Overview
Could you answer the following questions in your own words? I don't want it to be straight from a textbook or the internet.
What is Social Structure?
What is the difference between an ascribed status and an achieved status?
What is the difference between and an example of...
Traditional Action, Affective Action, and Rational Action?
Think about the structure of your college classroom. In what ways are the patterns and routines of your classroom similar to those of your high school classes? How are they different? How do the expectations associated with the student or teacher role differ from those you encountered in high school?
Identify some of the ways that fast-food restaurants emphasize efficiency, predictability, and an extreme form of rational action. Do you agree with Ritzer's theory of the McDonaldization of society?
Imagine that you did not have your phone for 24 hours. What is anything is different about your daily routines. What do you miss? How do structure and action help you to understand the role of the mobile phone in your interaction with family and friends?
Using your knowledge of structure and action, think about the differences between an individual sport like tennis, golf, or boxing, and a team sport like soccer or basketball. How are the patterns of interaction different? How does the structure of the game shape how participants play, or what they are expected to do, or how fans respond to different sports?
What is one thing you learned from the readings or lectures this week?