Social Institutions Flashcards
An organized sphere of social life, or societal subsystem, designed to meet human needs
Social institution
Six major social institutions:
- Family
- Religion
- Economy
- Medicine
- Politics
- Education
A social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including any children
Family
A social institution involving beliefs and practices based on recognizing the sacred
Religion
A legal relationship, usually involving economic cooperation, sexual activity, and childbearing
Marriage
A religious organization that is largely outside a society’s cultural traditions
Cult
The system by which members of a society trace kinship generations
Descent
A conservative religious doctrine that opposes intellectualism and worldly accommodation in favor of restoring traditional, otherworldly religion
Fundamentalism
The sharing on a household by an unmarried couple
Cohabitation
The ability to achieve desired ends despite resistance from others
Power
The social institution that organizes a society’s production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
Economy
Power that people perceive as legitimate rather than coercive
Authority
An economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned
Capitalism
A political system that gives power to the people as a whole
Democracy
An economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods are collectively owned
Socialism
A political system that denies the people’s participation in government
Authoritarianism
The social institution that distributes power, sets a society’s goals, and makes decisions
Politics
Acts of violence or the threat of violence used as a political strategy by an individual or group
Terrorism
A political system in which a single family rules from generation to generation
Monarchy
The social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values
Education
A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being
Health
Assigning students to different types of educational programs
Tracking
An approach to healthcare that emphasizes prevention of illness and takes into account a person’s entire physical and social environment
Holistic medicine
A lack of the reading and writing skills needed for everyday living
Functional illiteracy
A medical care system in which the government owns and operates most medical facilities and employs most physicians
Socialized medicine
The social institution that focuses on fighting disease and improving health
Medicine
A medical care system in which patients pay directly for the services of physicians and hospitals
Direct-fee system
4 functions of family
- Socialization
- Regulation of sexual activity
- Social placement
- Material & emotional security
The divorce rate is likely to remain…
high
Family forms in the future will be…
more diverse
Men will play a ____ role in child rearing
limited
Families will continue to feel the effects of …
economic changes
_____ will continue to alter the traditional experience of parenthood.
New reproductive technology
3 strengths of the family institution:
- Care for aging parents
- Material & economic security
- Regulation of sexual activity
3 weaknesses of the family institution:
- 1/2 of today’s marriages will end in divorce
- Remarriage creates blended families
- Family violence
3 functions of religion:
- Social cohesion (unity)
- Social control (conformity)
- Providing meaning and purpose
Compared to other high-income countries…
the U.S. IS a religious country
While membership in mainstream religious groups has declined,…
membership in sects has increased.
In recent decades, an increasing number of people have sought spiritual development…
outside of established religious organizations
4 strengths of the religious institution:
- Unites people
- Establishes morality (court system)
- Provides meaning and purpose
- Gives people hope
Weakness of the religious system:
- Fundamentalism
- Secularization
- Calvinists promoted the rise of industrial capitalism
- New Age Movement removes unity
Every society’s economy makes a statement about ____ by determining who gets what
justice
2 general economic models worldwide
Capitalism (US) and Socialism
3 distinctive features of capitalism
- Private ownership of property (free enterprise)
- Pursuit of personal profit
- Competition and consumer choice (ensures equality)
Architect of Capitalism
Adam Smith
3 distinctive features of socialism
- Collective ownership of property
- Pursuit of collective goals
- Government control of economy
5 Impacts of a Global Economy
- Global division of labor
- Products pass through more than one nation
- National govts no longer completely control economic activity within their borders
- A small number of businesses operating internationally now controls a vast share of the world’s economic activity
- Rights and opportunities of workers
3 major functions of the economic institution:
- Organize a society’s production of goods and services
- Distribution of goods and services
- Consumption of goods and services
3 strengths of the economic institution:
- Capitalism = lots of productivity, higher overall standard of living, freedom
- Socialism = less income inequality and freedom from basic want
- Large corporations operate as multinationals, producing and distributing products in nations around the world
3 weaknesses of the economic institution:
- Capitalism = greater inequality
- Socialism = less productivity and overall standard of living
- Young people and African Americans are at high risk of unemployment
A formal organization that directs the political life of a society (one part of the political institution)
Government
4 categories of political systems
- Monarchy
- Democracy
- Authoritarianism
- Totalitarianism
Political system that gives power to the people as a whole (people have a right and responsibility)
Democracy
Denies popular participation in government (can’t vote)
Authoritarianism
Highly centralized political system that extensively regulates people’s lives
Totalitarianism
2 reasons for voter apathy
Indifference & Alienation
People are basically content with their lives; culture emphasizes an individual approach to problems
Indifference
People are so deeply dissatisfied with society that they doubt elections will make any real difference
Alienation
3 functions of the political institution:
- Distribute power within a society
- Set a society’s agenda
- Make decisions which guide the society
3 strengths of the political institution:
- US govt has expanded over the last 2 centuries
- Political spectrum involves attitudes on both economic and social issues
- Special-interest groups advance the political aims of specific segments of the population
3 weaknesses of the political institution:
- High voter apathy
- Nuclear weapons (spread and development)
- Terrorism employs violence in the pursuit of political goals
4 MAJOR functions of education:
- Socialization
- Cultural Innovation (create and transmit culture)
- Social Integration (diverse -> unified norms and values)
- Social Placement (enhance meritocracy. -> upward social mobility)
4 LATENT functions of education:
- Provision of child-care
- Occupies young adults in their 20s - removes competition in job market
- Bring together people of marriageable age
- Networking
3 strengths of the educational institution:
- Public system = 13 years of education for all
- Government-backed loans
- Mainstream students with disabilities -> exposes students to diversity
3 weaknesses of the educational institution:
- Lack of teachers (low salary, bureaucracy, class size)
- Declining academic standards
- Violence in schools
2 functions of the medical institution:
- Combat disease
2. Improve health
4 basic ways society affects health
- Cultural patters define health
- Cultural standards of health change over time
- Society’s technology affects health
- Social inequality affects overall health
study of how health and disease are DISTRIBUTED throughout a society’s population
Epidemiology (mortality rates, life expectancy, diseased rates)
4 major healthcare issues in the US
- Access to care
- The profit motive
- Medicine as politics
- Bioethics
Strengths of the healthcare system:
- Advanced technology
- Best in the world for those who have money
- Surgical procedures
- Training of professionals
- Medical “miracles” that save lives
- Competition drives equality
Weaknesses of the healthcare system
- 42 million in US have no health insurance
- Ranked 37 in world by WHO
- Americans pay more for healthcare
- Cost of competition
- “For Profit” theme
- Complicated financial system
- Spend more money of medical care per capita than any other country in the world
