Definition of "social structure" [social structure]

• The people in a society considered as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "The social structure in which the innovation of pump-well irrigation was introduced in Bangladesh and Pakistan, rather than the innovation itself, determined the distribution of its socioeconomic impacts."
• "The well-developed social structure in such a system consists of hierarchial positions, giving individuals in higher-ranked positions the right to issue orders to individuals of lower rank."
• "System-level variables, especially if they involve changing the social structure of a system, may indeed be difficult to alter."