Understanding Social Structure

• The unit pertains to the concepts of social structure
• The unit aims to provide a broader general concept than other previously discussed concepts

Objectives

• Distinguish social structure from social organization
• State the meaning of social structure
• Describe the structuralist viewpoint of social structure
• Explain the Marxist understanding of social structure
• Establish the relationship between social structure and social change

Introduction

• Anything, whether an object or an idea, has a structure
• Existence is comprehended through enduring aspects of structure
• Every society in the world has a structure called its social structure
• Understanding a society requires understanding the permanent aspects of its structure
• Social structure appears broad and simple but sociologists have differing interpretations of the concept
• Disparities in perspectives have made discussions complex and confusing
• The concept of social structure at a simple level is elementary
• Helps describe enduring aspects of social relationships
• Social structure is a tool to understanding social reality
• The unit explores various interpretations of the concept
• Structural-functionalists understand it as a network of permanent/enduring social relationships, which are distinct from individual relationships
• Relationships between two individuals, involve mutual expectations that create predictable and social behavior
• Social norms define and sanction social behaviour
• Sociologists/anthropologists variably define the concept
• Use and applicability is understood in different ways in Britain, France, and North America
• North America gives more emphasis to the “Culture” aspect
• British sociologists like Radcliffe-Brown focus on the "relational" aspect
• France understands the concept in terms of models, as discussed by Lévi-Strauss

The Concept of Social Structure

• Originally structure meant the construction of a building
• Later it implied inter-relations between parts of a whole
• Used in anatomical studies
• Became popular among sociologists/anthropologists following World War II
• Applied it to ordered arrangements of social phenomenon
• Essential to look at the ways sociologists and social anthropologists have applied the concept, specifically looking at three schools of sociological thought -- structural-functionalists, structuralists, and Marxists
• Also needs to look at the difference between social structure and social organisation
• Mentioning some scholars used the notion of social structure in terms of social groups and roles

Social Structure and Social Organisation

• The term “social organisation” is often used interchangeably with 'social structure'
• Some scholars, like Raymond Firth, distinguish between the terms
• In his book, Elements of Social Organisation (1956), Firth differentiates with clarity
• Firth regards both terms as heuristic i.e. tools rather than precise concepts
• Social organisation is concerned with choices and decisions in social relations
• Concept of social structure deals with fundamental social relations
• Gives society a basic form
• Provides limits to the range of action organisationally possible within it
• Firth says society's continuity principle is found in the aspect of structure
• Variation/change principle is found in the aspect of organisation
• The latter aspect allows evaluation of situations with the scope for individual choice
• Firth studied social structure, and organisation of small communities e.g. the Tikopians of Solomon Islands
• He described a community as a body of people sharing common activities
• The community will be bound by multiple relationships such that the aims of individuals are best served by acting with others
• This definition includes the spatial aspect, by generally occupying a common territory
• Therefore direct contact exists between people
• Emotional and intimate nature exists that is not found in complex societies
• According to Firth (1956: 41) the structure and organisation of community life possess certain constituents essential for social existence:
  • Social alignment
  • Social controls
  • Social media
  • Social standards

Social Structure and Social Groups

• Some scholars use the term social structure for persistent social groups e.g. nation, tribe, clan, etc.
• E.E. Evans-Pritchard is one of these
• His theory of social structure arose as a reaction to Radcliffe-Brown’s understanding
• Evans-Pritchard brought about the shift from pure structure-functionalism to structuralism in social anthropological studies of societies
• In his book The Nuer (1940), he deals with persistent/permanent groups, whose individual membership keeps changing, but structural form remains same with time
• His definition differs from Radcliffe-Brown's, since he is not concerned with person to person social behaviour
• His attention is on the relationship of the homestead with the wider group of the village, the village/tertiary group relation, etc, ultimately till the included tribe
• Clans, lineages, consanguineal/affinal kin are major components in this segmentary social structure
• Evans-Pritchard's conception of social structure has the family/homestead as the unit, not the individuals

