Structures

If you study social science or read a newspaper, you probably sometimes run into the expression structure. It’s a tricky term, because it can mean different things. The oldest meaning, has to do with buildings. A building’s structure is the pillars, beams, frame — the building's skeleton. It’s what keeps the whole of it together.

But when we talk about structures in society, then they are not made of steel and concrete, but of… What are they made of? There are several answers to that question. Just like the structure of a building is the framework that keeps it standing, we can say that a societal structure is the laws, rules, and authorities that make up the framework of society. A company’s structure, in this sense, is the organisation and policies. So, structure can roughly be said to mean: formal rules and organisation.

It’s something that we can study objectively. We can see and read the rules, and discuss what they mean. The next meaning of structure is a bit more descriptive. We can for example talk about an age structure, that describes how many people there are of each age, in a society and we can talk about the structure of a market, when we look at the pattern of companies that buy or sell things. This meaning of the word structure is less similar to the building structure.

Because now we are no longer talking about the frame that keeps something up, but rather about the form, order or pattern that we can observe from the outside. So, here structure means: a description of what components something consists of, and the relationship between those components. Then, we can also talk about structure to describe patterns in behaviour, thoughts, and values. Say most of the students in a school, believe it’s important that everyone feels good, and like to give each other support and praise. Then that pattern is a structure.

Or, if there is an unspoken agreement, a norm, that it’s more acceptable to interrupt and laugh when a girl is speaking than to do that when a boy is speaking. Then, that too is a structure. In this sense, structure is: a pattern in our values and behaviour. The people who are inside such a structure may not even be aware of it. Every behaviour, every comment, that someone makes, might be intended as a funny joke but the pattern that appears, of who and what the jokes are made about, is a structure, that might not be quite so funny.

If you hear someone talk about invisible structures, racist structures, or structural oppression, then they probably mean structure in this sense: a pattern in people’s behaviour and values. And this use of ‘structure’ is not just a neutral description of a pattern that one can observe from the outside. Because, when there is a pattern of some specific behaviour, then that influences our sense of what’s normal. And that which is ‘normal’ becomes the norm: that is, an unwritten rule. Structure in this sense, is close to the term culture.

So, structure can be: A framework that keeps something up, either made from steel and concrete or from rules and organisations. Structure as a framework. Structure can be: A description of what components something consists of and the relationship between those components. Structure as a description of a system. And structure can be: A pattern in values and behaviour, where the pattern itself, influences and strengthens precisely those values and behaviours.

Structure as culture. But wait a moment. Culture, that can also mean a lot of other things, can’t it? Yes, but let’s take that some other time.