gang rape became headline news and shone a spotlight on the culture and lack of law enforcement in some isolated parts of India that encourage violence against women (Gowen 2018; McCoy 2014). The most consistent predictor of violence against women is a macho conception of masculine roles and personality. Societies or subgroups within society that teach males that the finest expression of their masculinity is physical strength and domination tend to have more battered women (Mayeda 2013).
India is far from the only nation with some parts of the culture that generate violence against women. The United Nations estimates that 35% of women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence in their lives; in some nations that figure is 70% (UN Women 2017). South Africa has one of the highest levels of rape in the world, with one in four men having raped a woman and 46% of those more than once (U.S. Department of State 2015). The men tend to show no remorse because the behavior is “accepted” by their segments of society; it is “macho” (Lindow 2009). Recent studies profile rape behavior; on college campuses, these rapes are associated with heavy drinking, perceived pressure to have sex, “rape myths” such as no means yes, a peer group that uses hostile language to describe women, and rape porn. Men scoring high on tests of empathy are less likely to rape (Murphy 2017).
Understanding individual human behavior often requires investigation of the larger societal beliefs and values that support that behavior. Worldwide patterns may tell us something about a social problem and offer new lenses for understanding that problem.
Distinctions between the levels of analysis are not always sharply delineated. The micro level shades into the meso level, and the lines between the meso level and the macro level are blurry on the continuum. Still, it is clear that in some micro-level social units, you know everyone, or at least every member of the social unit is only two degrees of separation away. In other words, every person in the social unit knows someone whom you also know. Try the next Engaging Sociology box to test your understanding of levels of analysis and the sociological imagination.
Engaging Sociology
Micro-Meso-Macro
The distinctions between levels of analysis are gray rather than precise. Levels of analysis should be viewed as a continuum—from micro to macro social units. Clear criteria help identify groups at each level. One criterion is size (number of people) of the group. A second is the geographic range of influence:
intimate or very close personal relationships (micro);
social units in the local community (micro);
social units that cover a large geographic region (like a state or commonwealth) and even nationwide groups that—despite size—are still a small portion of the entire nation (meso);
the nation itself (macro); and
units with global influence (macro).
A third criterion is degree of separation. If you know someone personally, that is one degree of separation. If you do not know the mayor of your town, but you know someone who knows the mayor, that is two degrees of separation. If you have a friend or a relative who knows someone who is a friend or relative of the governor in your state or province, that is three degrees of separation. Some research indicates that every person on the planet is within seven degrees of separation from every other human being. Let us see what these mean for various levels of analysis in our social world.
Micro-level groups are small, local-community social units such as families and school classrooms within which everyone knows everyone else or knows someone who also knows another member. So the degree of separation is usually not more than two degrees.
Meso-level groups are social units of intermediate size, such as state governments (with limited geographic range), ethnic groups, and religious denominations (with large geographic range but population sizes that make them a minority of the entire nation). Typically, the group is large enough that members have never heard the names of many other members. Many members may have little access to the leaders, yet the group is not so large as to make the leaders seem distant or unapproachable. Almost anyone within the social unit is only three or four degrees of separation apart. Everyone in the unit knows someone who is an acquaintance of yours.
Macro-level groups are large social units, usually bureaucratic, that operate at a national or a global level, such as national governments or international organizations. Most members are unlikely to know or have communicated with the leaders personally or know someone who knows the leaders. The “business” of these groups is of international importance and implication. A macro-level system is one in which most of the members are at least five degrees of separation from one another—that is, they know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows the person in question.
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Engaging Sociology
Look at the following list of social units. Identify which level each group is most likely to belong to: (1) micro, (2) meso, or (3) macro. Why did you answer as you did? The previous definitions should help you make your decisions. Again, some are “on the line” because this is a continuum from micro to macro, and some units could legitimately be placed in more than one group. Which ones are especially on the line?
______ Your nuclear family
______ The United Nations
______ A local chapter of the Lions Club or the Rotary Club
______ Your high school baseball team
______ India
______ NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
______ The First Baptist Church in Muncie, Indiana
______ The World Bank
______ A family reunion
______ Amazon.com, Inc. (international)
______ The Department of Education for the Commonwealth of Kentucky
______ The show choir in your local high school
______ African Canadians
______ The Dineh (Navajo) people
______ Canada
______ The Republican Party in the United States
______ The World Court
______ A fraternity at your college
______ The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
______ The Ministry of Education for Spain
______ The Roman Catholic Church (with its headquarters at the Vatican in Rome)
______ Australia
______ The Chi Omega national sorority
______ Boy Scout Troop #187 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
______ Al-Qaeda (an international alliance of terrorist organizations)
______
