week10--reading blog--LI LINLIN

 (1)Summary:

The paper explores the concept of social structure, emphasizing that it is composed of persistent and stable patterns of relationships between different entities or groups. These structures include not only economic, legal, political, and cultural institutions, but also family, religion, and social class. Particular reference was made to social stratification, noting that society is divided into different levels based on social characteristics such as race, class, disability or gender, which affects the status and treatment of individuals in society.

In addition, the paper introduces the concept of structural determinism, illustrating how social structure affects the behavior of organizations and individuals. In the study of modern organization, the importance of structure is reflected in its potential to determine the organization's flexibility and ability to adapt to change. The paper also discusses the concept of embeddedness, emphasizing that human behavior takes place within intricate networks of human relationships that help explain the orderliness of social life.

The historical and theoretical development of social structure highlights how it has been interpreted and applied by different sociologists. The term "social structure" was first used by Alexis de Tocqueville, and has since been studied in depth by scholars such as Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Max Weber, Ferdinand Thoennis, and Emile Durkheim. In particular, Marx linked the structure of society to the mode of economic production, arguing that the economic basis of a society determines its cultural and political structure.

The article also presents the contributions of Ferdinand Thonnis, who proposed that social structures are formed by the collective will of people, and Emile Durkheim, who used analogies between biological and social systems to analyze the function of social structures.

In the 20th century, structuralism, functionalism, and various analytical perspectives further promoted the development of social structure theory, including Claude Levi-Strauss's study of cultural structure, Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, and Anthony Giddens' theory of structure, with particular emphasis on the duality of structure and agency.

The work of modern scholars such as Margaret Archer, Tom R. Burns, and Emanuel Wallerstein, who have elaborated and applied classical sociological theories to show how social structure influences individual behavior and social change.

This paper explores in depth the definition, composition and influence of social structure on individual and group behavior. By discussing these concepts in detail, a comprehensive understanding of how social structures are formed, developed and their impact on social behavior is provided.

(2) Interesting point: 

the historical evolution of the theory of social structure, in particular Marx's view of how the economic mode of production relates to the cultural and political structure of society. He argued that the economic basis of a society essentially determines its superstructure, which provides an economic determinist perspective for understanding social dynamics and change.

(3)Q:

 What are the major criticisms or revisions of Marx's economic determinism in modern sociology, especially in light of changes in social structures in the age of globalization and information technology?