Understanding Social structure

Understanding Social structure

Understanding the social structure is a social construct that is composed of various elements forming the community. Elements are interrelated to one another functionally. Related functional means if there is a change in one of these elements, the other elements will change.
Forming elements such as human society or individuals who are members of society, place of residence or neighborhood environment where people are, and culture (see definition of culture) and value (read terms of value) and norms (see the sense of the norm), which regulates the common life.
Understanding the social structure according to Mr Koentjaraningrat that the social structure is a framework that can describe links between various elements in society.
Besides, added by Mr. Soeleman B. Taneko explains that the notion of social structure is the entire social fabric of the fundamental elements that rule the social norms, social institutions, social groups and social layers.
If the social structure envisioned as a three-story building and the roof of the building is a cultural social structure of society, the roof is of course not only a roof over the top, but also the roof of the first floor and the second floor as well. This three-storey building or social structure can stand firm because of the pattern of social relationships occur. The pattern of the individual's relationship with individuals, groups of individuals and the relationship between each of the existing groups. And of course, this kind of relationship is established with the values and norms which they have agreed together.

Illustration of the social structure as a three-storey building

Back to the three-story building as a depiction of the social structure. A building must have entrance. The entrance can represent values and norms. The door will not open if you do not agree or do not have the values and norms that are expected by the building or the building occupants. Likewise, if you chose to go through the window, it's obvious that you violated the norms and values that exist in the social structure.
There are two dimensions in the social structure that is the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension. The vertical dimension is the degree of difference in society so that society as a multilevel view. The vertical dimension can be interpreted as storey building more than one so that the top floor is the most have a high degree while the lowest are those that have a low degree in the social structure.
The vertical dimension can be found in the social stratification, social class and social status in society. The vertical dimension example is to divide the community in the form of upper class, middle class, or lower class which is usually based on their financial condition.

Understanding the social structure
Furthermore, the horizontal dimension. This dimension is often referred to as a derivative of the vertical dimension. Something that should be horizontal dimension is often obscured vertical dimension in the social structure. The horizontal dimension only mean that these differences do not contain multilevel differences only in the group there is a difference. By occupation or profession such as humans. The horizontal dimension in this profession will become blurred if the vertical dimension is associated with income, nature of the work (soft or hard, or even the size of the intelligence needed the job.

So a brief explanation of the notion of social structure.