Discussion Questions

  1. Think about your social network. How useful might it be in helping you get a job (or a better job) once you graduate from college? Why?
  2. During a typical day, when do you engage in front- and backstage behavior? Why? With whom do you engage in each? Why?
  3. Have you ever experienced role strain because of your status as a student? Explain why or why not. If so, how did/do you cope with it?
  4. Most college students, particularly those with family, work, and/or sports team obligations, deal with role conflict. Describe a time when you dealt with a con­flict between the roles you carry out. What did you do about it? How might colleges and universities diminish role conflict among students?
  5. To what primary and secondary groups do you belong? How does your involvement (or lack thereof) in primary groups on your campus impact your feelings of attach­ment to your school?
  6. Would you rather live in a bureaucratic society or in a society without bureaucratic forms of organizations? Why?
  7. How does the informal structure at your college or uni­versity impact how the school functions? Does it do more to help or hurt students? Why?