Методичка для социологов

Task 9. Make up sentences choosing an appropriate variant from the second column and translate them into Russian:

1.The scientist was guided by … .

2.The room was filled with … .

3.His theory is built on … .

4.Human behavior is defined by … .

5.Social interaction is patterned … .

6.His activity is encouraged by … .

7.He is in charge of … .

1)cultural values and norms.

2)the working team.

3)the latest scientific discoveries.

4)the Sociology Research Institute.

5)unfamiliar faces.

6)empirical investigation.

7)as society is an organized system.

Task 10. Make up dialogues according to the following situations:

1.An odd person comes to you. He says you were friends years ago. You have never met him before and you suspect his motives.

2.Your friend is acting very strangely. You feel he has a secret worry. Find out what is wrong with him.

Note: the following word-combinations may be helpful:

To be concerned with, to be interested in, to be guided by, to be encouraged by, to be in charge of, to be filled with, to be prone to, to make use of.

Task 11. Translate into English:

1.Для успешного исследования необходимы любознательность и воображение.

2.Процесс интерпретации является частью социологического исследования.

3.Понятия – это абстрактные идеи, представляющие элементы общества.

4.Общество является организованной системой, поэтому социальное взаимодействие шаблонно.

5.Мало кто из людей с готовностью соглашается с тем, что является частью какой-то системы.

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6.Для примера можно вспомнить выше участие в мероприятии, которое устраивают малознакомые вам люди.

7.Социальная структура накладывает определенные ограничения на поведение.

8.Неспособность соответствовать установленным моделям может привести к тому, что другие будут воспринимать вас как девианта.

Task 12. Memorize the following words and word-combinations:

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UNIT 6. ROLE

A second major component of social interaction is role, which refers to patterns of behavior corresponding to a particular status. Ralph Linton described a role as the dynamic expression of a status. A student has a role that involves patterned interaction with professors and other students, and responding to academic demands made by the college. As Linton explained, while individuals occupy a status, they perform a role. Cultural norms suggest how a person who holds a particular status ought to act, which is often called a role expectation. However, real culture only approximates ideal culture; therefore, actual role performance usually varies from role expectation.

Like status, a role is relational by directing social behavior toward some other person. The role that corresponds to the status of parent, for example, is ideally defined in terms of responsibilities toward a child. Correspondingly, the role of son or daughter is ideally defined in terms of obligations toward a parent. There are countless other examples of roles paired in this way: the behavior of wives and husbands is performed in relation to each other, as is the behavior of physicians and patients, and of professors and students.

Because individuals occupy many statuses at one time – a status set – they perform multiple roles. Yet a person has even more roles than statuses because any one status involves performing several roles in relation to various other people. Robert Merton (1968) introduced the term role set to identify a number of roles attached to a single status.

The several roles that are linked to any particular status are not always easily integrated, so an individual can feel pulled in several directions at once. Role strain is defined as incompatibility among the roles corresponding to a single status. When several roles linked to a single status make competing demands a person may not always be able to live up to social expectations. A parent, for example, may have difficulty with simultaneous responsibilities to discipline a child and to be the child’s trusted confident.

In addition, roles attached to different statuses often demand incompatible patterns of behavior. The concept of role conflict refers to incompatibility among the roles corresponding to two or more statuses. Single parents often experience conflict in their attempt to be both parents and bread winners – each status demands

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considerable time and energy. Consequently, the individual may find that both roles cannot be fully performed simultaneously.

Task 1. Transcribe the following words and learn their pronunciation:

actual, audience, dialogue, discipline, dramaturgical, dynamic, ideal, identify, observed, occupy, patient, physician, professor, status, theatre

Task 2. Find the definitions of:

1) Role; 2) Role set; 3) Role strain; 4) Role conflict.

Task 3. Answer the following questions:

1.When do the individuals play roles?

2.What is called role expectation?

3.Are role performance and role expectation the same or different notions?

4.Does a person have more roles or statuses?

5.What is the difference between role strain and role conflict?

Task 4. Make up disjunctive questions:

1.A role is described as the dynamic expression of a status.

