Status, Agency, and Structure Definitions

• Key definitions

Status

• It is the position a person has within a social system.
• This can be ascribed (beyond an individual's control) or achieved (acquired on the basis of merit).
• People's statuses are usually multiple.
• Statuses come with sets of rights, obligations, behaviors, and duties that individuals of certain positions are expected to perform.

Agency

• It refers to the capacity of human beings to act in meaningful ways that affect their own lives and others.
• It can be constrained by class, gender, religion, as well as social and cultural factors.
• The term implies that individuals can create, change, and influence events.

Structure

• It is an abstract concept derived from all social institutions and social relations within a society.
• Generally seen as the resilient, regulating aspects of society that constrain the actions of its members.
• A structure-centered approach views social actions as determined by social and material context.

The "Other"

• Anthropologists use this term to describe how people within a particular social group perceive those who are not members.
• Non-Muslims perceiving Muslims is an example.

Ethnocentrism

• It is the tendency to view the world only from the perspective of one's own culture.
• Involves the inability to understand cultures different from one's own.

Class

• It is the division of people in a society based on social and economic status.

Gender

• It is the culturally constructed distinctions between males and females.

Ethnicity

• It refers to a social group connected by a shared understanding of cultural identity.

The Self

• An individual's social self is the product of social interaction, rather than biological preconditions.
• The "self" is the socially constructed understanding of individual and cultural identity that distinguishes people.

Ritual

• It is a formalized event with rules determined by the traditions of a social group and is characterized by symbolism and performance
• Religion is a significant context for the practice, the scope of ritual behavior extends to other areas
• The body can be ritualized when it is the focus of ritual practice.

Definitions of status, agency and structure from a sociological perspective. Status refers to a person's position in society, agency is the ability to act meaningfully and affect lives, and structure represents the resilient aspects of society that constrain actions.