SOCIAL STRUCTURE

You may have close friends or an intimate social circle, but on the grand scale, you belong to society. You are but one node in a complex web of human relationships.

Your daily life is influenced by social institutions like your family, the government, and the healthcare system. You also exist within a culture - the set of collective beliefs and experiences you share with others.

Sociological theories that describe social structure include Marxist conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and others.

All these macroscopic social factors affect your health and that of your patients.