Social Structure and Individuality

The assertion that human behaviour is socially patterned often provokes some initial resistance. Few human beings readily admit to being part of any kind of system, especially those who live in a culture that prizes individual autonomy. Americans, for instance, tend to emphasize individual responsibility for behaviour and highlight the unique elements of their personalities. Behaving in patterned ways, however, does not threaten our individuality. On the contrary, individuality is encouraged by social structure.

First, and more generally, our humanity involves much more than physical existence. The great potential of human beings develops only thorough interaction with others. Within social life, distinct personalities emerge as people blend their unique qualities with the values and norms of the large culture from freely expressing ourselvs. The social world can be disorienting, even frightening, to people who do not know the behaviour guidelines. Without this knowledge, people feel too uncomfortable to express their unique personalities with confidence business office, leadership is likely to involve an established status with dearly defined roles.

There are several different ways in which a person may become recognized as the leader of a soci group. In the family, traditional cultural patterns confer leadership on the parents, though more often on tr male as head of the household if two spouses are present. In other cases, such as friendship groups, one < more persons may gradually emerge as leaders, although there is no formal process of selection. In large secondary groups, leaders are usually formally chosen through election or recruitment.

Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual personal ability, decades of research hav failed ' to produce consistent evidence that there is any category of «natural leaders*. It seems that ther is no set of personal qualities that all leaders have in common; rather, virtually any person may b recognized as a leader depending on the particular needs of the group.

Furthermore, although we commonly think of social groups as having a single leader, research suggest that there are typically two different leaderships that are held by different individuals. Instruments leadership is leadership that emphasizes the completion of tasks by a social group.

Networks

The term social network designates social ties that link people without the intensity of socia interaction and common identity of a social group. A social network resembles a social group in that i joins people in social relationships; it differs from a social group because it is not the basis foi consistent social interaction and generates little sense of common identity or belonging. Socia networks also have no clear boundaries, but expand outward from the individual like a vast web.

Social ties within some networks may be relatively primary, as among people who attended college together and have since maintained their friendships by mail and telephone. More commonly, networt ties are extremely secondary relationships that involve little personal knowledge. A social networt may also contain people we know of or who know of us - but with whom we interact infrequently, if a¹ all. As one woman with a reputation as a community organizer explains, «l get calls at home someone says, 'Are you Roseann Navarro? Somebody told to call you. I have this problem ...». For this reason, Mark Granovetter has described social networks as clusters of weak ties.

Even though social ties within networks may not be strong, these relationships represent a valuable resource that can be used to personal advantage. Perhaps the most common example of the power of networks involves finding a job. Albert Einstein, for example, sought employment for a year after completing his schooling, and only succeeded when the father of one of his classmates put him in touch with the director of an office who was able to provide a job. Thus, even in the case of a person with extraordinary ability, who you know may still be just as important as what you know.

Nan Lin and her associates produced evidence of the extent of such network — based opportunities.