Sociology - Chapter 6: Organizations, Institutions, and structures

Social Organizations

Formal entities that coordinate collections of people in achieving a stated purpose, a part of social institutions

Social Institutions

Widespread and enduring paterns of interactions with which we respond to categories of human need.

ex: education: educate young people to prepare for work, health: people should live without illness, injury, or pain, religion: need for faith and purpose

Social Structure

When referring to all social institutions

Institutional Discrimination

When Social institutions are often designed to persistently favor some kinds of people over others.

Structural Position

The mix of opportunities and constraints offered to us by the social structure

Social Stratification

A persistent sorting of social groups into enduring hierarchies.

Traditional Authority

a form of leadership where power is legitimized by long-established customs, traditions, and beliefs

Premodern Thought

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

Agriculture

The practice of cultivating crops and rearing animals

Nation-States

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

Modern Thought

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

Rationalization

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

Rational Thinkers

Prioritize efficiency, orderliness, and standardization

Bureaucracies

Organizations with formal policies, strict hierarchies, and impersonal relations

Formal Policies

Are written rules that govern conduct

Rational-Legal

Derived from logical principles - This is the best way to do things

McDonaldization

The process by which parts of life are made efficient, predictable, calculable, and controllable by non-human technologies.

Postmodern Thought

Rejects absolute truth (whether supernatural or scientific) in favor of countless partial truths and denounces the narrative of progress

rejects the notion of a singular authority in favor of believing in one’s own personal experience.

Gig Work

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

Institutionalized

established and accepted practices, norms, or systems within a society that provide structure, legitimacy, and predictability

Nuclear Families

When a married couple lives together with their biological children

Multigenerational Families

When people over 65 live with at least one grandchild

Polyandrous Families

Include one wife and multiple husbands

Polygynous Families

Include one husband and multiple wives

Ideologies

Shared ideas about how human life should be organized

Structural Position

an individual's location within a social structure, which shapes their opportunities and constraints

Egoistic Suicide

Very low integration, could increase the frequency of death by suicide if social institutions failed to ensure social cohesion and people were left isolated from their social group

Altruistic Suicide

Prompted by very high integration: People socialized to identify with a group instead of the self may choose to sacrifice themselves for it

Fatalistic Suicide

Death is a response to very high regulation: limited life opportunities blocked by rigid and oppressive institutions, can lead people to think that death is the only way out

Anomic Suicide

Death is a response to very low regulation: institutions fail, resulting in a normlessness that makes a person feel that life is meaningless

Functionalist

a sociologist who views society as a complex system of interconnected parts working together to promote solidarity and stability. Look to explain how societies function

Conflict Theorist

a sociologist who analyzes how society is shaped by power struggles between different groups competing for scarce resources