But this is not to imply that there is no predictiveness. For instance, our theory may predict that of those 18 to 29 years of age with less than 4 years of college experience, highly religious Catholics are twice as likely as weakly religious Protestants to oppose abortion. Human nature is active and purposive, seeking goals and self-improvement. People act in response to the inferred meanings of others' acts People act in response to the expectations for the roles they occupy. Social Psychology in the 80s .
All knowledge is perspectival and hence is metaphoric .
The abstractions we take will order our experiences, which is why so much attention is given in introductory textbooks to the various theories of the discipline. Metaphorically, society can be likened to the Great Barrier Reef, wherein individuals find their niches and continue to contribute to the residues left by previous generations. From this perspective, societies' evolution is like that of animals, with increasing complexity over time. And society, like each creature, goes through a distinctive life-cycle of change and old age, when its responses toward novel situations slow as bureaucracies proliferate and expand, clogging the flow of vital energy just as atherosclerosis clogs the blood vessels impeding the flow of blood. Social structure involves the enduring patterns of behavior and networks of relationships , such as dyads, organizations, and family systems.