11.1 social structure


1. Social structure is entities or groups between individual or the group of individuals. This term also means the overwhelming social culture or the social system. 

Embeddedness - this concept is introduced in middle of the 1980s to explain how social structure influence the individuals. Grannoveter explained this concept that actors in the society do not act as an "atom" outside the social construct but they do not fully follow it. Our actions are influenced by the people we know and near us and we are not isolated individuals.

Starting from Alexis de Tocqueville the later sociologist like Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Max Weber, Ferdinand Tönnies, and Emile Durkheim have been contributed the concept of social structure of the sociology. Marx argued that economical factor determines the socioeconomical factors.  The concept of social structure was further developed in the 20th century. By scholars like Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Talcott Parsons and so on.

Recent work made by Margaret Archer, Tom R. Burns, and Immanuel Wallerstein also developed various understandings for the society.

Whether "social structure" is made naturally or artificially is a controversial topic. There is much debate about it.

Social structure and human individuals influence each other. So social structure is not static, it can be created and recreated by individuals. In other words, social structure keep changing and social structure can be changed by the actions of individuals.

The notion of the social structure can hide the other important variables. In this book it said that gender may be the important thing in calculating the gender economic gap the other variables like average working hours by the gender or so on can be hide.

2. Discussion

The changes of the social structure is becoming rapid due to the rapid development of the economy and the development of the technology. And I think the deconstruction of the social structure is happening rapidly too. Of course that can be a social structure if we define social structure as a "enduring patterns of behaviour by participants in a social system in relation to each other". But the social structure I am talking about is "the relationship of definite entities or groups to each other". The rapid growth of the technology and the economy in the capitalist system caused the individualism and Atomization. The society is becoming divided. 

3. Questions 

What cause the changes of the social structure? 

What is ur definition of the social structure? 

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