Transcript Social Institutions: Education, Politics, and the

(or social consequences of the trickle-down effect)
Social Insitutions: Education,
Politics, and the Economy
 Sociological perspectives on education
 Education: schools as formal organizations
 Government: Power and Authority
 Economic models
 Changing economies
Sociological Perspectives on
Education
 Education: process of learning in which some people
consciously teach while other adopt social role of
learner
 Number of people age 25 or over with a high school
diploma increased from 41% in 1960 to more than 86% in
2008
 Those with a college degree rose from 8% in 1960 to 29%
in 2008
Functionalist Perspectives on
Education
 Transmitting Culture
 Exposing each generation to existing beliefs, norms, and values
of their culture
 Promoting Social and Political Integration
 Common identity and social integration fostered by education
contribute to societal stability and consensus
 Maintaining Social Control
 Serving as an Agent of Change
 Sex education classes
 Affirmative action in admissions
 Project Head Start
Conflict Perspectives on Education
 Education is instrument of elite domination
 Schools socialize students into values dictated by the powerful,
stifle individualism and creativity, and promote relatively
insignificant change
 The Hidden Curriculum: standards of behavior deemed
proper by society are taught subtly in schools
 Credentialism: an increase in the lowest level of education needed
to enter a field
 Tracking: practice of placing students in specific
curriculum groups on basis of test scores and other
criteria
 Schools tend to preserve social class inequalities in each new generation
Feminist Perspectives on Education
 Sexism in:
 Stereotypes in textbooks
 Pressure to study traditional
women’s subjects
 Unequal funding for atheltics
 Employment of teachers
Interactionist Perspectives on
Education
 Labeling approach suggests that people
are treated in particular ways, they may fulfill
expectations
 Teacher-expectation effect: impact of teacher expectations
about a student’s performance may have on actual
achievements
Schools as Formal Organizations
 Schools do not operate automatically; they are
influenced by the market of potential students
 Especially true of private schools
 Bureaucratization of Schools
 Weber’s five characteristics of a bureaucracy
 Division of labor
 Hierarchy of authority
 Written rules and regulations
 Impersonality
 Employment based on technical qualifications
Teachers
 Teachers undergo many stresses
 Between a quarter and one-third of new teachers quit
within their first 5 years
 Fewer students choose teaching as career due to
perceived low income
 In 2008, average salary for public elementary and
secondary school teachers in US reported at $51,009
 Overall prestige of teaching has declined
 This suggests a larger trend of devaluing education in
the U.S.
Government: Power and Authority
 Politics: who gets what, when, and how
 Power: ability to exercise one’s will over others
 Force: actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one’s
political dissidents
 Influence: exercise of power through process of persuasion
 Authority: institutionalized power recognized by people over
whom it is exercised
 Weber ([1913] 1947) developed classification system for
authority



Traditional
Rational-legal
Charismatic
Types of Authority
 Traditional authority: legitimate power conferred
by custom and accepted practice
 Legal-rational authority: power made legitimate by
law
 Charismatic authority: power is made legitimate by
leader’s exceptional personal or emotional appeal to
his or her followers
Power-Elite Models
 Elite model: society ruled by small group of individuals
who share common set of political and economic
interests (Marx)
 Power elite: small ruling elite of military, industrial, and
governmental leaders (Mills)
 Power rests in hands of few, inside and outside of government
 Operates as self-conscious, cohesive unit
 Domhoff’s Model
 Stresses roles played by elites of corporate community and
leaders of policy-formation organizations
Power-Elite Models
 Pluralist Model: competing groups within a
community have access to government officials, so
no single group can dominate
 Variety of groups play significant roles in decision making
 Fails to address potential power of elites to keep matters
out of government debate
Economic Systems
 Economic system: social institution through which
goods and services are produced, distributed, and
consumed
 Capitalism: economic system in which means of
production are held largely in private hands
 Laissez-faire: businesses compete with minimal government
intervention
 Monopoly: exists when single firm controls the market
 Socialism: means of production and distribution owned
collectively rather than privately owned
 Communism: economic system under which all property is
communally owned and no social distinctions are made on basis
of people’s ability to produce
Changing Economies
 U.S. economy changing in part because it is increasingly
intertwined with global economy
 Microfinancing: lending small sums of money to poor so they
can work their way out of poverty

Kiva
 Sociologists and labor specialists foresee U.S. workforce
increasingly composed of women and racial and ethnic
minorities
 More diverse workforce means relationships between
workers are more likely to cross gender, racial, and ethnic
lines
 75 percent of businesses have instituted some type of cultural
diversity training program
Changing Economies
 Deindustrialization: systematic, widespread
withdrawal of investment in basic aspects of
productivity
 Downsizing: reductions taken in a company’s
workforce as part of deindustrialization
 Unemployment
 Affects micro and macro levels