Question

Analyse the social structure in Bronze Age societies with introduction and conclusion (500 words)

Answer 1

Definition
Social structure is the distinctive, stable system of social relations that exists in any human society. It is not concerned with people as individuals, in groups, or in the organizations forming the society, nor the ultimate goal of their relationships. Rather, social structure deals with the organization of their relationships: how they are arranged into patterns. Thus, the concept of social structure assumes that human social relationships are not arbitrary or coincidental, but rather they follow certain patterns that can be identified.

Social structure is the institutional framework that makes for order in repetitive, rhythmic (whether daily, weekly, or yearly) interactions among people. The key to the social structure of a society lies in understanding its social institutions and their intertwining combinations. Social institutions provide the order necessary to make social structure possible.

Both "micro-structure" and "macro-structure" can be found within social structure. Micro-structure is the pattern of relations among the basic elements of social life that cannot be further divided and have no social structure of their own (i.e. pattern of relations between individuals in a group composed of individuals, where individuals have no social structure). Macro-structure is thus a kind of “second level” structure, a pattern of relations among objects that have their own structure (e.g. the relationship among political parties, as political parties have their own social structure).



Conclusion
Social structure describes the way in which society is organized into predictable relationships and patterns of social interaction (the way in which people respond to each other). These patterns are to some extent independent of the particular individual, as they exert a force that shapes individual behavior and the identity of the society.

Society uses norms to control acceptable methods of achieving culturally approved values (e.g. wealth). When these norms and values come into conflict, the social and regulatory structures become strained, and the result is either social change or a breakdown in the functioning of the social structure.

The various sociological theories have had some, albeit limited, success in explaining how and why social structures maintain and reproduce themselves. However, there is a need to understand how and why society constantly generates forces for social change from within itself that do not necessitate violent revolution. For it can be anticipated that any living culture will be constantly confronted with that which it does not recognize, and there is no reason to suppose that the structural transformations which may follow from a change of conditions will be homologous.

Additionally, it must be recognized that social structure cannot be fixed, static, and universal. Not only must a society be open to adjustment and transformation in response to changes both internal and external to itself, but also even in a "globalized" world there remain significant differences in the ways in which people live and relate to each other and their environment. The future of human society, if it is to be peaceful and satisfying to all people, requires that we understand both the varieties of social structure that such a world could have, and the processes of social change required to achieve and maintain them.