Social Research Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Home
Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2012-24, Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for additions or amendments.
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Superstructure
Superstructure is a term used mainly in Marxist analysis to refer to the institutions and practices that sustain and legitimate the existing social order embodied in the infrastructural relations of production.
The legal system, schools, media, armed forces, etc. are all part of the superstructure.
A general term used in sociocultural materialism to refer to the symbolic universe--the shared meanings, ideas, beliefs, values, and ideologies that people give to the physical and social world. The superstructure, of course, can be divided into cultural and mental components
See also
Researching the Real World Section 2.4.1.1
Critical Social Research Section 2.2
Elwell's Glossary of Sociology, undated, available at http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/frank.elwell/prob3/glossary/socgloss.htm, ©Frank Elwell, last updated January 1998, page not available 20 December 2016.
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