Lecture Notes: Institutions in Society

Introduction

• Overview of institutions and their roles in society.
• Focus on specific institutions: Education, Family, and Religion.
• These institutions shape individuals and support society.

Education

• Education's role beyond traditional learning.
• Hidden Curriculum
  • Social behaviors: standing in line, waiting turns, treating peers.
  • Socialization into gender inequalities.
• Teacher Expectations
  • Teachers form expectations based on perceived abilities.
  • These affect student performance.
  • Incorrect categorization can limit student potential.
• Educational Segregation and Stratification
  • Funding through property taxes leads to inequality.
  • Reflection of socioeconomic inequalities.

Family

• Various forms of kinship: blood, marriage, adoption.
• Value Differences
  • U.S. focus on nuclear families vs. extended families in other societies.
• Economic Influence
  • Production-based rural families benefited from large families.
  • Consumption-based urban families found large families a strain.
• Family Forms
  • Diverse structures: single parents, step families, etc.

Marriage and Divorce

• Marriage as a key family institution.
• Serial Monogamy
  • Trend of multiple marriages.
  • Divorce and its impact.
• Family Violence
  • Child abuse: physical and neglect.
  • Elder abuse: lack of preparation and resources.
  • Spousal abuse: physical and psychological, often economic roots.
  • Abuse response challenges: shelters' limitations and social stigma.

Religion

• Varies in religiosity: private beliefs to institutionalized practices.
• Types of Religious Organizations
  • Churches: Established bodies (e.g., Roman Catholic Church).
  • Sects: Smaller, protest movements against established churches.
  • Cults: Radical breakaways, short-lived, rely on inspirational leaders.
• Impact of Social Change
  • Modernization leads to secularization (decline in religious influence).
  • Rise of fundamentalism as a reaction to secularization.
• Religion affects everyone in society in some form.