的来自其他地位的人的相互竞争的要求。 这个图表说明了高中校长在试图取悦教师、学生和其他地位的成员时可能经历的角色紧张。

    For many of the social issues confronting the United States today—hate crimes, other crimes, violence against women, sexism, racism, and so forth—it might not be an exaggeration to say that new patterns of socialization are ultimately necessary if our society wants to be able to address these issues effectively. Parents of young children and adolescents bear a major responsibility for making sure our children do not learn to hate and commit harm to others, but so do our schools, mass media, and religious bodies. No nation is perfect, but nations like Japan have long been more successful than the United States in raising their children to be generous and cooperative. Their examples hold many good lessons for the United States to follow.
    ::对于美国今天面临的许多社会问题——犯罪、其他罪行、对妇女的暴力、性别主义、种族主义等等——说如果我们的社会希望能够有效地解决这些问题,社会化的新模式最终是必要的,也许不是夸张的话。 幼儿和青少年的父母负有主要责任确保我们的儿童不会学会仇恨和伤害他人,但我们的学校、大众媒体和宗教机构也是如此。 没有哪个国家是完美的,但日本这样的国家长期以来比美国更成功地抚养子女慷慨合作。 他们的例子为美国提供了许多良好的教训。

    Key Takeaways
    ::密钥外出

    • Roles exist before we are born and will endure after we die and mightily affect individual behavior.
      ::角色在我们出生之前就已经存在,在我们死后将继续存在,并且会影响个人行为。
    • Various kinds of role strains and problems often occur as individuals try to perform the roles expected of them from the many statuses they occupy.
      ::各种角色紧张和问题经常出现,因为个人试图发挥他们从许多地位中得到的预期作用。
    • New socialization practices might be necessary to address many of the social ills facing the United States and other societies.
      ::为解决美国和其他社会面临的许多社会弊病,可能需要新的社会化做法。

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