2.Actual role performance usually varies from role expectation.

3.Individuals occupy many statuses at one time.

4.People perform multiple roles.

5.A person has more roles than statuses.

6.Roles attached to different statuses often demand incompatible patterns of behavior.

Task 5. Summarize the contents of the text in 10 sentences.

Task 6. Identify a number of roles played by:

1)your parents;

2)your close friend;

3)your neighbor;

4)you personally.

Task 7. Translate the text in writing:

Dramaturgical Analysis:

“The Presentation of Self”

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Dramaturgical analysis is the analysis of social interaction as if it were a theatrical performance. This approach to the study of social interaction is closely associated the work of Erving Goffman (1922–1980). Goffman agreed that people socially construct reality, but emphasized that in doing so they make use of various elements of social structure. Thus, like a director carefully scrutinizing actors on a stage, Goffman sought to identify social structures that are used over and over again.

Dramaturgical analysis provides a fresh look at two now familiar concepts. A status is very much like a part in a play, and a role can be compared to a script that supplies dialogue and action to each of the characters. Roles are performed in countless settings that are like a stage in a theatre, and are observed by various audiences. The heart of Goffman’s analysis is the process he called the presentation of the self, which means the ways in which individuals, in various settings, attempt to create specific impression in the minds of others. This process is also called impression management, and contains a number of common elements.

Task 8. Answer the questions:

1.What problem does the text deal with?

2.What kind of analysis is dramaturgical analysis?

3.What does “the presentation of self” mean?

4.What is the other name for it?

Task 9. Find in the text English equivalents for:

соответствующий; приближаться; посредством; одновременно; ряд ролей; вести хозяйство; частичный перечень; несовместимость; следовательно; тесно связан; снова и снова; суть анализа

Task 10. Read and translate the following words and their derivatives: interact – interaction– interacting

correspond – correspondence – corresponding – correspondingly respond – response – respondent

perform – performance

expect – expectation – expectancy

relate – relation – relational – relative – relatively introduce – introduction – introductory incompatible – incompatibility

analyze – analysis – analyst

Task 11. Read and translate the following sentences into Russian taking into account the meanings of: in terms of; by means of

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1.The problem must be explained in terms of dialectical materialism.

2.By means of this definition he managed to explicate the issue.

3.They pointed to the drawbacks of his theory by means of a new hypothesis.

4.In terms of his viewpoint the scholar solved his complicated problem.

5.He analyzed the phenomenon of creativity in terms of the new approach.

6.By means of his analysis they made a correct conclusion.

7.In terms of his interpretation the issue was properly examined.

Task 12. Complete the following sentences and translate them into Russian:

1.Single parents experience role conflict with … .

2.I experienced hardships while … .

3.He experiences true feelings toward … .

4.Recent years experienced great transformations in … .

5.I experience joy when … .

6.They experience troubles in … .

Task 13. Memorize the following words and word-combinations:

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UNIT 7. KINDS OF GROUPS

We have already found out that sociology, as one of its main objects, studies social institutions and social relations, social bodies and social groups. Sociologists were early concerned with the problem of classifying groups as well. They have proposed many different classificatory schemes for the specific groups. They make up their classifications on the basis of selecting a few properties and define ‘types’ of groups on the principle whether these properties are present or absent.

Among the properties most often employed are size (number of members), amount of physical interaction among members, degree of intimacy, level of solidarity, focus of control of group activities and tendency of members to react on one another as individual persons. On the basis of these properties the following kinds of groups have been identified: formal – informal, primary – secondary, small – large, autonomous – dependent, temporary – permanent.

Sometimes sociologists make up their classifications of the groups according to their objectives or social settings. These are such groups as work groups, therapy groups, social groups, committees, clubs, gangs, teams, religious groups, and the like.

Task 1. Transcribe the following words and learn their pronunciation:

atmosphere, attribute, autonomous, classify, cohesiveness, identified, isolate, primary, religious, scheme, specific, therapy

Task 2. Answer the following questions:

1.What does sociology study as one of its main objects?

