Contemporary Social Structures - Essay Example

Social structures are also standards and behavior that each one expects of others and also follows them formally and informally. The formal social structures are those that each one follows in the course of his work or in affairs requiring official and authoritative sanctions. These may pertain to the person's requirement of such things as accommodation, health care issues, travel, etc. The informal social structures are those that are plainly behavioral in the way a person is expected to do things and carry out in society such as reacting with others or even in the way he exists in society. For instance, I may just walk down the road but I cannot glare at every other person I see on the road.
It is not easy to define contemporary social structures. This is because there are some social structures that are relative and cannot be enforced morally or legally. There are some social issues that are universally acceptable and nobody has any problem with them. For example, I may wake up every morning, brush my teeth and take my bath. Nobody has any problem whether I brush my teeth and have my bath. Nobody will question me if I do not do these either. So long as I am presentable and keep myself in good condition, it does not matter to anyone how I look and behave. It is only when I ignore myself to the extent that I start smelling bad that someone may take notice and draw my attention to my personality.
The population of vegetarians is growing and nobody is complaining. No one in society feels the need to counter the trend. There are many reasons such as health and religion in changing over to the vegetable diet. However, no one feels that it is necessary to question the person changing over to become vegetarian. Rather, society may look upon such person with a sense of awe. People may want to follow the footsteps of such a person who has become vegetarian (Chapter 1, Case Studies).
Behavioral tendencies
Society is made up of people who have different behavioral tendencies. Some are meek, some are bold, and most of the people are just plain average. However everybody has his own form of behavior and he expects society to accept it. Of course, he is expected to be reasonable and rational in his behavior. Society will not accept any questionable behavior. If it does, there is something wrong. There may be the exceptional case where it does accept such behavior. But it may not last long. Sooner or later, such behavior may have to be modified to suit society. In other words, what a person does must benefit society. If it does not benefit society, it must also not harm or create negative feelings. A person may be shy, but he is expected to answer reasonable questions (Chapter 4).
Crimes
There is also the extreme ...Show more