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( Social structure)
Social structure is a term frequently used in sociology and social theory — yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised (Abercrombie, et al., 2000; Jary & Jary 1991). In a general sense, the term can refer to The notion of social structure as relationships between different entities or groups or as enduring and relatively stable patterns of relationship emphasises the idea that society is grouped into structurally related groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings or purposes. One example of social structure is the idea of "social stratification", which refers to the idea that society is separated into different strata, according to social distinctions such as a race, class, disability and gender. Social treatment of persons within various social structures can be understood as related to their placement within the various social strata. The notion of structure as embedded institutions or norms that shape the actions of social agents is important, as structural determination may occur as the actions of people and organisations are guided partially by the underlying structures in the social system. This approach has been important in the academic literature with the rise of various forms of structuralism, and is important in the contemporary organizational context as organisation structure may determine an organisation's flexibility, capacity to change and many other factors, and is therefore an important issue to management. Social structure may be seen to underly important social systems including the economic system, legal system, political system, cultural system, and others. Family, religion, law, economy and class are all social structures. The social system is the parent system of those various systems that are embedded in the social system.
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