Social Structure and the Concept of Social Roles

• Fred Eggan describes components/units of social structure as interpersonal relations that “become part of the social structure in the form of status positions” occupied by individuals
• Eggan was not the only one to define social structure in terms of status
• One of the major theories of social structure was outlined by Nadel in his book, The Theory of Social Structure (1969)
• This definition is based on roles played by individuals and social status
• We arrive at the structure of a society through abstracting from the concrete population and its behaviour i.e. the pattern or network/system of relationships obtaining between actors in their capacity of playing roles relative to one another
• His definition of roles is far more specific than other sociologists

Three Major Views of Social Structure

• Three major views of social structure include:
  • structural-functionalist school
  • structuralist school
  • Marxist school

The Structural Functionalist Point of View

• Social structure is a core concept, to study society
• Founded on the analogy between a society and an organism, which gained credence when it was presented scientifically, modeled on natural science and biology
• Discussion includes Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, and Radcliffe-Brown

Herbert Spencer

• (1820-1903) was one of the initiators of the structural functionalist approach
• One of the first sociologists to use the term
• Fascinated by two analogies:
  • Society and organism
  • Social evolution and biological evolution
• Did not clearly define “structure of society”
• A society is made of different parts, that must work to remain functional
• Similar to an organism, society adjusts and adapts to the demands and pressure of social change to survive
• Unlike animal “parts”, society's “parts” are social arrangements indispensable to the life of the society, discharging functions
• Introduced concept of social structure but did not develop it
• Ideas on society have become redundant, yet concepts like structure and function are popular (see Cuff and Payne 1984: 28-30)

Emile Durkheim

• Did not directly discuss social structure, but has an implicit understanding in writings
• Applied natural science methods, in biology, to the study of society
• His book, The Rules of Sociological Method, asserts “social facts” are distinct from individual facts
• Social facts are external to the individual and creates constraint over his/her conduct e.g. laws or “coinage” of society
• For Durkheim social order is a moral one
• Society is not only the sum of its members
• It is a reality sui generis, i.e. an emergent reality
• Includes the collective values shared by the members of the society
• All social relationships give rise to expectations of patterns of conduct
• Society develops common ways of looking, evaluating, feeling, thinking and behaving in society
• Leads to development of common values and norms which create expectations and creates constraint
• Emergence of the “collective consciousness” in society
• To study collective consciousness was akin to social structure, but he too, did not clearly spell it out like social structure

Radcliffe-Brown

• Social structure was defined much more precisely than that by Durkheim, who was the source for many of his ideas
• Herbert Spencer informed the organic analogy, which shaped his ideas and structure-functionalist approach
• Social structure (1952 : 11) was defined as “an arrangement of parts of components related to one another in some sort of a larger unity"
• Also defined as "an arrangement of persons in relationships institutionally defined and regulated"
• "Institutionally defined and regulated" relationships are those between the King and subject, between husband and wife, etc
• Relationships within society are ordered by mores/norms
• It involves the concept of social function and is the “contribution which a partial activity makes to the total activity of which it is a part" (1952: 181)
• This concept involves a structure consisting of a set of relations amongst entities
• The continuity of the structure is maintained by a life-process made up of activities of constituent units
• The structural aspect of society was called social morphology
• The functional aspect was called social physiology
• For Radcliffe-Brown social structure consists of a person to person relations
• When we study social structure, we are concerned with the set of actually existing relations at a given point in time
• His definition (1952:191) deals with all social relations of person to person which are called “dyadic" e.g between a father/son
• His example is a Australian tribe where the whole social structure is based on person to person relations established through genealogical connections
• Under social structure, he includes the differentiation of individuals/classes by their social role i.e. differential positions of master and servant, or ruler and the ruled
• He distinguished between structure as existing reality empirically given, and structural form
• Like cells of an organism die and are renewed, individual members of society die and replaced by new people
• Body's form remains the same same so does social structure
• Even during wars/revolutions, not all the framework of society is destroyed
  • e.g. the family institution is found universally and persists despite changes
• Society as an object of study is difficult to conceive of
• In contemporary period, the network of social relations extend worldwide, having no clear boundary
  • The limit or the size of the society to be studied must be defined and compared with other units
  • A spatial aspect of social structure exists which can vary from family to a whole nation/world
• Law, economic institution, education, etc. are the complex mechanisms by which a social structure exits and persists
• Primitive institutions, values and beliefs appear in a new light if seen in relations to the social structure
• Example: The 'Potlach' system of the Indians of the north-west America, which would have appeared foolish, combined clan/lineage elements with rank defined by privileges
• Law is the mechanism by which the social structure is maintained (maintains relations between persons and social groups)
• The system of law can only be fully understood if studied in relation to vice versa
• Study of social structure leads to the study of interests or values in which social relations are defied -”A social relation" , according to Radcliffe-Brown (1952 : 194) exists between two or more individuals when interests are adjusted by interests or limitation of conflicts of said differences"
• Social relation is not just similarity of interests, but based on mutual interests
• Social solidarity results when two/more people share cooperation for same goals
• Study of social structure leads to the network of social roles and behavior
• Society acts through sanctions (positive/negative) to social behaviour- maintaining social life includes social laws, norms and values
• Norms function through the social institutions of society where Radcliffe-Brown has defined social institution as a group which acts by norms
• Society’s Institutions provides interacts for persons
• Provides norms for the relations of a family: (1)
• Groups and Classes which interact briefly and casually behavior etc (2)
• Radcliffe-Brown said, “ Being Standardized models of behavior is to provide machinaries to which society maintains it exists and continuity” "

