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Sociology Unit 5: Social institutions

Social institutions like family, education, religion, the economy and government meet society's basic needs.

Covers: Family, education, religion, the economy and work, politics and government, health and medicine

Study guide

Social institutions are lasting structures that meet basic social needs. The family socializes children, regulates sexual activity, and provides economic and emotional support. Families can be nuclear (parents and children) or extended (including other relatives). Marriage patterns include monogamy and polygamy, and residence can be patrilocal, matrilocal or neolocal. Functionalists stress the family's role in stability, conflict theorists see it as reproducing inequality, and feminists focus on unequal household labor. Trends in many countries include later marriage, more cohabitation, single-parent households and blended families.

Education passes on knowledge and skills. Functionalists see manifest functions like teaching and latent functions like child care. Conflict theorists point to the hidden curriculum, which teaches obedience and conformity, and to tracking, which sorts students into ability groups and can reproduce inequality. Unequal school funding and cultural capital also affect outcomes. Religion, which Durkheim defined as beliefs and practices related to the sacred, unites people and provides meaning; Marx called it 'the opiate of the people,' and Weber linked the Protestant ethic to the rise of capitalism. Secularization is the declining influence of religion, though religion remains strong in many places.

The economy produces and distributes goods. Capitalism relies on private ownership and markets; socialism uses collective ownership and state planning. Many economies are mixed. Postindustrial economies center on services and information, with a dual labor market of good primary-sector jobs and insecure secondary-sector jobs, and the rise of the gig economy. Politics involves power, which Weber defined as the ability to achieve goals despite resistance, and authority, which is legitimate power. Political systems include monarchy, democracy, authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Health and medicine reflect inequality too: social epidemiology studies how health varies by class, race and gender, and Talcott Parsons described the sick role.

An ecclesia is a state-sponsored religion that most citizens belong to. A church or denomination is a large, established and widely accepted religious body. A sect breaks away from a larger group to restore what it sees as the true faith and stands apart from society. A cult or new religious movement is a newer group with novel beliefs, often led by a charismatic leader. Liberation theology uses religious teaching to fight poverty and social injustice, especially in Latin America. Civil religion is a quasi-religious loyalty to the nation, shown in flags, pledges and national rituals.

Polygamy includes polygyny (one husband, several wives) and polyandry (one wife, several husbands). Descent can be traced through both parents (bilateral), the father only (patrilineal) or the mother only (matrilineal). Weber identified traditional authority based on custom (like a monarch), charismatic authority based on a leader's extraordinary personal appeal, and rational-legal authority based on written rules and offices (like an elected official in a bureaucracy).

Key ideas

• Institutions meet society's basic needs.
• Family structures and trends are changing.
• Schools teach a hidden curriculum and can reproduce inequality through tracking.
• Durkheim, Marx and Weber viewed religion differently.
• Power is the ability to achieve goals; authority is legitimate power.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Confusing power (any ability to get your way) with authority (power seen as legitimate).
• Thinking secularization means religion disappears; its influence declines unevenly.

Words to know

Social institution

A lasting structure that meets basic social needs.

Nuclear family

Parents and their children.

Extended family

A family including relatives beyond parents and children.

Monogamy

Marriage to one partner.

Polygamy

Marriage to more than one partner.

Neolocal residence

Married couples living apart from both families.

Blended family

A family including children from previous relationships.

Hidden curriculum

Unspoken lessons schools teach, like obedience.

Tracking

Sorting students into groups by ability.

Cultural capital

Knowledge and skills that give social advantages.

Sacred

Things set apart and treated with reverence.

Profane

Ordinary, everyday things.

Protestant ethic

Weber's idea that Protestant values encouraged capitalism.

Secularization

The declining influence of religion.

Capitalism

Economic system based on private ownership and markets.

Socialism

Economic system based on collective ownership.

Gig economy

Work made of short-term, freelance jobs.

Power

The ability to achieve goals despite resistance.

Authority

Power seen as legitimate.

Sick role

Parsons's expectations for how sick people should behave.

Sample practice questions

5 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.