Society and Culture Aims

Definition of structure

In the sociological sense, structure refers to entities that are in mutual contemporaneous

relationships and have enduring behaviour and joint dealings.

This enduring behaviour and relationships within society are intended for social groups and

practices, which are intermingled with one another, to shape the behaviour of  future

actions. In other words, “something made up of a number of parts that are held or put together in a particular way could be seen as a hierarchical social structure.” (Answers.com (2008):

http://www.answers.com/structure

In the context of sociological studies, it is seen that structure refers to the way humans bond with each other and form a composite form of society and collective actions. These actions may be good or bad, based upon contextual reasoning and needs to function within the framework of socially recognized norms and strictures. Any action that transgresses, or violates social mores and traditions is sought out and punished, depending upon the magnitude of the occurrence and other relevant factors that impinge upon it. Moreover, it is also seen that society as a whole is combined together by a variety of social groups, or cliques, brought about by cohesion of languages, religions , occupations, etc. 

Definition of agency:

 This could be said to be the capacity of the human beings to affect choices between alternatives, and to exercise and to impose those choices on society. It is normally contrasted to common forces, which are causes involving only spontaneous processes. Human agencies envisages the apparent claims that humans do, in fact, make decisions and endorse them on  How humans come to make decisions, by free choice or other processes, is another issue.(Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/human+agency+?cat=biz-fin )

 How does structure explain crime?

Individualised human behaviour is a complex and intricate process of the human mind and behaviour, although aspects of group behaviours patterns could be predicted with reasonable degree of certainly and accuracy. The mental buildup and behaviorism of criminal thoughts and actions could offer analysis on its workings. It has earlier been explained that structure deals with the grouping, or collective mass of homogeneous or, even heterogeneous matters to form a social structure or arrangement. In the criminal settings, a prison, or a penitentiary may serve to act as a social structure, group or setting.