Transcript Institutions summary

PART 4 : Social
Institutions
Dr. Sadaf Sajjad
Social Institutions


A social institution is an important human
organization in a culture group that helps a
society to survive.
Sociologists have identified government,
religion, education , economy and family

as the five basic social institutions that are
necessary for a society to survive
An easy way to remember the social institutions
is by using the initials GREEF
• a group of social positions, connected
by social relations, performing a
social
role.
• also defined in a narrow sense
as any institution in a society
that works to socialize the groups
of people in it.
Common Examples of Social
Institution:
*Universities, governments, families, and any
people
or groups that you have social
interactions with.
Social Institutions
Categories:
1.Community
2.Community Service Organizations
3.Educational Institutions
4.Ethnic or Cultural Groups
5.Extended Family Families and Households
6.Governments and Legal Institutions
7.Health Care Institutions
8.Intellectual and Cultural Organizations Market
Institutions 9.Political and Non Government
Organizations
10.Religious Organizations
Institute of Families
Traditional Definition of Family

Social unit of people related through
marriage, birth, or adoption who reside
together in sanctioned relationships,
engage in economic cooperation, socially
approved relations, and reproduction and
child rearing.
Extended and Nuclear Families


Extended families are the whole network of
parents, children, and other relatives who form a
family unit.
 Extended families are common among the
urban poor because they develop a
cooperative system of social and economic
support.
The nuclear family is comprised of one married
couple residing together with their children.
Theoretical Perspectives on
Families
Functionalism
Meet the need to socialize
children and reproduce
new members.
Conflict Theory Reinforce and support
power relations in society.
Theoretical Perspectives on
Families
Feminist
Theory
Reflect the gender
hierarchies in society.
Symbolic
Interaction
Emerge so people can
meet basic needs and
develop relationships.
Diversity Among Families



Families today are smaller with fewer
births that are more closely spaced.
Childbearing and child rearing now occupy
a smaller fraction of the adult life of
parents.
Death has been replaced by divorce as the
major cause of early family disruption.
Diversity Among Families


Married couples make up a smaller
proportion of households.
Single parent households, postchildbearing couples, and those without
children are increasingly common.
Marriage



The values of partners, as well as the roles they
play, influence their experience of marriage.
Among couples where both partners are
employed, only 28% share the housework
equally.
With the arrival of the first child, women
increase their housework and lessen their
employment.
Marriage




African American husbands provide a greater
share of housework than White husbands.
Latino households have more diversity in gender
roles than stereotypes about machismo would
lead us to believe.
2/3 of women say the amount of work they have
to get done during the day is a cause of stress.
1/2 say that they feel resentment about how
little their mate helps around the house and
about their lack of free time.
Divorce




The United States leads the world in the number
of people who divorce.
More than sixteen million people have divorced
but not remarried in the population today.
Since 1960, the rate of divorce has more than
doubled, although it has declined recently since
its all-time high in 1980.
The marriage rate is 8.4 marriages per 1000
people and the divorce rate, 4.0 per 1000
people.’
Families and Globalization


Changes at the global level are producing
transnational families, families where at
least one parent lives and works in a
different nation than the children.
Patterns of migration, war, and economic
development have a profound effect on
the social structure of families.
Families and Social Policy


The family is often blamed for many social
problems the nation experiences.
Social policies designed to assist families
should recognize the diversity of family
forms and needs and the interdependence
of the family with other social conditions
and social institutions.
The Institution of Education
Inside the Schools



Schools from an organization point of
view…effects of school size
Curriculum expresses culture…whose
culture?
Tracking in public schools, rarely in private
schools
Teacher Behavior



1000 interpersonal contacts each day
Instructor, disciplinarian, bureaucrat,
employer, friend, confidant, educator…can
lead to “role strain”
Difference of teacher expectations for
different students…based on what?
Student Peer Groups and
Alienation




Students in vocational programs and headed
toward low-status jobs most likely to join a
rebellious subculture
Average 12 year old has seen 18,000 television
murders
Four major types of college students: careerists,
intellectuals, strivers, unconnected
Schools are far more than collections of
individuals; they develop cultures, traditions,
and restraints that profoundly influence those in
them
Education

Education is defined as the social institution guiding a society’s
transmission of knowledge — to its members.
•
•
•

Basic facts
job skills
Cultural norms and values
Education is one aspect of the many-sided process of socialization by
which people acquire behaviors essential for effective participation
in society.
•
As schools grew larger, they became bureaucratized



standardized and routinized,
formal operating and administrative procedures
Successful schools foster expectations that order will prevail
and that learning is a serious matter.
22
23
The Instituition of Health,
Illness and Aging
Sociological Perspectives on Health






From a sociological point of view, factors contribute to
the evaluation of a person as ‘healthy’ or ‘sick’. »
(Schaefer & Smith, 2004).
Because health is relative, we can view it in a social
context and consider how it varies in different situations
or cultures.
Functionalist Approach
Interactionist Approach
Conflict Approach
Feminist Approaches
Public Health Efforts and their
Impact on Death and Disease



Doctors treat "patients"; public health officers treat
communities and societies.
People tend to consider new medical
"breakthroughs" in contributing to reductions in
mortality and morbidity.
However, public health and "social hygiene" efforts
have contributed far more to health than have
medical measures:

Nowadays, most deaths are due to the three major
chronic conditions: heart disease, cancer and stroke.


