Article1974

Presidential Address: Parameters of Social Structure

270 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Sociological Review

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Social Power and Status Dynamics Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

Abstract

Social structures are defined by their parameters the criteria underlying the differentiation among people and governing social interaction, such as sex, race, socioeconomic status, and power. The analysis of various forms of differentiation, their interrelations, and their implications for integration and change is the distinctive task of sociology. Two generic types of differentiation are heterogeneity and status inequality. Nominal parameters divide people into subgroups and engender heterogeneity. Graduated parameters differentiate people in terms of status rankings and engender inequality. The macrosocial integration of the diverse groups in modern society rests on its multiform heterogeneity resulting from many crosscutting parameters. For although heterogeneity entails barriers to social intercourse multiform heterogeneity undermines these barriers and creates structural constraints to establish intergroup relations. Crosscutting lines of differentiation thus foster processes of social integration, and they also foster processes of recurrent change. Strongly interrelated parameters impede these processes of integration and adjustment, however. (Such relationships between parameters for example, between the occupation and income of individuals must not be confused with the relationships between forms of differentiation for example, between the division of labor and income inequality in societies.) Pronounced correlations of parameters reveal a consolidated status structure, which intensifies inequalities and discourages intergroup relations and gradual change. The growing concentration of resources and powers in large organizations and their top executives poses a serious threat of structural consolidation in contemporary society.

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References

1973The Strength of Weak Ties 1958Social Theory and Social Structure 1935The division of labor in society 1950The Sociology of Georg Simmel 1968Dimensions of Organization Structure 2000The structure of organizations 1963Quantitative Aspects of the Economic Growth of Nations: VIII. Distribution of Income by Size 1974The Organization of Academic Work

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