"In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals."
Understanding the political and social structures of ancient societies.
Archaeological Methods: An overview of the scientific methods used to study ancient societies and cultures.
Social Organization: The study of the structure and function of the social systems of ancient societies.
Political Systems: The study of ancient political systems, including government structures, leadership, and decision-making.
Economic Systems: The study of the economic systems of ancient societies, including trade, agriculture, and production.
Religious Beliefs and Practices: The study of the religious beliefs, rituals, and practices of ancient societies.
Gender and Society: The study of gender roles and relationships in ancient societies.
Art and Architecture: The study of ancient art and architecture, including their social and cultural significance.
Material Culture: The study of the material remains of ancient societies, including tools, artifacts, and housing.
Settlement Patterns: The study of the spatial organization of ancient settlements and their relationship to social organization.
Social Change: An examination of the factors that contribute to social change in ancient societies, including technological innovations and external influences.
Urbanization: The study of the development of ancient urban centers and their impact on social organization.
Band: A small group of people who share a common ancestry, live nomadically or semi-nomadically, and have no formalized leadership or social ranking.
Tribe: A larger group of people who share a common ancestry, live in a specific geographic area, and have a recognized leader or leadership structure. Tribes are often divided into smaller groups based on family ties or clans.
Chiefdom: A complex society where power is centralized in the hands of a single leader or a group of leaders, who exercise control over a particular territory and the people who live there. The degree of social stratification within a chiefdom may vary, but leaders have formalized authority over their subjects.
State: A centralized political entity with a hierarchical system of government that exercises authority over a defined territory and population. States are characterized by a high degree of social stratification and the presence of institutions such as a judiciary, military, taxation, and law enforcement.
Empire: A state that has conquered and assimilated other territories and people, often through military conquest. Empires are characterized by a high degree of cultural diversity, social inequality, and a well-developed bureaucracy.
City-state: A sovereign state consisting of a single city and its surrounding territory, often characterized by a high degree of urbanization, economic specialization, and political autonomy.
Federation: A political entity composed of multiple smaller states or regions that have joined together under a single central government, typically for purposes such as defense, economic cooperation, or political representation.
Confederation: An alliance of sovereign states, each retaining their own autonomy and independent governing structures, but working together for common purposes such as defense, trade, or diplomacy. Confederations may have a loose or more formalized structure of governance.
"Society is believed to be grouped into structurally related groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings, or purposes."
"Examples of social structure include family, religion, law, economy, and class."
"It contrasts with 'social system', which refers to the parent structure in which these various structures are embedded."
"Social structures significantly influence larger systems, such as economic systems, legal systems, political systems, cultural systems, etc."
"It determines the norms and patterns of relations between the various institutions of the society."
"Since the 1920s, the term has been in general use in social science."
"...especially as a variable whose sub-components needed to be distinguished in relationship to other sociological variables, as well as in academic literature, as a result of the rising influence of structuralism."
"The concept of 'social stratification', for instance, uses the idea of social structure to explain that most societies are separated into different strata (levels), guided (if only partially) by the underlying structures in the social system."
"...an organization's structure may determine its flexibility, capacity to change, etc. In this sense, structure is an important issue for management."
"On the macro scale, social structure pertains to the system of socioeconomic stratification (most notably the class structure), social institutions, or other patterned relations between large social groups."
"On the meso scale, it concerns the structure of social networks between individuals or organizations."
"'Social structure' includes the ways in which 'norms' shape the behavior of individuals within the social system."
"John Levi Martin has theorized that certain macro-scale structures are the emergent properties of micro-scale cultural institutions."
"...a recent study describes how indigenous social structure in the Republic of Panama changed macro social structures and impeded a planned Panama Canal expansion."
"Marxist sociology has also historically mixed different meanings of social structure, though doing so by simply treating the cultural aspects of social structure as phenomenal of its economic aspects."
"Social norms are believed to influence social structure through relations between the majority and the minority."
"Majority-minority relations create a hierarchical stratification within social structures that favors the majority in all aspects of society."
"As those who align with the majority are considered 'normal', and those who align with the minority are considered 'abnormal'..."
"Majority-minority relations create a hierarchical stratification within social structures that favors the majority in all aspects of society."