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Martin Gbadago (talk) 23:45, 24 April 2018 (UTC) == Features of Traditional and Modern Ghanaian Social Structures. By: Martin Gbadago (Student,University of Cape Coast) ==To better understand human behavior, we need to understand social structure, the framework of society that was laid out before you were born (Henslin, 2006, p.71). Social structure refers to the typical patterns of a group, such as its usual relationship between men and women or students and teachers. The sociological significance of social structure is that it guides our behavior. People learn certain behaviors and attitudes because of their location in the social structure (whether they be privileged, deprived or in between) and they act accordingly. This is usually true of street people and ourselves. Social structure so crucially affect who we are and what we are like (Henslin, 2006). As such, its major components include culture, social class, social status, roles, groups, social institutions and societies. Ghanaian society has certain features of both traditional and modern social structures and these features are however explained in the subsequent paragraphs. Traditional social structure or society refers to a society characterized by an orientation to the past, not the future with a predominant role for custom and habit. Such societies are marked by a lack of distinction between family and business, with the division of labor influenced primarily by age, gender, and status. The main features of traditional Ghanaian social structure or society are discussed below.

To begin with, close social interaction with the members of the society is a feature identified with traditional Ghanaian society. People in traditional society have face to face interaction with one another in same neighborhood of the community. They visit their friends, have discussions together and share the same sentiments and aspirations. This provides some sense of security for the people and also leads to interdependency on one another in the Ghanaian traditional society. Base on this, there is no anonymity and social vices can easily be detected and dealt with accordingly Secondly, traditional Ghanaian society or social structure has a relatively smaller population size or density. A sizeable proportion of the population resides in the rural areas where the influences of modernity is being felt or experienced to a greater extent. The 2010 population and housing census, for instance, peg the rural urban distribution of the country’s population at 49.1 percent against 50.9 percent. The constant migration of migration of the people from the rural areas to the urban centers also means that they come to these urban centers with their beliefs custom and their way of life.

In addition, one of the features of Ghanaian traditional social structure is that education was informal. In the Ghanaian traditional society informal education was the norm. Non-literary initiation schools existed where boys and girls were taught adult roles and moral codes of behavior expected of mature members of the community. Sex life in marriage was an important aspect of the informal education. An example is the Dipo, an initiation rite performed by the Krobo people of Ghana. Socialization, of course, was the main framework of learning. Nuclear family, extended family, peer groups the clan and the wider community were accepted agents of socialization in the Ghanaian traditional social structure or society. Also, protection of religious and cultural values is a feature with Ghanaian traditional society. Ghanaian traditional social structure is characterized by practices whose legitimacy derives from beliefs that have always existed. People in Ghanaian traditional societies also have distinct ways of thinking, behaving and or acting which have been in existence for a long time. It denotes cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs and institutions. Despite the influences of modernity and globalization, our ways of thinking, acting and behaving as Ghanaians can be said to be influenced to some extent by our traditional norms, values and belief systems. The Ghanaian can therefore not separate himself or herself entirely from their tradition.

The final feature of Ghanaian traditional social structure, as far as this work is concerned, is that there was a sense of collectivity rather than individuality. Members of a community in the traditional Ghanaian societies usually see themselves as being one people. As such, they share certain values, beliefs and aspirations together. It is on this dimension that there was a collective ownership of properties rather than individual ownership. For instance, lands belonging to a clan o Br an extended family are owned collectively by all members of that clan or family. Again, in the Agave State of the South Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana, for example, the “Tsialawo” Clan owned the lands.

