superstructure

1. A physical or conceptual structure extended or developed from a basic form.
2. The part of a building or other structure above the foundation.
3. The parts of a ship's structure above the main deck.
4. The rails, sleepers, and other parts of a railway.
5. In Marxist theory, the ideologies or institutions of a society as distinct from the basic processes and direct social relations of material production and economics.

Portion of a building that is above the ground.
Example: The office building had four basement levels and a 40-story superstructure built above ground level.

A structure constructed on or over another structure.

n. the parts of a ship, other than masts and rigging, built above its hull and main deck.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

According to Marx, the institutions of society; the legal and institutional forms of the social system. These include the state, the law, government and official power, and the body of moral, political, religious, and philosophical beliefs. Marx believed that changes in the economic base would lead to a transformation of the superstructure.

1. That part of a building or structure which is above the level of the adjoining ground or the level of the foundation.
2. Any structure built on something else, as a building on its foundation; that part of a structure which receives the live load directly.

All of that portion of a ship above the main deck. The decks are numbered up from the first deck above the main weather deck, the 01 level. Therefore the 05 level is five decks above the main weather deck. The bridge is located in the superstructure.

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For the Marxist theory of the base and superstructure of society, see Base and superstructure.

A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied both to physical structures like buildings, bridges or ships and to conceptual structures as well (e.g., in social sciences). The word superstructure is a combination of the word super (Latin for above, in addition) with the word structure (also from Latin, meaning to build or to heap up).

Contents 1 Engineering 1.1 Ships 2 Mathematics 3 Social sciences 4 Marxist concept 5 See also 6 References

Engineering

In order to improve seismic performance of buildings and bridges, a superstructure may be separated from its basement or footing, called here a substructure, with a system of earthquake protective devices called base isolation.

Ships

The RORO ferry Mega Smeralda. This is a good example of a ship with superstructure. The blue-striped white-painted structure that houses the promenade decks stretches across the full breadth of the vessel is the superstructure. The lower yellow-painted part of the ship is the hull.

As stated above, superstructure is a part of the ship which projects above the main deck. This would not include masts or gun turrets. Superstructure can have many implications on ships, as it can greatly alter its structural rigidity and a vessel’s displacement, which can be detrimental to a ship’s performance if considered incorrectly. The superstructure on a vessel also affects the amount of freeboard that a vessel requires. Very broadly, the more superstructure a ship has (as a fraction of length), the less freeboard is needed.

This section requires expansion.

Mathematics

In mathematical logic, if a structure A is a substructure of a structure B, then B is sometimes called an extension or superstructure of A.

Social sciences

In social sciences, superstructure is the set of socio-psychological feedback loops that maintain a coherent and meaningful structure in a given society, or part thereof. It can include the culture, institutions, power structures, roles, and rituals of the society. It is that which, through conditioned behaviors (both interpersonal and situational), enforces a set of constraints and guidelines on human activity in a stable and effective fashion, such that it engenders a society's characteristic organization, and it is that characteristic organization itself.

By most sociological schema, superstructure does not refer to the specific materials of an organization, such as a school or a store, but rather to the set of psychological or semantic configurations whereby that structure is rationalized and reproduced in human experience. That is, it is the "invisible force" behind or within the structure, or perhaps, it is the anthropocentric "reason" for the structure.

According to one sociological perspective, superstructure may be revealed by examining the direct interpersonal engagements that take place within canonical (typical) settings or situations, through the hermeneutic of sociobiology.

Marxist concept

Main article: Base and superstructure (Marxism)

Within Marxist social theory, superstructure is the particular form through which human subjectivity engages with the material substance of society.

See also

• ship
• freeboard
• infrastructure
• sociology
• structuralism and post-structuralism
• Michel Foucault
• Franz Jakubowski
• Gerald Cohen

References

• Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - overbygning

Nederlands (Dutch)
bouwwerk boven iets anders, bovendeks deel van schip, bouwwerk boven de fundering

Français (French)
n. - (Constr, Naut) superstructure

Deutsch (German)
n. - Überbau, Aufbau, Oberbau

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - εποικοδόμημα, υπερκατασκευή, υπερδομή, μεσόστεγο, ανωδομή, επίστεψη

Italiano (Italian)
sovrastruttura

Português (Portuguese)
n. - superestrutura (f)

Русский (Russian)
надстройка, пролет моста, верхнее строение (пути), судовые надстройки

Español (Spanish)
n. - superestructura

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - överbyggnad

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
上部构造, 上层建筑

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 上部構造, 上層建築

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 상부 구조물, 건축, 상층

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 上層建築, 上部構造

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) البنيه الفوقيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עילית, מבנה עליון, מבנה-על, רעיון/מושג המבוסס על רעיונות אחרים‬

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