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Unit 2 Lecture 3: Population, Society, and Social Structure
Population-The collection(aggregate) of people who inhabit a place
- Population characteristics: birth rates, sex-ration, age at marriage, fertility, migration, mortality
Society-collection of people that is self-sustaining, has long duration, and shares a way of life; a population and its social organization and all that this implies; the social system
- Ethnomethodologists argue that there is no such thing as a society -people define their own "society"
Social Structure-interrelationships among roles, groups, institutions, social classes, and global economic regions.
Social Reproductions-the continuous remaking of society; requires constant interaction between population and social structure
Elements of Social Structure
- Statuses
- Roles
- Groups
- Organizations
- Institutions
Social Structure of San Cristobal Totonicapan
- Ascribed status (status given to you at birth and during life cycle stages): "Indian", gender, life-cycle stages
- Achieved status (status you gain through personal efforts): resources you own (land and animals, cortes for women); town/village residence; educational level ("licenciado"); travel guide(smuggler)
Observations concerning social statuses:
1) status often assigned to whole family;
2) migration promotes achieved status
- Roles (set of norms and values that define the expected behavior in a social position)-traditional roles concerning gender, religion, artisan and/or peasant occupations; marriage broker role
- Role change-migration is affecting traditional roles in a contradictory ways in the municipio; traditional roles greatly affected in the United states(attempts to keep roles anchored back home)
- Role stress-migrants feel stressed because they cannot carry out traditional roles back home; wives left behind also feel role stress because they have more difficult roles to perform
- Role conflict-demands of new "modern" roles conflict with demands of traditional role; role conflict may be particularly hard on youth (role conflict among ethnics in multicultural environments)
Groups (frequent structured interaction, common purpose/goals and identity)
- Religious groups in the municipio and Houston
- Soccer teams
- Americanized youth group (western clothes, play basketball, into rock music, higher education, town residency)
- New gangs (deported gang members from United states)
Formal organizations (groups with specific goals and explicit/written rules and regulations)
- Health clinic
- Alcohol Anonymous chapters
- Civic association
- Civil defense patrols
- Local political parties
- Schools
Informal organizations
- Courier businesses
- Smuggling business
- Musical businesses (sound systems for celebrations)
Social Institutions (long term practices involving groups/organization that provide structure in social life-religious, governmental, educational, etc.)
- Religious institutions
- Soccer organizations
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