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Lecture 7 Types of Social Structure

Social structure refers to enduring patterns of behavior and relationships within a human society or group. It includes major components like culture, social class, social status, roles, groups, and institutions. Examples are family, religion, law, and economy. Social structure can be institutional vs relational, and micro vs macro. It influences larger systems and is shaped by local conditions and norms. Social structure provides recurring patterns but does not always indicate perfect organization.

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855 views

Lecture 7 Types of Social Structure

Social structure refers to enduring patterns of behavior and relationships within a human society or group. It includes major components like culture, social class, social status, roles, groups, and institutions. Examples are family, religion, law, and economy. Social structure can be institutional vs relational, and micro vs macro. It influences larger systems and is shaped by local conditions and norms. Social structure provides recurring patterns but does not always indicate perfect organization.

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fatima
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Characteristics of Social structure

Social Structure is an Abstract and Intangible phenomenon

Social Structure is comparatively a permanent concept

Patterned Arrangement

Normative Base

Social Structure indicates External forms

Social Structure is influenced by the Local Condition

Social Structure does not indicates always the state of organization

Social Structure is recurring pattern of social behavior:


Some of the important components of social structure are:

The major components of social structure include


culture, social class, social status, roles, groups, and social institutions.
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, cultural
systems, etc.
Types of social structure:
Institutional vs Relational
Furthermore, Lopez and Scott (2000) distinguish between two types of structure:[8]
 Institutional structure: "social structure is seen as comprising those
cultural or normative patterns that define the expectations of agents hold
about each other's behaviour and that organize their enduring relations with
each other."
 Relational structure: "social structure is seen as comprising the
relationships themselves, understood as patterns of causal interconnection
and interdependence among individuals and their actions, as well as the
positions that they occupy."
Micro vs Macro
Social structure can also be divided into microstructure and macrostructure:
 Microstructure: focus on social interaction. The pattern of relations
between most basic elements of social life, that cannot be further divided
and have no social structure of their own (e.g. pattern of relations between
individuals in a group composed of individuals, where individuals have no
social structure; or a structure of organizations as a pattern of relations
between social positions or social roles, where those positions and roles have
no structure by themselves).
 Macrostructure: focus on broad features of society .The pattern of relations
between objects that have their own structure (e.g. a political social structure
between political parties, as political parties have their own social structure).
Sociologists also distinguish between:
 Normative structures: pattern of relations in a given structure
(organisation) between norms and modes of operations of people of
varying social positions
 Ideal structures: pattern of relations between beliefs and views of people of
varying social positions
 Interest structures: pattern of relations between goals and desires of people
of varying social positions
 Interaction structures: forms of communications of people of varying
social positions
Modern sociologist sometimes differentiates between three types of social
structures:
 Relation structures: family or larger family-like clan structures
 Communication structures: structures in which information is passed (e.g.
in organizations)
 Sociometric structures: structures of sympathy, antipathy, and indifference
in organizations.

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