Which Is More Important in Shaping Individual Identity: Social Structure or Social Interaction?

societal expression and kind fundamental interaction atomic number 18 the building blocks of present life. The need for people to interact with mort anyy other is crucial and has al elbow rooms been the key action to survive and remove existence. Sociologists now refer to this as accessibleisation, to establish the important comp hotshotnts of living and a individuals neighborly individuation. friendly mental synthesis is to a big(p)er extent important than complaisant interaction in determine individual societal identity, the reason for this to pee more importance in do someones social identity, is because without social structure there would be no social interaction both are important in discussing macrosociology (social structure) and microsociology (social interaction). Within social structure is naval division, status and institutions they will be expanded upon later in detail on the way they influence one social identity more then social interaction. compa nionable identity is defined as a souls acknowledgement of belong toing to a certain social menage or group where its members possess the same social identification and go along the surroundings with an individual perspective (Hogg & Abrams 1988, p. 7). To better understand social identity, kind structure needs to be explained, it is defined as the framework of ball club that was already laid out before we were born. Social structure refers to the distinctive patterns of a group, such(prenominal) as its commonplace kinships between men and women or students and teachers.The sociological significance of social structure is that it gives us direction to and sets limits on behaviour (Henslin, J. 2010, pp. 76 77). Social interaction is a significant intermit of life in troupe besides a part of an individuals social identity, it is the different ways that people interact with one another. Culture lays the broadest framework, darn social class divides people according to income , teaching method and occupational prestige. Each of us receives ascribed statuses at birth, that are involuntary that are acquireed and later achieved statuses are added.Our behaviours and orientations are further influenced by the roles we play, the groups to which we belong and our experiences with social institutions. These components of society work together to help handle social order (Henslin, J. 2010, p. 76). To achieve social order all members of a society accept its moral values and their roles inside it, complying to these norms is a way to maintain social order. Emile Durkhiems views were that rather than individual activities such as criminal offence and religion causing certain behaviours, it was society as a self-coloured Bessant & Watts, 2007 pp. 72 73). Showing that structure has more influence on a persons identity rather than their interactions within their class and statuses. Social Class is ground on income, education and occupational prestige. Large numb ers of people who live with similar amounts of income and education and who work at jobs that are roughly like in prestige make up a social class. It is severely to overemphasise this aspect of social structure, for our social class influences not however our behaviours but even our ideas and attitudes (Henslin, J. 010, p. 78). There is four different structures that we can inherit at birth wealthy upper class, middle class, working class and under class (Macionis & Plummer 1997). Karl Marx was the first to study class and its relationship to the functions of society and identity. Marx focused on how one class controlled and directed production, while the other classes were service providers or producers, whose efforts benefited the ruling or dominating class.Marx maxim that human relationships and identity were a product of labour, and therefore shaped by it (Cox, 1998). An example of this is Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson being the controlling class and all his employees bel ow him represent the other classes which all in turn benefits him. Social Status in sociology has been given two meanings. One refers to the position that a person occupies in the social structure, such as teacher or priest.The other more specific meaning refers to the form of social stratification in which social positions are ranked and organised by legal, political and cultural criteria into status groups. These social positions may carry a great deal of prestige, as in the case of a judge or an astronaut, or it may bring little prestige as in the case as a grocery store worker or a waitress at the local pub. The status can also be looked down on as in the case of a homeless person, an ex-convict or a thief.Social status is a major mold component of social identity status set all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies are generally all ascribed statuses that are hereditary such as your race/ethnicity, sex and the social class of your parents as nearly yours sta tuses as female or male, daughter or son, niece or nephew. Our identity as male or female is one of the most basic aspects of our being. As Sigmund Freud observed a century ago, when you satisfy a person for the first time, the very first thing you notice about them is whether they are a man or woman (Bessant & Watts, 2007 p. 09). Social Institutions are the organised, usual or standard ways by which society meets its basic needs. Social institutions are the family, religion, education, economic, medicine, politics, law, science, the military and the mass media (Henslin, J. 2010, p. 81). They establish the context in which we live, shaping our behaviour and colouring our thoughts. Social institutions are so significant in shaping individual identity that is they were to change we would be different people, as they influence our orientations to the social world and the wider world itself.Much of the influence lies beyond our middling awareness. For example, because of our economic institution, it is common to work eight hours a day for fin days every week. There is nothing normal or intrinsic about this pattern, however. This rhythm is only an arbitrary arrangement for dividing work and leisure. to date this one aspect of a single social institution has far-reaching effects. not only does it also lays out a structure for their interaction with family and friends and for how they meet their personal needs (Henslin, J. 2010, p. 1). From this you can see that social identity is create primarily by structure rather than interaction with individuals fitting into their institutions by means of their class and status showing the greater importance of social structure on shaping the social identity. Social identity is shaped by dint of an individuals journey in life within their social structure and social interaction, but this is not solely through inherited ascribed statuses, class and institutions also by the way a person socialises within the given environ ment.The inequalities of the worlds classes is shapes a persons identity by the way they have had to behave due to their social structure limitations and well as the interactions with others of the same class and status, without this structure there would be no social interaction. This is why social structure is of a higher importance when it comes to shaping the identity of an individual. REFERENCE LIST Back, L. , Bennett, A. , Edles, L. ,Gibson, M. , Inglis, D. ,Jacobs, R. , Woodward, I 2012, Cultural Sociology An Introduction, Wiley, ebook Bessant, J. amp Watts, R. 2007, Sociology Australia, tertiary ed. , Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest Henslin, JM, Possamai, A, and Possamai-Indesedy, A 2011, Sociology A Down to Earth Approach, Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest Hogg, M. A. & Abrams, D. 1988, Social Identifications A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group, Routledge, London Macionis, J. J. & Plummer, K. 2012, Sociology A spheric Introduction, 5th ed. , Pearson, Prentice Hall, New York Plummer, K 2010, Sociology The Basics, Taylor and Francis, ebook