Chapter 9: The Structure of Society: Organizations, Social Institutions, and Globalization

Discussion Questions:

1. How is the larger social structure affecting the lives of the people discussed in these articles?
2. Can you use your understanding of social dilemmas to explain what you have read in the articles? How?
3. How do the elements of bureaucracy play into what is presented in these articles?

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Daniel D Martin
From Appearance Tales to Oppression Tales: Frame Alignment and Organizational Identity
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 31, No. 2, 158-206 (2002)
http://jce.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/31/2/158?ijkey=c8AXk5swf/8lc&keytype=ref&siteid=spjce
Abstract:
Based on participant observation and taped interviews with participants and leaders in Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, and the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), this article considers how organizations accomplish frame alignment with their members. All three organizations construct frames of meanings concerning participation, appearance, and food that reflect their own objectives. However, these frames must be aligned with members' own meanings, which, at times, contradict the organizational frame. Frame alignment is accomplished in Weight Watchers by group leaders emphasizing rationality with regards to food, body, and social relationships. Within Overeaters Anonymous, a redemptive frame is constructed that transforms the dieting practices of its members into a spiritual activity. The injustice frame of NAAFA transforms mundane aspects of everyday life, such as eating, into a political activity. As all members adopt the meanings of their respective program, they come to embrace a new personal identity that serves the organization.

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Eric Walton
The Persistence of Bureaucracy: A Meta-analysis of Weber’s Model of Bureaucratic Control
Organization Studies, Vol. 26, 569 – 600 (2005)
http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/26/4/569?ijkey=Aed7NeNWWBjxs&keytype=ref&siteid=sposs
Abstract:
The model of bureaucratic control is an enduring part of modern organizational theory. This study draws on almost four decades of empirical research in assessing the general validity of the model. Meta-analytical techniques are used for estimating the general relationships among key aspects of bureaucratic control, removing the effects of statistical artifacts and exploring the relative persistence of the model. The results provide substantial support for the model of bureaucratic control. The average correlation among the structural variables is .54. Overall, the paper concludes that there are reasons to see the bureaucratic model of control as generalizable and of continuing relevance to discussions of organizational structures.

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Irwin, Kyle, Mcgrimmon, Tucker, Simpson, Brent
Sympathy and Social Order
Social Psychology Quarterly, December 2008; vol. 71, 4: pp. 379-397.
http://spq.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/71/4/379?ijkey=Q69wdt4PdTYXA&keytype=ref&siteid=spspq
Abstract:
Social order is possible only if individuals forgo the narrow pursuit of self-interest for the greater good. For over a century, social scientists have argued that sympathy mitigates self-interest and recent empirical work supports this claim. Much less is known about why actors experience sympathy in the first place, particularly in fleeting interactions with strangers, where cooperation is especially uncertain. We argue that perceived interdependence increases sympathy towards strangers. Results from our first study, a vignette experiment, support this claim and suggests a situational solution to social dilemmas. Meanwhile, previous work points to two strong individual-level predictors of cooperation: generalized trust and social values. In Study Two we address the intersection of situational and individual-level explanations to ask: does situational sympathy mediate these individual-level predictors of cooperation? Results from the second study, a laboratory experiment, support our hypotheses that sympathy mediates the generalized trust-cooperation link and the relationship between social values and cooperation. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations of the present work and directions for future research.

Haase, Dwight
Banking on the poor
Contexts, Feb 2012; vol. 11: pp. 36-41
http://ctx.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/11/1/36?ijkey=wvIkTMiLJ.AFo&keytype=ref&siteid=spctx
Abstract:
Sociologist Dwight Haase explores how one man's efforts to help his village neighbors evolved into a global corporate market--with unintended consequences. Haase provides insight into how the microfinance movement turned into an industry.

Hamilton, Laura, Armstrong, Elizabeth A.
The (Mis)Education of Monica and Karen
Contexts, Nov 2012; vol. 11: pp. 22-27
http://ctx.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/11/4/22?ijkey=6Xg7zvVupOCQE&keytype=ref&siteid=spctx
Abstract:
Monica and Karen, two typical in-state students starting college at a mid-tier public university in the Midwest, encounter organizational arrangements best designed to serve affluent, out-of-state partiers who can afford to pay full freight. Sociologists Laura Hamilton and Elizabeth A. Armstrong discuss how Monica and Karen's stories reveal the great mismatch between the needs of most college students and what many four-year residential universities offer.