Social Structure: The Macro Level Perspective
Imagine, for just a moment, if you could stand back and observe society almost like it was a painting on the wall.
Wouldn't it be so much easier to identify and analyze society's different structures objectively from that perspective?
Unfortunately, we are in the middle of society when we're observing it, so objectivity is difficult to achieve. The macro-level perspective of social structure attempts to examine society objectively as a whole.
Social structure provides the framework within which we interact with others. This framework is an orderly fixed arrangement of parts that together make up the whole group or society.
Society is defined as a population of people which shares the same geographic territory and culture.
Societies are usually subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations as well.
Looking at the big picture (the macro-level), the social structure of a society has several essential components: social institutions, groups, statuses, roles, and norms.
Functional theoristsClaims that society is in a state of balance through the functions of society's component parts. emphasize that social structure is essential because it creates order and predictability in a society (Parsons, 1951). Functionalism also claims that social structure is important for our human development. As you saw in earlier lessons, you develop a self-concept as you learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors of the people around you. When these attitudes and values are part of a predictable structure, it is easier to develop that self-concept.
Social structure gives us the ability to
interpret the social situations we
encounter. For example, we expect our
families to care for us, our schools to
educate us, and our police to protect us.
When our circumstances change dramatically, most of us feel an acute sense of anxiety because we do not know what to expect or what is expected of us. In addition to providing a map for our encounters with others, social structure may limit our options and place us in arbitrary categories not of our own choosing.
Conflict theoristsClaims that society is in a perpetual state of conflict and competition for limited resources. maintain that there is
more to social structure than is readily
visible and that we must explore the
deeper, underlying structures that
determine social relations in a society.
Karl Marx suggested that the way
economic production is organized is the most important structural aspect of any society. In capitalistic societies, a few people control the labor of many. The social structure reflects a system of relationships of domination among categories of people (for example, teacher - student, employer - employee, or parent - child).
Social structure creates boundaries that define which persons or groups will be the "insiders" and which will be the "outsiders." Social marginality is the state of being part insider and part outsider in the social structure.
Sociologist Robert Park (1928) coined the term social marginality to refer to persons, such as immigrants who simultaneously share the life and traditions of two distinct groups. This can make it difficult to feel like a full member of either group.
Often, social marginality results in
stigmatization. A convicted criminal, in a
prison uniform, is an example of a person
who has been stigmatized; the uniform says
that the person has done something wrong
and should not be allowed unsupervised
outside prison walls. After this person's
prison term is over, he or she might not feel
like he or she truly fits in with the non-
prison community due to the stigma of being
a convict.
A stigma is any physical or social attribute or sign that so devalues a person's social identity that it disqualifies that person from full social acceptance (Goffman, 1936b).
