Our Social World: Condensed
Fourth Edition
Discussion Questions
- 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?
- During a typical day, when do you engage in front- and backstage behavior? Why? With whom do you engage in each? Why?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- Would you rather live in a bureaucratic society or in a society without bureaucratic forms of organizations? Why?
- 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?