Constructions of Social Structure on the Basis of Social Processes

It is gratifying, that in the past couple of years there are more and more papers dealing with the results of research on social structure, and that this discourse keeps getting wider. A variety of approaches has surfaced, fueling debates about social structure. An example of that was the debate between Ákos Huszár and Márk Áron Éber concerning the questions of class and class structure. The present paper aims to give a critical evaluation of the authors’ approaches, to highlight both the strengths and weaknesses. It needs to be stressed, that this debate was a result of a not sufficiently systematic usage of various basic concepts and classifications. The author of this paper agrees with Márk Áron Éber in his judgement, that Ákos Huszár’s model of social structure is (despite its claims) not a class-based but a stratum-group based model. In the same time, we fully agree with Ákos Huszár’s statement, that the two approaches of social structure (class theory and research on social stratification) are not in an antagonistic relationship. Based on this, it is not reasonable to suggest, as Éber did, that structure theory is concerned the more theoretical question: “How does society work?”, while the other approach is concerned only with the empirical question: “How is society segmented?”

Released: Replika 98, 143–153.