The social structure of society

Society consists of a large number of different elements that are in constant interaction - from the individual, social institutions and ending with larger communities. All this is included in the concept of social structure. In other words, speaking, this is what parts, elements, society consists of and in what relationships and interactions they are. In sociology for the first time the concept of the structure of society was applied by G. Spencer, who understood by this term stable relationships between the social organism and its individual parts. In general, he likened society to an organism. According to G. Spencer, the social structure is the order, the arrangement of interconnected functionally elements and the dependencies between them, which form the internal system of the object.

There are several definitions of this term. Here, for example, one of them: the social structure is a certain way of interconnection and interaction of elements, that is, individuals who occupy public positions (statuses) and perform specific functions (roles). You can see that the main thing in this definition is the elements, their connections and interactions. Or, for example, a definition that takes into account strata or strata of society: the social structure is an aggregate of social positions, interconnected and interacting with each other, hierarchically ordered from the point of view of their stratification.

The properties of the social structure can be considered depending on the following variables:

1. Interdependence.

2. Constancy.

3. Fundamentality of measurement.

4. Determining effect after the empirically observed phenomenon.

The social structure of society as a system is a way of interconnection of subsystems, which in it interact and ensure its integrity. What subsystems are included in the social system? The social structure includes individuals, Groups of people (community), united by some sign, their connections, relationships and interactions, different organizations and institutions, groups, communities, norms, values, and so on. Each of these elements, parts of the structure can be in a certain relationship with others, take a position and play a specific role in society.

The most detailed analysis of the social structure was given by K. Marx, who showed that the political, cultural and religious aspects of life depend on the mode of production. He believed that the economic basis determines the ideological, cultural superstructure in society. Followers and students of K. Marx proposed a somewhat different relationship, considering cultural, political and ideological organizations relatively autonomous and dependent on the economic component only in the final analysis.

But the view of Karl Marx and his followers on social relations in the structure of society was not the only one. Thus, E. Durkheim wrote, in particular, that social institutions play a very significant role in the integration of society, uniting various parts of it into a single whole. He distinguished two forms of structural relations: mechanistic and organic solidarity. M. Weber studied and analyzed the organizational mechanisms in society: the market, bureaucracy and politics.

T. Parsons believed that society is a special type of social system that has a high level of specialization and self-sufficiency. The functional unity of society as a system is determined by the social subsystems to which it refers the economy (adaptation), policy (goal-setting), culture (maintaining the sample). The integrative function of society is determined by a system of "societal community", which contains mainly normative structures.