University of Phoenix Material

Sociological Group Matrix

Schaefer (2011) defines a group as “any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis” (p. 111). Complete the Social Group Matrix by identifying and describing the relationship between yourself and the members of any social group you are a part of.

|Group description |The group I chose is the place I volunteer at in a small town about 5 miles away from my home town – Little School House of Marion (preschool/child care |
| |facility). This business is owned by a husband and wife. The husband is considered the owner, business manager, cook, and maintenance person. The wife is the|
|Identify the group. |director and the 4K teacher. There are four other teachers – one full-time and three part-time. Three out of four teachers are considered “lead teachers.” |
| |The full-time teacher used to be a director of another child care facility. Two of us part-time teachers can actually have gone through enough schooling to |
| |have our own child cares, too. The other part-time teacher is still going to college to become a special education teacher at Corbin University. He works in |
| |the four to school-age room (green room) in the afternoon. The 4K program is primarily in the morning, but most children stay all day. |
|Social group or organization |This organization takes care of children from two to five year olds through the work week from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. However, we do have some school-agers |
| |that come either before or after school. The school bus picks them up at the center in the morning and drops them at the center after school. |
|Describe the function of the social| |
|group. | |
|Authority and hierarchy |The husband has the final say on business related issues. The wife takes care of children, employee, and licensing/policy issues, and hiring/firing of |
| |employees. In addition, she calculates employee hours and submits the information to the accountant. The full-time teacher has 30 years’ experience working |
|Describe authority and hierarchical|in child care centers, so when the owner and director are not available she is ‘second’ in command. The rest of the employees are responsible and mature |
|patterns within the group. |enough to make sure the center is run smoothly in each classroom. |
|Social patterns |The director, full-time teacher, the two year old morning teacher, and I have worked at a different child care center together before the director and her |
| |husband started their own business. The two year old teacher worked with the director when she was a student in the 4K program and also watched her children |
|Describe social patterns you might |from time to time. The director, full-time teacher, and I worked together in separate rooms, but we also have become friends that ‘hang out’ after work |
|find within the group, and explain |together. We know what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are and we bounce ideas off one another too. The part-time teacher (student) is a friend of the |
|their social significance. |full-time teacher’s youngest son – he has only been at this center for a month. |
|Conflicts |The two year old teacher works two to three other jobs besides the four hours in the morning she works at the center. She comes in at least 15 minutes late |
| |nearly every morning, which could get the center in trouble if too many children are in one room with one teacher. She is not a planner either which is |
|Describe any conflicts within the |conflicting with what I do in the afternoon, as I never know what she is going to do in the morning. The other conflict is each teacher being responsible for|
|group. |his or her room before their shift ends. Finally, I talked with the owner and the director about cleaning their rooms before they left for the day, as I did |
| |not have time to clean their rooms, besides mine, and the bathrooms at the end of the day. After our talk, things have been much better, now I just have to |
| |spot check the center, and I can actually leave the center at descent time. Instead of a half hour after the center closed. |
|Role of language |In the center we use positive phrases like “walking feet” or “quiet feet,” instead of no running. “Inside voices,” instead of shouting. Sing songs for |
| |transitioning from one activity to the next. For instance, need to clean room before we go outside, we would sing a clean-up song. Instead of nagging at them|
|Explain the role of language, and |to pick up the toys. If the song does not help, I put the basket for the toys next to the specific toy and say everyone pick up the blocks or let’s see who |
|describe the components of |can pick up the most. If we have a lot of toys out – each person will have a basket and a specific area to clean-up. |
|nonverbal communication in the | |
|group. |Each teacher has an extra room they are responsible for. For instance, the blue room is near the bathrooms. We stock and clean the bathroom during rest time |
| |so no one has to walk away from their children. The yellow room is near the kitchen so they make sure dishes are in dishwasher and put away when clean. Also,|
| |the teacher retrieves snack and places it in a basket and gives it to the other teachers, because they are centrally located. The green room is near the |
| |staff (and guest) bathroom and entry way, so they make sure this |
|Symbols meaningful to group |We have a cell phone we use at the center for incoming calls. The children are pretty good about if the phone rings to be quite while the teacher is on the |
| |phone. If the caller needs to talk to a certain teacher, the teacher will look at the other teacher and hand them the phone. Usually, a parent is returning a|
|Describe and explain symbols that |call. We also use hand gestures if we want someone to come close - wiggle our finger towards us or we wave. Another thing I do to get someone’s attention is |
|are meaningful to the group. |clap three times – loud. Or turn off the lights in the room. |
| | |
| |Other symbols would include the cross on a box means the first aid kit. Mr. Yuk face on a bag means soiled clothes. Norms, sanctions, and values |
|Norms, sanctions, and values |Each classroom has a daily schedule to follow. For instance, meals and snack times, bathroom, circle time, stories and music, and outside or large motor |
| |times, to name a few. This way each teacher knows when the other class is doing something, so we are not all trying to use the restroom at the same time. In |
|Describe the norms, sanctions, and |other words, we try and respect the other classrooms activities. |
|values of the social group. | |
| |Each room goes over what happens if the fire alarm goes off prior to the actual drill each month. The teachers are essentially responsible for all the |
| |children, especially their own rooms. We show respect, concern for one another, and teach children about safety. Status within group |
|Status within group |I help with the two year old in the afternoon. I also have been the closer for several months. With school starting up again the new teacher will be closing.|
| |I am a planner, organizer, detailed-oriented, and a go-getter I have basically come up with monthly calendars with themes for each week in our classroom. I |
|Describe what status you hold in |also do a variety of arts and crafts and other activities with our children. I also suggest business ideas to the owner and director to find ways to obtain |
|the group. |more children for the center. |
|Social role within group |I have helped the owner with business ideas and suggestions. For instance, last spring the owner and director wanted to sell t-shirts to the families. I |
| |suggested using my son’s special education class to make the shirts for us. Between my son and the owner they designed the t-shirts. I was the go-between for|
|Describe the social roles you |the school and the owner, so the owner could see I was organized and handed the entire project over to me. We sold over 50 t-shirts and we had fewer than 30 |
|perform in the group. |children at the center. |
|Sociological perspective |I would say that our social group at the child care center uses the functionalist and interactionist perspective. This is a preschool, with that said the |
| |goal is to teach young children from one year to the next to become socially and behaviorally ready for the following year. Each age and child is different; |
|Suggest which major sociological, |we need to work together as teachers to make these young people ready to go out into the world to become better individuals. |
|theoretical perspective would be | |
|most appropriate for future study |As teachers we have policies and licensing procedures we must abide with. With our guidance and discipline these young children will become our future |
|of your social group. Why? |leaders. |

Reference

Schaefer, R. T. (2011). Sociology: A brief introduction (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.