Criticisms of Radcliffe-Brown

• Extensive explanations were said to be “too general”
• Raymond Firth criticized his Analysis " of not making distinction between what dies and what endures in activity and Also not being able to tell between of being an idea society's structure vs society itself" (see Bottomore 1962: 109)

Contributions to Structural-Functionalism by Sociologists and Anthropologists P.G. Murdock, Talcott Parsons, and Robert K. Merton

• Murdock used the term “social structure”, studying family institution in tribes.
• First person to create Human Files in Relations, he made research on other works
• Parsons claims, “ structure is the ability persistent which to maintain its community time after time while changing inside out like organisms of our true existence”
• According to him, the broader society is connected to systems both functionally and structually
• Merton discussed structure by relating social positions and roles.

The Structuralist Point of View

• Claude Levi-Strauss of France gave meaning to “social structure" which is that it does not have to do with logic/empirical- it has to do, with models that have to be built
• Social Structure is based on (1953 : 524) " Can not Be used to describe in a given society" by relations
• Model to help clarify Structure and Social relations"
• To State Relation is State relations, consisting of Raw materiel which models is build with which a structure which would be built
• A Structural Study is any society not limited in terms of other linguistics
• Applying structural with Louis Du Monts Caste System, (1970) India
• Has core in Fundamental, He said heiracy is to Equality
• In the system man in society is given concept to individual and free less important for Man's kind is important
• Concepts freedoms are heredity/ endoramy and hierarchy
• Louis DuMont used Kinships to expalin structuralist to Approah

Marxist Point of View

• Marxist theory with structural Views are bias free and to Organically Analog Karl Mars written on products are “the real basic which a and superecture for judical on conscience by the forms
• By this he is describing building or construction, not biology

Edmund Leach on Marxist Point of View

• In Mars works of political , judical philiosophy. There is a"system" its almost the same as structure, super structure, and form from Marxist and Non-Marx Literature have given different variants include Macrostucture" Microstructure etc

Marx Notion

• Historic Develop of Socieities in Stages primitive , fedal, Ancient Captialy Communits is based distinctive models for porudtion
• historic Goverened by dialectical materalism

Communism

• Each stage of DEvelpoe social class basis on owners or not The Ownes as class domiante, expoitrs class. Class are unites ,when Revolt for production

Radcliffe-Brown's concept of social structure

• Consists of “an arrangement of persons, in relationships institutionally defined and regulated”.
• Includes family and husbands/wives