social structure

[soh-shuhl struhk-cher]

noun

1. Sociology.

   1. the system or complex of beliefs held by members of a social group.

   2. the system of relations between the constituent groups of a society.

   3. the relationship between or the interrelated arrangement of the social institutions of a society or culture, as of mores, marriage customs, or family.

   4. the pattern of relationships, as of status or friendship, existing among the members of a group or society.

Word History and Origins

Origin of social structure¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

He examined the animals’ social structures and survival tactics.

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The law stipulates that under the "right to self-identity", settlements are entitled to protect and preserve their "social structure".

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Armajani’s unusual earthwork joined in: Embracing a legal, bureaucratic form, he pointed to land as a decidedly social structure.

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What astonished him was their complex social structure, and evidence of what he believed to be signs of altruism.

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The show’s thorough, wonderfully readable catalog refers to the power of “funerary magnificence” in the kingdom’s social structure.

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Related Words

• food chain 
• hierarchy 
• power structure