The Real World
An Introduction to Sociology
Fourth Edition
Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein
Chapter 10: The MacroMicro Link in Social
Institutions: Politics,
Education, and Religion
What Are Social
Institutions?
• Social institutions are systems and
structures that shape the activities of groups
and individuals in society.
• You can’t “visit” a social institution—it is a
structure, not a place. Politics, education, and
religion are examples of institutions.
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What Is Politics?
• Politics: the
methods and
tactics of
managing a
nation or state,
as well as
administering
and controlling
its internal and
external affairs
What Is Politics?
(cont’d.)
• Government: the formal,
organized agency that exercises
power and control in modern society,
especially through the creation and
enforcement of laws
What Is Politics?
(cont’d.)
• Power is the ability to impose
will on others.
one’s
• Authority is the noncoercive, legitimate
exercise of power.
Types of Political
Systems
• Authoritarianism is a system of
government by and for a small number of
elites that does not include representation
of ordinary citizens.
Types of Political
Systems (cont’d.)
• A dictatorship is one form of
an authoritarianism system;
usually a dictator does not gain power by
being elected or through succession but
rather seizes power and becomes an
absolutist ruler.
Types of Political
Systems (cont’d.)
• Totalitarianism is the most extreme and
modern form of authoritarianism, in which
the government seeks to control every
aspect of citizens’ lives.
Types of Political
Systems (cont’d.)
• A monarchy is government by
a king or queen, with succession
of rulers kept within the family.
• Absolute monarchies typically have complete
authority over their subjects.
• Constitutional monarchs are royal figures
whose powers are defined by a political
charter and limited by a parliament or other
governing body.
Types of Political
Systems (cont’d.)
• A democracy
is a political
system in
which all
citizens have
the right to
participate.
Pluralist Theory vs.
Power Elite
• Pluralism: a system of political power
where a wide variety of individuals and
groups have equal access to resources
and power.
Pluralist Theory vs.
Power Elite (cont’d.)
• C. Wright Mills coined the term
power elite — a relatively small
number of people who control the
economic,
political,
and military
institutions
of a society.
What Is Politics?
(cont’d.)
• Many people worry about the influence
of money in politics. Special interest
groups are organizations that raise and
spend money to influence elected
officials or public opinion.
What Is Politics?
(cont’d.)
• In addition to special interest
groups, the mass media also
impacts politics. For instance, many
people form their beliefs based on
information from opinion leaders.
• Opinion leaders are high-profile people
who interpret events and influence the
public.
What Is Education?
• Education is the process by
which a society transmits
knowledge, values, and expectations to
its members so they can function in
society.
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Schooling serves a number of
important functions for society:
• The transmission of knowledge
• Learning to follow society’s rules and to
respect authority
• Being socialized to develop other qualities
that will eventually make people efficient and
obedient workers
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Educational institutions
also help to reproduce the
inequality seen in society.
• The hidden curriculum describes the
values and behaviors that students
learn indirectly over the course of
their schooling because of the
educational system’s structure and
teaching methods.
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• The Pygmalion Effect: the idea
that teachers’ attitudes about their
students unintentionally influence their
academic performance
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Kozol’s ethnography, Savage
Inequalities, contends that because
schools are funded by local property
taxes, children in poor neighborhoods
are trapped in poor schools, which
reinforces inequality.
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Many believe that America’s educational
system is in crisis, though there is little
agreement on how to fix the problem.
• Some attempts have included early
college high schools, homeschooling,
school vouchers, and charter schools.
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Early college high schools: institutions
that blend high school and college into a
coherent educational program in which
students earn both a high school diploma
and two years of college credit toward a
bachelor’s degree
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Homeschooling: the education of children
by their parents, at home
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• School vouchers are payments from the
government to parents whose children
attend failing public schools to help
parents pay for private school tuition.
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Charter schools: public schools run by
private entities to give parents greater
control over their children’s education
What Is Education?
(cont’d.)
• Distance learning includes any
educational course or program in which
the teacher and
students do not
meet together in
the classroom, a
situation
increasingly
available over
the internet.
What Is Religion?
• Religion includes any
institutionalized system of
shared:
• Beliefs: propositions and ideas held on the
basis of faith
• Rituals: practices based on those beliefs that
identify a relationship between the sacred
(holy, divine, or supernatural) and the
profane (ordinary, mundane, or everyday)
What Is Religion?
(cont’d.)
• Sociologists do not evaluate the truth of
any religion, but rather study the ways
that religions shape and are shaped by
cultural institutions and the ways that
religions influence and are influenced by
the behaviors of individuals.
What Does Religion
Do?
• Religion
• Shapes everyday behavior by providing
morals, values, rules, and norms for its
participants
• Gives meaning to our lives
• Provides the opportunity to come together
with others to share in group activities and
identity
Religion and
Social Change
• Religion can be made dysfunctional by
promoting inequality with sexist, racist, or
homophobic doctrines.
• On the other hand, religious organizations
have also been agents of social justice
and political change.
Religious Composition in the United States
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What Is Religion?
(cont’d.)
• Religiosity is the regular
practice of religious beliefs,
measured by church attendance.
• Thirty-eight percent of Americans report
attending services weekly.
What Is Religion?
(cont’d.)
• Extrinsic religiosity refers to
a person’s public display of
commitment to a religious faith.
• Intrinsic religiosity refers to a person’s
inner religious life or personal
relationship to the divine.
What Is Religion?
(cont’d.)
• Two groups have dramatically
increased in size in recent
decades:
• Fundamentalists: those who literally
interpret texts and want to “return” to a
time of greater religious purity
• Unchurched: those who consider
themselves spiritual but not religious, and
who often adopt aspects of various
religious traditions
So What? Importance
of Institutions
• Social institutions are an
important part of the structure
of our society.
• As a sociologist, it is important to
understand how institutions shape our
lives, and how we can shape institutions
as well!
Chapter 10:
Participation Questions
There are millions of people who are eligible to
vote in the United States. What percentage of
those people do you think usually come out to
the polls for a presidential election?
a. close to 100 percent
b. not 100 percent, but over 75 percent
c. around 50 percent
d. less than 25 percent
Chapter 10:
Participation Questions
Are you registered to vote?
a. yes
b. no
Chapter 10:
Participation Questions
Which of the following best describes your K–
12 school experience?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
I was in a remedial track.
I was in a regular or standard track.
I was in an honors track.
I was in a dual enrollment or advanced
placement (AP) track.
I was in an intense college preparatory track
like the International Baccalaureate or
Cambridge program
Chapter 10:
Participation Questions
Do you think that high school
prepared you for college?
a. yes
b. no
Chapter 10:
Participation Questions
Have you taken an online class?
a. yes
b. no
Chapter 10:
Participation Questions
Which of the following best
describes you?
a. attend religious services regularly
b. attend religious services
occasionally
c. rarely or never attend religious
services
This concludes the Lecture
PowerPoint presentation for
Chapter 10
© 2014 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.
The Real World
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
4th Edition
Kerry Ferris
and
Jill Stein
41