Concept
Social structure
Overview
In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally related groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings, or purposes. Examples of social structure include family, religion, law, economy, and class. It contrasts with "social system", which refers to the parent structure in which these various structures are embedded. Thus, social structures significantly influence larger systems, such as economic systems, legal systems, political systems, and cultural systems. Social structure can also be said to be the framework upon which a society is established. It determines the norms and patterns of relations between the various institutions of the society.
Since the 1920s, the term has been in general use in social science, especially as a variable whose sub-components needed to be distinguished in relationship to other sociological variables, as well as in academic literature, as a result of the rising influence of structuralism. The concept of "social stratification", for instance, uses the idea of social structure to explain that most societies are separated into different strata (levels), guided (if only partially) by the underlying structures in the social system. There are three conditions for a social class to be steady, that of class cohesiveness, the self-consciousness of classes, and the self-awareness of one's own class. It is also important in the modern study of organizations, as an organization's structure may determine its flexibility, capacity to change, and success. In this sense, structure is an important issue for management.
On the macro scale, social structure pertains to the system of socioeconomic stratification (most notably the class structure), social institutions, or other patterned relations between large social groups. On the meso scale, it concerns the structure of social networks between individuals or organizations. On the micro scale, "social structure" includes the ways in which 'norms' shape the behavior of individuals within the social system. These scales are not always kept separate. Social norms are the shared standards of acceptable behavior by a group. When norms are internalized, they take on a "for granted" quality and are difficult to alter on the individual and societal levels.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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The warrior-class attains a perfect separation from classes devoted to the cultivation of the soil or other occupations regarded as servile. And there arises a priesthood that is defined in its rank, its functions, its privileges. This sharpness of definition, growing both greater and more variously exemplified as societies advance to maturity, is extremest in those that have reached their full development or are…
Herbert Spencer, First Principles
States what Social structure is; the author is tied to Social structure in the knowledge graph.
And now we are prepared to consider the several ways in which, under social conditions, personal welfare depends on due regard for the welfare of others. Already the conclusions to be drawn have been foreshadowed. As in the chapter on the biological view were implied the inferences definitely set forth in the last chapter, so in the chapter on the sociological view were implied the inferences to be definitely set…
Herbert Spencer, The Data of Ethics
States what Social structure is; the author is tied to Social structure in the knowledge graph.
Existing social structure is exceedingly complex. It is practically impossible for the child to attack it _en masse_ and get any definite mental image of it.
John Dewey, Moral Principles in Education
States what Social structure is; names Social structure.
Philosophers who discussed Social structure
Related ideas
- Georg Simmel
- Pierre Bourdieu
- Social system
- Hierarchy
- Power (social and political)
- Individualism
- Ethnography
- Alexis de Tocqueville
- Karl Marx
- Competition
- Sociology
- Law
- Max Weber
- Claude Lévi-Strauss
- Management
- Social constructionism
- Niklas Luhmann
- Robert K. Merton
- Herbert Spencer
- Religion
- Structuralism
- Social class
- Systems theory
- Ferdinand Tönnies
Opposing perspectives
- Joseph Campbell
- Equal opportunity
- Family
- Social system
- Religion
- Social science
- Social class
- Legal system
- Society
- Emergence
- Economy
- Economic system
- Structure and agency
Place in the tradition
Part of Indonesian philosophy.