Word study
I. Find in the text “The Structure of Social Interactions” English equivalents for:
В конце концов; социальные модели; нормы поведения; в обществе; во главе; конечно; отчасти; несмотря на; во многом такие же; другими словами; окружение (среда); с готовностью; например; напротив; ограничить свободу; кроме того.
II. Arrange the following words into pairs of antonyms:
Disorganized Limited
Chaos Familiar
Infinite Quietly
In the presence Difference
Lose Emerge
Unfamiliar Organized
Leave In the absence
Finish Enter
Noisily Arrival
Departure In other words
Ordinary Uncomfortable
Similarity System
In the same way Find
Seldom Begin
Disappear Unique
Comfortable Often
Strong Weak
III. Make up sentences choosing an appropriate variant from 1) – 7):
1.The scientist was guided by ...
2.The room was filled with ...
3.His theory is built on ...
4.Human behaviour 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.
IV. 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.
3) Ask your friend to prove that the quality of personality is not inborn. It is a social phenomenon. Ask him whether we can predict a man's behaviour in a certain situation and what measurements of personality exist, what they are called.
4) You are an introvert by nature, you are unable to overcome uncertainty in taking decisions and often experience troubles in life. You are asked to organize a conference, but you are afraid to accept such an offer. Your friend tries to persuade you to agree.
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.
Unit VII
I. Look through the text and find the definitions of:
Role; 2. Role set; 3. Role strain; 4. Role conflict.
II. Read and translate the text. Role
A second major component of social interaction is role, which refers to patterns of behaviour 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 behaviour 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 behaviour of wives and husbands is performed in relation to each other, as is the behaviour 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 introduced the term role set to identify a number of roles attached to a single status.
