Free Sociology resources

Structuralism (or macro theories) is the school of thought that human behaviour must be understood in the context of the social system – or structure – in which they exist. People are not just independent actors making independent decisions, they are the product of the social conditions in which they live. Marxists, for example, think that institutions, culture, ideas (what they term the superstructure) cannot be understood separately from the basic social class interests of capitalist society. These ideas are sometimes criticised as being deterministic.