The Organization of
Healthcare
Healthcare services serve two functions:
Direct service functions, and supportive
functions
Direct Service:



Individual, patient-based care
Community-based care
Finance functions:






Finance
Suppliers
Regulation
Representation
Research
Consulting
Social and Cultural Impacts on
Health

One's position in a social structure
influences one's health in numerous ways.





Gender
Socioeconomic status
Occupation
Race and ethnicity
Age
Social Aspects of Aging:
Psychosocial, Retirement,
Relationship, and Societal
Issues
Life extension and successful aging


Science suggests an influence through
exercise, diet, sleep, and genetics
Growing evidence to suggest that
psychological and sociological factors also
influence how an individual ages
Why Do People Retire?

Today, more people retire by choice than
for any other reason.



Most people retire when they feel they are
financially secure.
Some people retire when physical health
problems interfere with work.
People with jobs that are physically
demanding tend to retire earlier.
Keeping Busy in Retirement



Organizations for retirees such as the
AARP have increased the availability of
activities and interests among the retired.
Retirees volunteer and find ways to
provide service to others.
Volunteering supports a personal sense of
purpose.
Friends & Family in Late Life




As we care for our parents, we teach your
children to care for us.
As we see our parents age, we learn to
age with courage and dignity.
If the years are handled well, the old and
young can help each other grow.
Unfortunately, we tend to segregate our
age groups
The Institution of
Economy, Work, Politics
and Media IN SOciology.
The Economy
The social institution that organizes a society’s
production, distribution, and consumption of goods
and services




The economy operates in a predictable
manner.
Goods: Commodities ranging from necessities
to luxury items
Services: Activities that benefit others
The economies of modern high-income
nations are the result of centuries of social
change.
Agricultural Revolution


The earliest societies were hunters and
gatherers with no distinct economy.
Four factors that made the economy a distinct
social institution:

Agricultural technology

Job specialization

Permanent settlements and trade
The Industrial Revolution



New sources of energies
 Steam-fueled machine operation
Centralization of work in factories
 Impersonal factories replaced cottage
industries.
Manufacturing and mass production
 Turning raw materials into a wide range of
products
The Industrial Revolution

Specialization


Diverse division of labor and lower overall
skill requirements
Wage labor

Working for strangers with intense
supervision
Sectors of the Economy

Primary sector


Secondary sector


Generates raw materials from the environment
Transforms raw materials into manufactured goods
Tertiary sector

Generates services rather than goods
Capitalism (west)
An economic system in which natural resources and
the means of producing goods and services are
privately owned


“Justice” in a capitalist system amounts to
marketplace freedom.
Three distinct features:

Private ownership of property

Pursuit of personal profit

Competition and consumer choice
Socialism (china)
An economic system in which natural resources
and the means of producing goods and services
are collectively owned


“Justice” in a socialist context means meeting
everyone’s basic needs in a roughly equal
manner.
Three distinct features:



Collective ownership of property
Pursuit of collective goals
Government control of the economy
Alternative Systems



Communism–A hypothetical economic ad political
system in which all members of a society are socially
equal (involving political system based on socialism)
Russia.
Welfare capitalism (welfare states)–An economic and
political system that combines a mostly marketbased economy with extensive social welfare
programs
State capitalism (present china)–An economic and
political system in which companies are privately
owned but cooperate closely with the government
WORK and Professions
Prestigious white-collar occupations that require
extensive formal education




Theoretical knowledge
Self-regulated practice
Authority over clients
Orientation to community rather than selfinterest
POLITICS
Power and authority


Power is the ability to impose one’s
beliefs or interests upon others,
even in the face of resistance.
Authority is the legitimate use of
power.
44
Characteristics of a state




Organized government
Territory
Legal system
Military force
Institute of RELIGION
46
Religion
religions is a universal found in every culture.
Religion was defined by Emile Durkheim as a “unified
system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things”
 Durkheim stressed the social impact of religion

• Interested in religious
behavior within a
social context
47
Sociologically speaking, what is
religion?
A social institution that develops in history and relates in some
way to the supernatural, religion is a group phenomenon that
is concerned with responses to existential questions (i.e big
questions!).
These questions are mediated by class, gender and age and
along with the responses, are expressed in a body of beliefs,
celebrated in a set of practices / rites, and advocate certain
behavior (moral codes).
48
Table : Sociological Perspectives on
Religion
49
New Religious Movements
or Cults
█
New Religious Movement (NRM):
Small, secretive religious groups that
represent either a new religion or a
major innovation of an existing faith
– Similar to sects
– Tend to be small
– Viewed as less respectable than more
established faiths
50
Major religions of the world
• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Chinese Syncretism
• Nonreligion
51
What is the function of the religious
social institution?
• Promotion of social order
•
Central mechanism for social control over
behavior of people
52
Defining Religion
1.
2.
3.
Religion is institutionalized.
Religion is a feature of groups.
Religions are based on beliefs that
are considered sacred, as
distinguished from profane.
Defining Religion
4.
5.
6.
Religion establishes values for
behavior.
Religion establishes norms for
behavior.
Religion provides answers to
questions of ultimate meaning.
Exclusive and Inclusive Religious
Groups


Exclusive religious groups have an easily
identifiable religion and culture, including
distinctive beliefs and strong moral
teachings.
Inclusive religious groups have a more
moderate and liberal religious orientation.
THANKYOU
56