Social Structure

• We observe different kinds of activities that may portray society as disorderly.

• A careful look however, reveals that there is coordination which provides

regularity in the behavior of people.

• Everybody performs a role that complements the other’s role.

• The performance is guided by rules to ensure stability and regularity.

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 Cont’d
• Hence, most of our interactions occur in a pattern.

• For example, students interact with teachers and other students.

• There exist rules that guide the interactions.

• The teacher-student encounter may change and the setting too

may change but the pattern of interaction is virtually the same.
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 Cont’d
• When the setting changes, the students have an idea of what is
expected of them.

• This is because the rules and regulations tell us what is expected of

them in a particular position.

• These rules and regulations make up the social structure that

constrain individuals behavior and organize each interaction.

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 Cont’d
• Social structure can therefore be regarded as relationships that have
achieved relative permanence.

• It can also be seen as recurring patterns of behavior or interactions that

are:
 pervasive,
constraining,
enduring and
largely invisible.

• They render social life predictable, orderly and familiar.

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Cont’d
• Social structures are constraining because they determine
appropriate behaviour in any given social situation.

• They are pervasive because it is found in all aspects of the

society. Eg. social structures are found small communities, large
societies, in families and even in small groups.

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Cont’d
• They are enduring because these structures existed before we
were born, and they will most likely still exist and persist over
generations.

• They are largely invisible in the sense that they are not
incarnated in physical settings but disseminated in all levels of
society.

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 Definition of social structure

• Robertson defines social structure as the pattern of

relationships among the basic components in a social system.

• C. Wright-Mills (1970) considers it as the combination of social

institutions classified according the functions each performs.

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 Cont’d

• The definition by C. W. Mills emphasizes on the functions the

social institutions play.

• It also shows how the institutions are arranged and how they
relate to one another in order to achieve the goal of society.

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 Components of social structure

• The components of social structure are classified under three

types: institutional, relational and embodied.
Institutional dimensions: statuses, roles, groups and
institutions. These are referred to as the building blocks of
society.
Relational dimension: referred to as the cement of society.

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 Institutional Dimension – The Building Block

• Societies must meet certain social and human needs if it is to

exist.

• Training new members, providing food and shelter, protection of

members, etc.
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 Social institutions

• Societies must meet certain social and human needs if it is to

exist.
 For example, training new members, providing food and
shelter, protection of members, etc.

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 Cont’d

• The needs are both social and individual because they are

necessary for the survival of both individuals and society.

• Social needs are universal, hence all human societies develop

means of satisfying them.

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 Cont’d
• The means or mechanisms to satisfy the needs are routine.

• These routine ways are what we call social institutions.

• They are society`s standard ways of meeting the needs.

• The institutions provide guidelines on how people should behave in

order to meet such needs.
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Cont’d
• Social institutions are not actual physical locations.

• They are belief patterns and regular ways of organizing

behaviour and interactions in order to serve the social needs of
society.

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 Cont’d
There are many social institutions but the most basic ones are:

 Family or kinship to procreate and care for children

 Education to train children into the way of life of society

 Economy to produce and distribute goods and services

 Politics to provide for collective decision making and protection (maintenance of law
and order)

 Religion to provide meaning and allay fears.

 Health to ensure physical wellbeing.

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 Cont’d
• The social institutions are interdependent.

• Social institutions are not static.

• They adapt to changes in the broader social environment and

technology.

• New institutions emerge or can be created to solve new problems that

emerge.

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 Components of Institutions
• In order to fulfil the social needs, institutions themselves
comprise smaller components parts:

Status and roles

Values and norms

Groups and organizations.

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 Status
• Linton (1936) defines status as a socially defined position in a group or society
that an individual occupies.

• It is the position an individual occupies in a social system of interconnected

positions in a society or group.

• Therefore statuses make sense in relation to other statuses.

• Status explain how people are to act and how to relate to others.

• It defines part of our identity.

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 Cont’d
• A status set refers to all the statuses a person occupies within
a giving time.

• A master status is the most influential status that can establish

a person`s identity and relationship with others.

• The master status can be positive or negative.

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 Cont’d

• Status can be achieved or ascribed.

• Ascribed statuses are those, which are accorded at birth that

cannot be changed by the person.

• They are thus involuntary. We have no influence over the way

they control our lives and positions in the social structure.

