Social structures, social change and the metric/nonmetric distinction

Abstract

This paper examines how the concepts of social structure and social change are interpreted in sociological theory today. Social structures are commonly defined in opposition with agency and accordingly as constraints on action. Concomitantly, social change is understood as emancipation or the removal of such constraint through the exercise of agency (and for it). Against this common understanding, the paper develops an alternative approach so as first to articulate a more sophisticated model of social change, one that does not boil to an over‐dramatic opposition between constraint and release from constraint, and second to distinguish between different types of social structures, metric and nonmetric, thereby making room for a variety of social changes depending on how structures interact with other structures.

Quantitative Evaluation of Eco-Environmental Protection Policy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: A PMC-Index Model Approach

“…Furthermore, the critical role of social organisations has been overlooked in implementing the programme. Social organisations constitute the cornerstone and backbone of the social structure; therefore, it is necessary to include them in planning during policy formulation [41]. The suggested path for optimising the metrics is X 2 -X 7 -X 6 .…”

Barriers and enablers of 1.5° lifestyles: Shallow and deep structural factors shaping the potential for sustainable consumption

“…Researchers as well as practitioners tend to use the term "structure" in a broad variety of ways. Common language often conceives of structures as "order" and thus the opposite of "chaos, " whereas, in academic definitions, a structure is often associated with and opposed to agency or agential action (e.g., Hayward and Lukes, 2008;Powell, 2013;Guy, 2022). This resonates with the common language term insofar as structures work in powerful ways to limit agency and order behavior.…”

“…Structure is a rather blurry concept used in a myriad of ways in the literature. While social structures are commonly defined in opposition with agency and accordingly as constraints on action and on social change, this strict opposition has been challenged (e.g., Guy, 2022). The focus of this paper, thus, is not on-possibly unresolvable-theoretical debates on structure vs. agency but on reducing the blurriness of the concept by systematizing structural factors that may hinder or enable change to make them more tangible for climate governance and transformations toward 1.5 • lifestyles, compatible with the targets of the Paris Agreement.…”