Social structure and personality consists of three core concepts: social structure, the interactional relationship between individuals and social conditions within a social system; personality, an individual’s cognitive characteristics including values and beliefs; and culture, a collection of values that are shared between members of a society about perceived social expectations. Within the Social Structures and Personality theory, there are also three key principles: the components principle, the proximity principle, and the psychology principle. The components principle is taking into consideration specific elements of society that greatly influence a certain thought or behaviour. The proximity principle is when an individual’s interpersonal interaction with society occurs primarily in an individual’s immediate environment; and the psychology principle is considering the different process of internalization that occurs based on each person’s motives, beliefs, and …show more content…
Kohn summarizes this thought by stating: “Social stratification affects people much more frontally than merely how they think they rank” (Kohn, 1989). The point being conveyed is that regardless of an individual’s perception of, for example, their socioeconomic status, the net income and additional benefits associated with their profession will contribute to their socioeconomic ranking within