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 Cont’d

• Achieved statuses are on the other hand are those that one
attains by choice, effort, merit or activity.

• It is therefore voluntary.

• Status inconsistency is when a person behaves contrary to the

dictates of his/her position.

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 Roles
• A status comes with it, some culturally defined duties, rights,
responsibilities and obligation.

• These are what sociologists call roles.

• Roles explain how we are expected to behave and interact in a given

situation

• Roles are then the set of social expectations attached to a given status.

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 Cont’d
• The distinction between a status and a role is that, we occupy a
status and we play a role.

• By performing our role, we are in effect acting our status.

• Societies attach legal sanctions to non performance of expected

behavior.

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 Cont’d
• The multiplicity of roles attached to a status is known as role set.

• Participation in social life is full of conflict. This is because performance

of some roles occur at the same time.

• Role conflict occurs when we perform different roles that come into
conflict or are incompatible.

• Role strain occurs when the expectations attached to a particular status

is demanding and the person has difficulty in performing. Eg. A student
has to go for lectures, do assignment, go to library, etc.
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 Cont’d
• Role conflict and role strain are not automatic.

• When people receive help from others, role conflict or role strain may not
occur.

• They only occur if the person has no capacity to contain the contradictions,
incompatibilities and the demands of the status.

• Roles like status (achieved) are not permanent. They end after some time.

• Besides, a person in a status can decide to quit the status.

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 Cont’d
• The process of quitting a status or role is known as role exit. Role
exit involves disengagement with one status and engagement with
another.
• This occurs through the following steps;
 Doubt
 Search for alternatives
 Turning point
 Creation of new identities

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 The Relational Dimension - cement
• This dimension of the social structure focuses on what holds society together.

• How it ensures a high degree of continuity and consistency amidst changes.

• This dimension is often regarded as the “cement of society”. It has two

components;

 Social solidarity – Emile Durkheim

 Social cohesion – Ferdinand Tonnies

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 Social solidarity - Durkheim
• Durkheim believes that society is held together by division
of labour.

• Division of labour refers to how tasks are divided and

performed.

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 Cont’d

• The nature of division of labour determines its social solidarity.

• Solidarity is the glue that binds people together as members of

society.

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 Types of Social Solidarity
• There are two types: simple and complex.

• It is simple when few people are engaged in many tasks. (mechanical solidarity)

it is associated with preindustrial society.

• It is complex when many people are engaged in a small number of more

specialized task. (organic solidarity)

 it is associated with industrial society.

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 Mechanical solidarity
• In societies with mechanical solidarity, division of labor is minimal.

• Most people are engaged in farming and similar task.

• The family and kinship is dominant institution that fulfils most of the
social needs.

• There is little or no specialization and little institutional status and role

differentiation.
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Cont’d
• Interactions in such societies are close, intimate and
predominantly face-to-face.

• People share common values and similar mode of thinking.

• There is a strong attachment to traditions.

• The society is characterized by collective consciousness.

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 Cont’d
• There is emphasis on community interest than individual interest.

• Deviations from the accepted norms and values are not tolerated
and are sanctioned informally.

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 Organic solidarity
• It is called organic solidarity because it is like the human organism.

• It has lots of parts with different functions and depend on each

other for proper functioning of the whole system.

• Organic solidarity characterizes modern societies.

• It emerges when traditions of societies are weakened.

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 Cont’d

• The weakening means that collective consciousness is not

possible.

• The weakening of collective conscience means the tendency to

deviate from common morality.
• The tendency to deviate from

• There is greater status and role differentiation.

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 Cont’d
• People occupy different statuses and play very different multiple roles.

• This happens as a result of the inability to be self-sufficient.

• Society is held together not by same norms or values but by differences

and interdependence.

• People are interdependent.

• There are little or no limits on what is acceptable.

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 Cont’d
• Individuals are not able to develop primary relationships.

• Primary groups are unable to satisfy social needs.

• Secondary groups more often take up the role of primary groups.

• Interactions of people are more;

 Short-term
 Goal-oriented and formal
 Based on formal contracts rather than personal trust.

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Cont’d
• There is greater degree of tolerance for diversity and change.

• In such societies, there is increased individual liberty resulting

in weak social control and bonds of solidarity

• Deviance is dealt with through formal systems of social

control, such as the police, courts prisons etc.

