Chapter 6: Organizations, Institutions, and Structures

Vocabulary flashcards covering modernity, organizational types, institutions, and social structures based on Chapter 6 lecture notes.

Premodern thought

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

Nation-states

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

Modern thought

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.

Social organizations

Formal entities that coordinate collections of people in achieving a stated purpose, being more planned than routine social interactions.

Divisions of labor

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

Bureaucracies

Organizations with formal policies, strict hierarchies, and impersonal relations.

Hierarchy

Rankings of people who are in authority in an organization.

Stratification

The outcome at a job where an individual stays in their position because it is functional to the workplace, resulting in no moving up.

Postmodern thought

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

Gig work

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

Social institutions

Widespread and enduring patterns of interaction with which we respond to categories of human need.

Ideologies

Shared ideas about how human life should be organized.

Social Structure

The entire set of interlocking social institutions in which we live.

Structural position

The features of our lives that determine our mix of opportunities and constraints.

Institutional discrimination

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

Social Stratification

A persistent sorting of social groups into enduring hierarchies.