Social Structure and Social Institutions

Social Structure: Social institutions, organizations, groups, statuses and roles, values and norms that add order and predictability to our private lives.

Social Institutions When stable sets of statuses, roles, groups, and organizations form to provide the foundation for addressing fundamental societal needs. “Persistent and connected sets of rules (formal and informal) that prescribe behavioral roles, constrain activity, and shape expectations.” – Keohane, 1989

Social institutions provide the “rules for the game.”

What are some “classic” social institutions? Family, law, mass media, religion, education, governance, politics, economy, etc.

What are some of the characteristics that make up this institution we are currently in? And what are some ways this institution is shaping us (what are some of the “rules of the game” here)?

Are these social institutions? Gender? Race? Marriage? Class? Sexuality? There is dispute among sociologists about whether or not these qualify as institutions. “Persistent and connected sets of rules (formal and informal) that prescribe behavioral roles, constrain activity, and shape expectations.”

Institutional Effects Institutions are a key source of predictability They provide order However… Institutions are also at the root source of many social problems Why and How?

But despite the problems, social institutions cannot be abolished But despite the problems, social institutions cannot be abolished. There could be pandemonium without them.

Institutional Intersections Micro-Macro links The connections between social institutions, organizations, and individual behavior (E.g. Education Unit 5 NCHS Mr. Robinson You) Or the connections between institutions, social structure, and our socially constructed reality Institutions do not exist in isolation; they work together Politics and economy and education Economics and family and gender Politics and race and gender and economy Etc.

As we discuss different social institutions, always be thinking about institutional intersections. In other words, how are our social institutions working together or in opposition to each other?