Sociological Points of View on the Concept of Structure

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to compare three concepts of social structure which have been designed by A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, Claude Levi-Strauss, and Georges Gurvitch.Radcliffe-Brown has defined social structure as “the network of actually existing relations”, taking an empirical position to see social reality on its surface. In contrast to this view, Levi-Strauss has conceived of structure as a model, the formal property of which can be compared independently of its elements ; that is, he attempts to analyse structure at deeper level than empirical reality. However, these views run to extremes ; the former being too empirical and the latter too abstruct transcending the socio-cultural level.The real sociological standpoint should be that of empiricoideal or concrete-abstract as Gurvitch has assumed. Critisizing that Radcliffe-Brown's position is superficial and that of Levi-Strauss is systematic but not holistic, Gurvitch emphasizes the meaning of social whole itself besides the interaction of social elements. And he attempts to analyse the social reality in a dynamic way, saying that the essence must be seeked in its movement and depth.Accepting Gurvitch's basic stand, I suggests in these paper that structure must be conceived as a totality of both culturally and socially constructed structures.