Modern social structure or society on the other side, is conceptualized as “the specific sum of the large-scale social, economic, political and cultural changes that have characterized world history in the past 200 years and that originate from the multifaceted revolutions (economic, social, political, cultural) of the second half of the eighteenth century”(Martinelli, 2005, p.8). Accordingly, modernity of individual societies is evaluated in term of their ability to change. Again, modernization is a special form of development, the essence of which is the transition from tradition to modern society (Fedotova, 2008, p.74). However, sociologists and futurists point to different newest features of modern social structure which can also be identified with the Ghanaian modern society. These features are vividly explained in the subsequent paragraphs. One of the features of the Ghanaian modern social structure is that there is a sense of individuality. Contrary to the Ghanaian traditional society, people in the modern Ghanaian society such as people living in the cities of Accra and Kumasi, believe in individualism where people mind their own business. They mostly take decisions on their own without consulting family and friends. Ghanaian modern society is highly differentiated and specialized with respect to individual activities and institutional structures. Here, there is a difference between family relationship and business relationship unlike the traditional Ghanaian social structure where distinction cannot be drawn between family and business relationships.

Secondly, there is democratization in the Ghanaian modern social structure. Since the inception of the fourth republican constitution of Ghana in the year 1992, Ghana has over the years practiced and is still practicing democratic governance. The democracy in the Ghanaian modern society involves a political system characterized by free elections, independent judiciary rule of law, and respect for human rights, separation of power and checks and balances. Individuals in the modern Ghanaian society exercise their franchise during general elections.

Additionally, industrialization and advanced and effective technology is a feature of the modern Ghanaian society. As modernity has catches-up with Ghanaian society, the primitive ways of production and doing things are being eroded and replaced with advanced and innovative ways of production solving problems. Industrialization has been on the increase in the modern Ghanaian society simple implements such as hoes and cutlasses which were being used in agricultural production are now being replaced with sophisticated and high level farm machines such as tractors and combined harvesters. Also, effective means of transportation are available. Automobiles as well as tarred roads and airplanes are now available for fast and effective movement people and goods from one part of the country to another. These are in line with the increasing diffusion of modernization from the western world.

Furthermore, transition from small scale production to large scale economic production has been identified with the modern Ghanaian society or social structure. Economic production in the modern Ghanaian society is done on a large scale where the surpluses are usually sold on the global market. The large scale production is due to new and advanced technology that is available as a result of diffusion of innovation for that matter modernity from the western world. Financial institutions are also available to regulate the financial economy in the modern Ghanaian society. All these features make it possible large scale economic production in the Ghanaian modern social structure or society.

Finally, bureaucratization of social institutions characterized the modern Ghanaian social structure. Bureaucratization, a form of rationalization which involves the calculated organization and subordination of human beings in the interest of impersonal technical goal, exists in the modern Ghanaian society. For example one can talk about bureaucratization process of education by looking at the traditional form of education before colonization of Ghana, was largely informal and very impersonal. Western or formal education in the modern Ghanaian society is largely bureaucratized where we have the headmaster, Teachers and stakeholders are bound by rules and regulations governing the work they do.

All in all, social structure in general and particular in the case of Ghana is a complex concept which is very crucial in our understanding human behavior and group life in Ghanaian settings. Social structure of Ghana, both traditional and modern types with their features are very important in knowing the traditions and modern lives of the people in order to broadening our understanding of why people behave the way they do and also to appreciate their way of life. Social structure, however, guides us to know how best to implement policies geared towards improving the lifestyles of the people of Ghana. As such, the various features of traditional and modern Ghanaian society are comprehensively explained above.

By: Martin Gbadago Student, University of Cape Coast,Ghana B.A. (Social Sciences) Contact info:+233545535268/+233208467464/+233560796646 Email: gbadagomartin05@gmail.com

REFERENCES: Henslin, J.M (2006). Essentials of sociology: a down to earth approach (6th Ed.). USA: Allyn & Bacon. Assimeng, M. (1999). Social structure of Ghana. Accra: Ghana Publishing Corporation. Nukunya, G. K. (2003). Tradition and change in Ghana: An introduction to sociology. Accra: Ghana University Press. Hiadzi, R. A. Traditional Ghanaian social institutions: Overview of the course. Retrieved Monday 19th February, 2018 from http://godsonug.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/section1223.pdf Traditional society meaning and characteristics in sociology. Retrieved Monday 19th February, 2018 from www.studylecturenotes.com Yuriy B. Savelyev. Multidimensional Modernity: Essential Features of Modern Society in Sociological Discourse. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 11 (2013 6) 1673-1691