able of Contents Social Structure by Lopez, Jose; Scott, John Terms of Use 1 What is Social Structure? p. 1 2 Conceptualizing Social Structure p. 7 'Structure' before 'social structure' p. 7 Spencer and the social organism p. 11 Durkheim: relationships and representations p. 13 3 Institutional Structure p. 19 The cultural background p. 21 The virtual order of social institutions p. 22 Institutions rediscovered p. 27 Social positions and roles p. 29 Conformity, power and contradictions p. 31 The case of medical practice p. 36 The case of kinship and marriage p. 38 Transnational and post-colonial challenges p. 40 4 Relational Structure p. 43 Relational structure in anthropology p. 44 Social structure as relational forms p. 48 Social structures as social networks p. 57 The case of urban conflicts and class conflicts p. 61 The case of world systems p. 63 5 Levels of Structure p. 66 Base and superstructure p. 67 Systems and subsystems p. 75 Habermas: a partial synthesis? p. 80 Fields and the organization of space p. 82 6 Embodied Structure p. 89 Sociology and the body p. 90 Rules, procedures and structures p. 93 Bodies, powers and structures p. 98 Habitus, fields and structures p. 100 Notes p. 108 Bibliography p. 114 Index p. 129 Descriptive content provided by Syndetics"! a Bowker service. Summary Social Structure by Lopez, Jose; Scott, John Terms of use Lopez (U. of Nottingham, UK) and Scott (U. of Essex, UK, and U. of Bergen, Norway), writing for undergraduate courses in sociology, social anthropology, and the history and philosophy of social thought, provide their take on the general disagreement over how to define social structure. They argue that analyzing the conceptual frameworks in which different definitions of social structure are embedded can help clarify meanings and reshape debate. They show that competing conceptions of social structure can be seen as significant but different aspects of the larger reality of social organization. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Descriptive content provided by Syndetics"! a Bowker service.