SOC103H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Traumatic Brain Injury, Normative Social Influence, Role Theory
Lecture 3: Social Structures
1
Social structure – a key concept in the discipline, yet the most elusive of sociological concepts
Social structure: any recurring pattern of social behavior; the ordered interrelationships between
the different elements of a social system
• Very similar to social institutions because social structure is made up of social
institutions
Institutions: clusters of norms and meanings, drawn from the culture, that define the expectations
that people hold about each other’s behavior
• It is through these expectations that specific roles and reciprocal role relationships are
defined
Social Structure: Patterns that People Express in Their Behavior
• These patterns reveal expectations they hold which, in turn, are based on social norms
which in turn are based on social values
Risk-Taking Behavior: a Result of Social learning and Group norms
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide
o Defined as damage to brain tissue caused by external mechanical forces
▪ It is typically marked by loss of consciousness
o Incidence rates are high in the young adult population due to motor vehicle
accidents, sports and interpersonal violence
• TBI has huge social, occupational, and economic costs for society
o Intracranial injury and fractured skull are the second and sixth most costly
diagnoses among all injuries hospitalized in Ontario
• TBI is associated with particular social and demographic characteristics
o 60% of the entire sample reported a history of alcohol or drug abuse - 79% of
those were violence related
• A history of substance abuse was particularly likely among patients who at the time
of injury were; Male, Unmarried, Unemployed, Out of school, Lack post-high school
education
• In a recent Toronto study of TBI due to falls, 27 TBI victims studied
o A lot of the people who experienced these TBIs were not sober
o Often had a history of family conflict, physical abuse, delinquent
relationships, excessive drug use
o Only half of the tumblers took responsibility for their accident
Stumbling (play no active role in their TBI injury event) vs. Tumbling (play active role in their
TBI injuries)
Group, Roles, and Identities
• The roles we play and groups we belong to have a large influence on our behavior
• The groups you are part of shape your thinking, behavior, and sense of self
• We learn to behave as others expect us to behave – we learn to act in ways that other
people reward and expect because we seek social approval
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Social structure a key concept in the discipline, yet the most elusive of sociological concepts. Social structure: any recurring pattern of social behavior; the ordered interrelationships between the different elements of a social system: very similar to social institutions because social structure is made up of social institutions. Institutions: clusters of norms and meanings, drawn from the culture, that define the expectations that people hold about each other"s behavior. It is through these expectations that specific roles and reciprocal role relationships are defined. Social structure: patterns that people express in their behavior: these patterns reveal expectations they hold which, in turn, are based on social norms which in turn are based on social values. Risk-taking behavior: a result of social learning and group norms: traumatic brain injury (tbi) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, defined as damage to brain tissue caused by external mechanical forces. Stumbling (play no active role in their tbi injury event) vs.
