1. Social structure
Social structure refers to _patterns around which society is organized.
Henslin defines social structure as "_the framework of society that was
already laid out before you were born”. Social mobility is often achieved
b y r o u t e s p r o v i d e d b y t h e s o c i a l s t r u c t u r e . I n a b u r e a u c r a c y, t h e p a t t e r n s
are well defined (in the army one moves up in rank).
Henslin draws a distinction between status and roles. Status refers to the
social positions_ that exist in society while Roles refer to "expected"
p a t t e r n s o f b e h a v i o r, o b l i g a t i o n s , a n d P r i v i l e g e s a t t a c h e d t o a p a r t i c u l a r
social status. Associated with each Role (or social position) are many
expectations concerning how a person Should behave.
E x p e c t a t i o n s a re l i ke n o r ms . Vi e w i n g l i f e s i mp l y i n t e r ms o f ro l e s t h a t
P e o p l e o c c u p y, o n e b e g i n s t o s e e a l l l i f e a s i f i t w e r e a s t a g e p l a y.
Shakespeare said in "as you like it":
