chapter 6

Question 1

premodern thought

Answer 1

a belief in supernatural sources of truth and a commitment to traditional practices

Question 2

traditional authority

Answer 2

when a person or organization has power or influence derived from long-standing customs, beliefs, or traditions.

Question 3

nation-states

Answer 3

large territories governed by centralized powers that grant or deny citizenship rights

Question 4

Modern thought

Answer 4

a belief in science as the sole source of truth and the idea that humans can rationally organize societies and improve human life

Question 5

Rationalization

Answer 5

Weber: the process of embracing reason and using it to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of human activities

Question 6

rational-legal authority

Answer 6

a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy and bureaucracy.

Question 7

Social organizations

Answer 7

formal entities that coordinate collections of people in achieving a stated purpose

Question 8

Divisions of labor

Answer 8

complicated tasks broken down into smaller parts and distributed to individuals who specialize in narrow roles

Question 9

Bureaucracies

Answer 9

Weber: organizations with formal policies, strict hierarchies, and impersonal relations

Question 10

Postmodern thought

Answer 10

a rejection of absolute truth (whether supernatural or scientific) in favor of countless partial truths, and a denunciation of the narrative of progress

Question 11

Gig work

Answer 11

a segment of the labor market in which companies contract with individuals to complete one short-term job at a time
example: uber

Question 12

Social institutions

Answer 12

widespread and enduring patterns of interaction with which we respond to categories of human need
example: health and religion.

Question 13

health: social institution

Answer 13

The institution rests on the idea that we should be able to live without illness, injury, or pain to the greatest degree possible.

Question 14

religion: social institution

Answer 14

It involves formal doctrine, strict hierarchies of religious authority, and a clear and relatively rigid division of labor.

Question 15

Ideologies

Answer 15

shared ideas about how human life should be organized

Question 16

Social structure

Answer 16

the entire set of interlocking social institutions in which we live

Question 17

Structural position

Answer 17

the features of our lives that determine our mix of opportunities and constraints
example: Basketball for jewish and africanamericans

Question 18

who created types of suicides?

Answer 18

Durkheim

Question 19

egoistic suicide:

Answer 19

social institutions fail to ensure social cohesion and people are left isolated from their social group
Absence of social integration, excessive self-reliance

Question 20

altruistic suicide:

Answer 20

people are socialized to identify with the group instead of the self and
may choose to sacrifice themselves for it
Exclusive social integration

Question 21

Fatalistic suicide:

Answer 21

excessive social regulation
People are overly regulated

Question 22

Institutional discrimination

Answer 22

widespread and enduring practices that persistently disadvantage some kinds of people while advantaging others