What is social structure ? Describe its various elements.
(I) Meaning of Social Structure
The description of the social structure requires three sets of features. These are : (i) the society consist of males and females, adults and children, different occupational and religious groups and so on, (ii) the interrelationship between different parts such as relationship between husband and wife, between parents and children and between various groups, and (iii) all the parts of the society are put together to work as a unit.
In short, the term social structure refers to the way the various parts are organized and follow stable patterns of collective rules, roles and activities.
Although the structure itself remains invisible, it silently shapes our actions. The basic elements of social structure which guides our actions are statuses, social roles, norms and values.
(II) Elements of Social Structure :
1. Status : It is a position occupied by an individual in a group or in a society. Every society and every group has many such positions and all individuals occupy many such positions. The status of an individual differs with the type of the group or community. For example, your status in a school or collegs is different from that at home.
2. Role : Role is the expected behaviour of an individual who holds a certain status. It is the dynamic aspect of the status and it is the status which determines the behaviour pattern, obligations and privileges.
3. Norms : Norms refer to the guidelines people follow while interacting with other persons. Norms are shared standards of desirable behaviour. They indicate how people have to behave in a particular situation. Norms are rules followed by people in different situations. Norms differ from society to society, from group to group and from situation to situation. What may be the most desirable action in one society may be considered disgraceful in another.
4. Values : Harry M. Johnson has defined values as a conception or standard, cultural or merely personal by which things are compared and approved or disapproved relative to one another held to be relatively desirable or undesirable more meritorious or less, more or less correct.