2.What were sociologists early concerned with?

3.They have proposed many different classificatory schemes, haven’t they?

4.What is the basis of their classification?

5.What properties are most often employed?

6.What kinds of groups are identified on the basis of these properties?

7.What other principles do sociologists employ in their classifications?

8.Give examples of formal groups, informal groups, primary groups, secondary groups.

Task 3. Agree or disagree with the following:

Use: You are right.

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Sorry, but you are wrong.

1.One of the main objects of the sociologists is to study social bodies and social groups.

2.Sociologists have begun classifying groups quite recently.

3.They make up their group classifications on the basis of a few properties.

4.But sociologists failed to identify these groups.

5.Sometimes they classify groups according to their objectives and social settings.

6.There is no clear-cut difference between primary and secondary groups.

7.Work groups are formal groups.

Task 4. Divide the text into three logical parts.

Task 5. Characterize in brief:

1.Properties of the groups.

2.Group classifications.

Task 6. Read the text and translate it in writing:

The Nature of Group Cohesiveness

The term ‘group cohesiveness’ is widely discussed by sociologists. Although different sociologists attribute different properties to the term, most agree that group cohesiveness is the degree to which the members of a group desire to remain in the group. Thus, the members of a highly cohesive group, in contrast to the group with a low level of cohesiveness, are more interested in their membership, in group objectives, and activities. Cohesiveness increases the significance of membership for those who belong to the group.

Cohesiveness, as the sociologists state, develops a general group atmosphere that determines members’ reaction to the group as a whole. Some groups are businesslike, impersonal and efficient. Others are warm, relaxed and friendly. And still others are full of tension. These differences between groups are the subject of constant sociological research.

Task 7. Find in the text synonyms for:

to discover, chief, to be interested in, also, to offer, to choose, on the foundation, to use, to isolate, purpose, environment

Task 8. Translate the following sentences into Russian:

1. He was greatly concerned with the latest sociological research.

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2.In their conversation they concerned a great number of vital problems.

3.His main concern was sociology.

4.They talked much concerning the main points of his report.

5.She was concerned with the problems of social relations at the high level of the society’s development.

Task 9. Make up your own sentences with the following word-combinations. Ask your groupmates to translate them:

Task 10. Memorize the following words and word-combinations:

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UNIT 8. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY GROUPS

The extent of personal concern for others in social interaction was used by Charles Horton Cooley to draw a distinction between two general types of social groups. The primary group is a social group in which interaction is both personal and enduring. Within primary groups, people have personal and lasting ties which Cooley designated as primary relationships. The members of primary groups share broad dimensions of their lives, generally come to know a great deal about one another, and display genuine concern for another’s welfare. The family is perhaps the most important primary group within any society.

Cooley used the term ‘primary’ because social groups of this kind are among the first groups we experience in life and are important in shaping our personal attitudes and behavior. They are also of major importance in shaping our social identity, which is reflected in the fact that the members of any primary group typically think of themselves as ‘we’.

The strength of primary relationship gives individuals a considerable sense of comfort and security, which is clearly evident in personal performances. Within the familiar social environment of family or friends, people tend to feel they can be themselves and not worry about being continually evaluated by others. At the office, for example, people are usually self-conscious about their clothing and behavior; at home, they feel free to dress and act more or less as they wish.

Members of primary groups certainly provide many personal benefits to one another, including financial as well as emotional support. But people generally perceive the primary group as an end in itself rather than as a means to other ends. Thus, for example, we expect a family member or close friend to help us without pay when we move into a new apartment. At the same time, primary group members usually do expect that such help will be mutual.

A contrasting type of social group is the secondary group: a social group in which interaction is impersonal and transitory. Within a secondary group, which usually contains more people than a primary group, individuals share situational ties that are called ‘secondary relationships’. For example, individuals who work together in an office, enroll in the same college course, or belong to a particular political organization usually constitute a secondary group.

The opposite of the characteristics that describe primary groups apply to secondary groups. Secondary relationships involve little personal knowledge and weak emotional ties. They vary in duration, but are usually short-term, beginning and

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