“A social structure is a set of positions that arise in interaction.” This has to do with the complicated set of roles and positions that are made by and for members of our society. Culture usually dictates which roles and positions are acceptable for different people. Individuals have to come to the conclusion and decide what responsibilities, privileges, and meanings are connected to each person’s specific role in their life. In some social structures such as if family really can give their opinion whether or not a person chooses that certain role or not. The roles and positions of different individuals are meant to support one another and create a strong social structure that can also function. For example, if a special position in society becomes available all of a sudden, such as the president of a corporation, usually it isn’t easy to choose the person that would fit that role. There’s always some sort of conflict that creates problems and therefore makes it harder to choose someone because of it. Through our culture, society then decides their next move on how to fill that position that needs to be filled in order for the social structure to function well, and the social structure is then ready to function once again. A Society is known as the biggest unit of social organization according to sociologists. This social organization is usually made up of a group of people who have similarities such as: sharing a nation, common grounds, how they live their life, and lastly a specific group of social institutions that control and pattern behavior. In many sociologists eyes societies are more greater than the individual sum of their being and give off certain social forces on the person. Societies are constantly being re made and reproduced through conversation and every day interactions with other beings. This is a major breaking point for sociologists since they have to study social control, social change, and lastly social order all in a pattern.Societies have certain structures made up of social institutions which their purpose is to complete a human beings needs for social attention in groups, their communities, and over all social acceptance. Between all of these, social institutions complete and fulfill a average person's need for the basic life necessities such as shelter, safety, culture, knowledge, and food. Social behavior depends on institutions patterns which is how they regulate. Societies differ in ways institutions conduct the fulfilment of basic human needs and desires. Examples of institutions include: family, religion, education, and the most common ones : political and economic systems. All of these differentiate based on society and history. Sociologists conduct similar studies of all of their differences. This allows us to see which social system is working and which are simply not as effective in both meeting human and society’s needs. A person social status depends a few things, it first refers to what job and what position within that specific job a person gets in that institution. Each person has more than one statuses because they have more than one act within multiple institutions. For example a mother is also a daughter in law, daughter and possibly a future grandmother. On one side specific, “statuses” may conform to your identity and lifestyle more they may all be essential to who you are, how you identify yourself, and give you a better understanding for where you as an individual stand in your society /community.
Social roles are defined as we learned in class “ how one is expected to behave within your social status in a specific institutional setting.” These certain role behaviors are expected of a person by society as well as social norms having to do with his/her social role. An example of this is contrasting by intersecting role norms of a professor and a student. Take the student’s expected roles for example, they are well mannered, does their work, and studies. On the other hand the professor teaches, grades assignments, and assigns homework to his/her students. If a role expectation is broken or not obeyed it is looked as “ out of the ordinary” and labeled as “deviant” in other people's eyes, this is looked down upon in society's eyes. Social stigma was first created and studies by Erving Goffman, a sociologist who proved that stigmas are actually identities conferred by other people and any human being can be in fact stigmatized for their own opinions, differences based off of society's typical “norms”. Understanding the specific characteristics of a particular group’s stigma and accepting that certain group as non- stigmatized. Any person can be stigmatized, in other words they are being observed as socially odd and not the same as a “ normal person” this is looked as unacceptable for any small difference. These differences include emotional, physical, and even interactional. More common stigmas that are targeted when discriminating against a person is targeting ones religion, age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, physical appearance, and capability. Norms on the other hand are the most general rules of social behavior in a culture. Norms are step by step guides for people to follow and teach them how to act and interact in specific social settings, Mores are known to be more important to society as a whole, these norms may be legally enforceable by higher officials and they even have serious social penalties if broken. An example of this is wearing clothes, something so simple yet something not everyone wants to follow. Going out without clothes is considered a illegal act and legal action is taken if people do this. Folkways on the other hand aren't as important as Mores norms and does not contain serious penalty if violated. An example of a Folkway is dressing appropriately, it is recommended but it’s not illegal and penalties are not enforced by society. Culture is defined as the organized behavior within a certain society, multiple sub-cultures within the society is allowed. A subculture on the other hand is a patterned variation of the main culture, meaning it comes within the main culture, the sub culture does not affect the main culture whatsoever. To conclude societies as a whole are very similar, stigmas and discrimination always lie within our world and we do everything we can to avoid that but sometimes it’s impossible. Having our own cultures makes it easier to separate ourselves and find people like ourselves. Being a united society is a major goal of the world and I hope one day we can end all stigmas and become one.