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 Social Cohesion-Tonnies
• He focused on the transformations induced by
industrialization.

• It was meant to explain the impact of the changes on

human relations in social context.

• He christened the change from tradition to modernity as a

shift from “gemeinschaft” to “gesellschaft”.
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 Cont’d
• Gemeinschaft, a German word literally means ‘community’ is a form of social
cohesion common in preindustrial societies.

• In such societies, the family and local community controls social life.

• The community’s interest supersedes that of the individual .

• Hence, it has control over the individual behaviors of its members.

• Interactions are personal and face –to-face and everyone knows everybody.
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 Cont’d
• Gesellschaft literally means association.

• This type of social cohesion develops in industrial societies or urban

societies.

• Relationships are short-term, impersonal, goal-oriented and based on

achieved status.

• There is less emphasis on community and family ties.

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 Cont’d

• The interest of the individual is paramount. There is emphasis

is on individualism.

• There is tolerance for diversity and change.

• It is said that the many social problems plaguing society now is

as a result of the loss of tight bonds that existed in the
gemeinshaft society.
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 Bodily Dimension

• The institutional and the relational dimension components are

put together in practice through peoples activities.

• The structure becomes visible through the interactions and

practices of social actors.

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 Theoretical Perspectives on Social Structure
Structural functionalism
• Functionalist views society as organized, stable and well
integrated system in which members agree on common values.

• It assumes that all elements of the system tend to fit together

to maintain stability of the whole.

• It is this that makes it possible for the system to survive.

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 Cont’d
• Talcott Parsons has argued that for a system to survive, it must fulfil four
needs or functional imperatives.

• He terms it as “AGIL SCHEME” (adaptation, goal attainment, integration

and latency).

 Adaptation: the system must adapt to its environment or adjust the environment
to its needs.

 Goal attainment: there must be a general objectives for the system as a whole.
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 Cont’d

 Integration: the parts in the system must be interrelated and have to be able
to work in coordination.

 Latency and pattern maintenance: latency refers to the rewards the system
gives to keep members motivated.

• Functionalists believe that social inequality is good to make talented people

strive for the top of the social system.

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 Cont’d

• Pattern maintenance refers to the values (e.g. Success), that support

the system of rewards and motivation.

• The values are transmitted through the family and school to children.

• This he says, is the function of the major institutions in the society.

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 Cont’d
Conflict perspective

• Dahrendorf argues that different statuses have different amounts of

power.

• The system sees this as legitimate, and must not be challenged.

• The guiding principles of the social system is not the maintenance of

the privileges and conflicts that result from the status inequalities.
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 Cont’d
• The main purpose of social institutions is to maintain, reproduce and
legitimize power arrangements.

• Bourdieu describes institutional setting as fields or markets.

• A field is a structured space of positions related to constitute a

hierarchy (dominant/dominated) based on the unequal distribution
of certain forms of capital; economic, social, symbolic, cultural.
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Cont’d
• The position of a person in field is determined by what type
and how much capital agents a person is endowed with.

• The different positions in the field promote constant

struggles to improve one’s position and definition of what is
defined as legitimate in the fields.

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 Sociological significance of social structure

• Social structure helps us to understand how society

works.

• We are able to recognize that all the aspects of our lives

are shaped by social elements.

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 Society and Community
• Society can be referred to as voluntary organizations with specific aims
and objectives.

• Example, Ghana Society for the Blind, Society of Friends of Lepers, etc.

• It can also refer to the people of a village, town, region or even a

country or a continent.

• Example Ghanaian society, Kotei society, etc.

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 Cont’d
• When sociologist say they study society, they actually mean a group
of people. For people to be considered as living in a society;

 They should occupy a common territory.

 They should interact with each other.

 They should have a common culture, shared sense of membership and

commitment to the group.
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 Cont’d

• Robertson (1977), “defines a society as a group of interacting

individuals sharing the same territory and participating in a
common culture.”

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 Concept of Community
• It may refer to groups of individuals who may have little or nothing in common.

• It may also refer to people living in a fairly well bound geographical area and a
relatively important aspects of their lives as constituting a community.

• There can be community of scholars, ethnic, racial groups, etc.

• It can also refer to several nations or people working as a group like ECOWAS, AU,
EU.

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 Groups and Associations

• Groups and associations are pervasive aspects of human life.

