Social Structure and Social Institutions
A social structure is patterned social interaction in the society which performs a definite function as well. According to McIntyre (2013), the fundamentals of social structures comprise of roles, statuses, master status, and groups. Sometimes, these are termed components of social structures. Social statuses are positions that individuals occupy in the social structure including family, occupational, social class, age, race sex, and ethnic status. Social roles are the expected behaviors attached to specific statuses in the social structure. Every status has its role. The statuses define who individuals are which is in most cases a result of their membership in particular groups such as workgroup, family group, organization, marriage, club, and friendship group.
The most important statuses that I fill within the society include student, child, social work major, middle class, and an American. Some of my statuses are achieved while others are ascribed. The achieved statuses include student and social work major while ascribed statuses include child, middle class, and an American. As a student, there are several roles attached to my status, including attending classes, appreciating my teachers’ insights, understanding important aspects of society, and doing my assignments (McIntyre, 2013). As a social work major, I am expected to learn about different problems affecting society, research different ways to solve social problems, and use my skills and knowledge to help people during practice. My roles as a child including helping my parents at home, being obedient, and learning from my parents and other family members. I am a middle-class American and my role is to actively contribute to society by working, being patriotic, following the law, and appreciating my American culture.
Being a student comes role strain and demanding roles that sometimes cannot be met including attending class, studying for exams, helping our parents, writing papers, engaging in extracurricular activities among many. My statuses are a result of my membership in specific groups. I belong to my family group and am a member of my University since I am a student. Both my family and university are secondary groups (McIntyre, 2013). I also belong to primary groups such as my sociology class and friendship groups. In my social and cultural life, the most important master is my ethnicity. My ethnic status influences the way people perceive me as a student. For instance, I may be referred to as “an African American student” as a result of my ethnicity and race.
There are five major institutions within societies including family, religion, government, economy, and education. I choose to discuss family as my major institution and marriage as a minor institution in society. Both institutions fill specific in my cultural content. In the American culture, a family has a definite structure (Nuclear, Extended, etc) comprised of husband-wife, parents’ children, and relationships with others. It is a social unit created by blood, marriage, or adoption (Kelley & Yu, 2018). The relationship in a family is orderly arranged and having definite functions (role/ status). In this way, the family constitutes a social structure. Family is the most fundamental building block of society. It is not a human invention as to how animals also organize their “communities” around a basic model we can call family. Without a solid partnership that is responsible for the procreation, proper upbringing of the off-springs, both an animal and human society becomes undeveloped
Marriage is a minor institution in society that means stabilized patterns of roles and norms linked to the mutual relationship between couples. In the U.S joins together partners in special king of legal and social arrangements that serve important purposes (McIntyre, 2013). In society, marriage ensures protection and bringing up of children, gives respect and protection to partners, promotes love and friendship, promotes learning inter-personal relations, and makes partners responsible. Marriage is a school of learning and is necessary for every human society whether contemporary or past.
Family and marriage are significantly interrelated institutions. Historically, families are created through marriage and families are among the most significant units of building a society. Both family and marriage produce status roles sanction by society. Through marriage, families provide stable and safe environments that nature the development and growth of every member through the developmental stages of life (Wippler, 2018). Intact families are created by men and women bound together by marriage and children they may have. Both family and marriage exhibit several pressures towards social change. The most common social pressures are income, health, work, and education. The pressure of having enough income leaves many families struggling to have enough money to cater to their needs. Most families also face the pressure of maintaining health including physical, mental, and disability besides getting a quality education for better professions and becoming important people in the society (Kelley & Yu, 2018). Marriage also faces income pressures especially after couples have children. There are also societal pressures including gender roles and other important practices.
References
Kelley, J. A., & Yu, J. (2018). Social Change, Social Institutions, and Cohorts. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 39(1), 5-22. DOI: 10.1891/0198-8794.39.1.5
McIntyre, L. (2013). The Practical Skeptic: Core Concepts in Sociology (6th Edition). Pennsylvania: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. ISBN: 9780078026874 | 0078026873
Wippler, R. (2018). Social institutions: their emergence, maintenance, and effects (Second Edition). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
