Social Structures

Running head: SOCIAL STRUCTURES
Social Structures
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1SOCIAL STRUCTURES
The concept of society may be examined through several social structures. Two of the
most important social structures that may be identified are family and religion.It is crucial to
categorize and identify the various social structures in order to prevent anarchy in society.
Moreover, social structure enables one to identify cultural patterns, social roles and power
relations in order to collaboratively dwell in society. The social class is a set of subjectively
defined concepts in which the people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories
which are created by the people in the society itself. In the late 19th century the term class
started to begin and replace the classification which it had previously.
Social structures refer to the different ways in which a society is organized at a
particular period in history (Funk, 2016). This structure may also be classified as an
arrangement of institutions where individuals interact and live together. One of the most
important social structures is family. Family is considered to be the basic unit of society.
Neglecting family values may have extremely negative implications on the various levels of
society. Additionally, religion is also considered to be a crucial social structure. Religion not
only assists to cohesively maintain social unity through shared beliefs and rituals, but it also
provides individuals meaning and purpose to answer theirexistential queries (Wach, 2019).
Thus, religion may be identified as an expression of society. The classifications mainly
included the estates, rank of the person, and other orders as the primary means of organizing
the society in to various divisions. According to the Great British Class Survey the common
three stratum models are the upper class at the top, then the middle class and lastly the lower
classes. The Upper class is composed of the rich, well born, powerful people in the society. In
few countries wealth alone allows entry to the upper class. The middle class is composed of
the group of people in contemporary society who falls between the upper and lower class.
The lower class is described with the people who are paid low wage and served with very
little economic security.