• Peoples behaviors are influenced by variety of forces when

they join groups.

• Hence human life is constrained by the system of authority

that emanates from the interactions in the group.

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 Cont’d
• Paulus (1989), defines group as “consisting of two or
more interacting persons who share common goals, have
stable relationship, and are somehow interdependent,
and perceive that they in fact part of a group”.

• Robertson (1987), defines group as “a collection of

people interacting together in an orderly way on the basis
of sacred expectations about one another’s behavior”.
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 Cont’d
• Robin and DeCenzo (1998), also defines groups as “two or more
interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to
achieve a particular objectives”.

• The results of the interaction is a feeling of belongingness.

• The collection of people can be grouped into social groups,

aggregates, or social category.

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 Social Group
• It is a number of people who interact on a regular basis and in an orderly
manner on the basis of shared expectation.

• The regularity of interactions binds participants together as a unit and

provides them with an identity.

• There is a sense of belonging.

• There are some behaviors expected from members but not expected from
non-members.
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 Social Aggregate
• Social aggregate relates to a collection of people who are in the
same place at the same time but share no definite connections with
one another.
• Goffman calls aggregate “as a gathering of people with unfocused
interaction”.
• They have no manner of interaction.
• They may never have met before.
• Example, a crowd on the street.
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 Social Category

• A category is a statistical grouping.

• It relates to a grouping of people based on some
commonalities.
• Some of the similar characteristics can be sex, age, race.
• They may never have met before.

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 Cont’d
For a collection of people to be called a group, the following criteria must be
met:

 The members must see themselves as one unit

 The group must provide rewards for its members

 Anything that affects one member also affect other members

 They must share a common goal

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 Cont’d

To Baron and Byrne (1995) a group must satisfy the following

criteria;
 The people must interact direct or indirectly
 They must be interdependent
 Their relationship must be relatively stable
 They must have some goals they want to achieve
 The people must perceive themselves as a group.

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 Cont’d

There are two main types of groups ;

• Primary groups

• Secondary groups

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 Primary Group

• A primary group refers to a small group of people connected by

ties of an emotional nature.
• It is fundamental to the forming of identity of individuals. Eg.
Family, peer group, etc.
• Cooley calls primary groups “spring of life”.
• The group tend to persist overtime.

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 Secondary Groups
• A secondary group refers to a group of people who meet regularly, but
whose relationships are mainly impersonal.

• Members do not have intimate ties with each other.

• They come together for specific purposes. Eg. A club, committee, etc.

• There is limited face to face interactions.

• However people in this group can develop informal relations.

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 Cont’d
• Groups can either be formal or informal.

Formal Groups:

• Formal groups established by an organization and have designated

work assignment and established task.

• They can be relatively permanent though it members may change.

• There is line of authority along which communication usually flow.

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 Informal groups

• They are natural formations that appear in response to social

contacts.

• Members develop informal means of handling problems, they

break and bend the rules.

• There are no defined pattern of relationship.

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 Cont’d

• Groups affect their members through the following:

 Status and Roles

 Norms and conformity

 Group cohesiveness

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 Group Cohesion
• Group cohesiveness refers to all the pressures causing members to
remain part of a group, including mutual attraction, interdependence,
and shared goals.

• It is influenced by the degree to which;

 Members live with each other

 The extent to which members provide for the attainment of goals.

 The size and amount of effort required to gain entry into their group.

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 Group Dynamics
• This is the interpersonal processes, conscious or unconscious that
take place in the course of interactions among a group.

• It is seen as the force of the group.

• It is the force that determines the behavior of members in the

group situation.

• It is developed through interaction, interpersonal relations,

structure and communication.
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 Factors that influence group performance
• Group cohesion

• Communication structure

• Group roles

• Individual dominance

• Group think
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 Causes of groupthink
Groupthink occurs when the group is;
• Very cohesive
• Isolated from qualified outsiders
• has illusion of invulnerability, infallibility, or both
• Under pressure to perform
• Has a leader who promote favorite position

• Has gatekeepers who keep information from non-members.

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 How groupthink can be reduced

• The group leader should not state his own position on belief until
late in the decision making process

• Promote open-discussion and encourage members to speak

• Assigning the job of devils advocate to a member

• Increase subgroups and committees to increase disagreement.

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