Culture, Society, Politics: Social Groups & Institutions

• Lourdes College, Inc. Senior High School Department: Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics - Student Handout | MIDTERM

Social Groups and Institutions

• Primary groups have small size, close-knit relationships, and long-term interactions, such as family and close friends
• Secondary groups are larger, impersonal, and goal-oriented, such as student councils and co-workers

Functions of Social Institutions

• Education provides knowledge, skills, and values for societal participation
• Family offers emotional support, socialization, and identity formation
• Religion provides moral guidance and strengthens social cohesion
• Government/Politics establishes laws, governance, and order
• Economy organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods

Types of Authority

• Charismatic authority is based on an individual's influence, like that of revolutionary leaders
• Traditional authority is based on customs and traditions, like monarchy
• Legal-rational authority is based on laws and institutions, like modern governments

Social Structure and Social Mobility

• Vertical mobility is movement between social classes, like moving from a lower to an upper class
• Horizontal mobility involves changing positions within the same social class, like a job change without a change in status

Forms of Social Control

• Formal social control involves laws, policies, and penalties enforced by institutions
• Informal social control encompasses social norms, peer pressure, and family expectations

Conformity vs. Deviance

• Conformity means adhering to social norms for approval and acceptance
• Deviance involves violating social norms, which can lead to social change, such as rebellion or innovation

Political and Economic Systems

• A nation is a group of people sharing a cultural identity, like ethnic groups
• A state is a political entity with sovereignty and governance

Types of Marriage and Family Structures

• Exogamy means marrying outside one's social or cultural group
• Endogamy means marrying within a specific social or cultural group
• Bilateral descent is when inheritance and family ties are traced through both parents
• Patrilocal residence is when newlyweds live with the husband's family
• Matrilocal residence is when newlyweds live with the wife's family
• Neolocal residence is when newlyweds establish an independent household

Economic Systems

• Reciprocity involves the exchange of goods and services to build relationships
• Redistribution involves the centralized collection and distribution of resources, such as taxation or government aid
• Negative reciprocity is about deception in trade for personal gain

Social Change and Its Effects

• Social institutions provide structure, regulate behavior, and maintain order
• Government policies have an influence on education, healthcare, and economic development

Role of Deviance in Social Change

• Deviance challenges norms and can lead to social reforms, like civil rights movements
• Forms of deviance include rebellion, innovation, ritualism, and retreatism

Influence of Cultural Values on Society

• Cultural values shape kinship, marriage practices, and societal expectations
• Different marriage customs reinforce or redefine gender roles

How Social Institutions Are Connected

• Family shapes values and social roles
• Education builds knowledge and skills for economic participation
• The economy provides resources and employment, influencing social mobility
• Government enforces laws that regulate institutions
• Religion provides moral frameworks that guide individual and societal behavior

Social Control: Conformity and Deviance

• Social control represents the mechanisms that societies use to maintain order and conformity
• Social control includes formal control, such as laws and rules, and informal control, such as peer pressure and customs
• Agents of social control include government, religion, media, education, family, and sports
• Conformity refers to the act of aligning behavior with group norms due to acceptance, approval, or fear of rejection
• Deviance refers to behavior that violates social norms
• Deviance can be seen positively, such as social change, or negatively, such as criminal behavior

Forms of Deviance

• Innovation involves accepting societal goals but using unconventional means, like crime for financial success
• Rebellion refers to rejecting societal goals and means to create new ones
• Ritualism refers to following rules but abandoning goals
• Retreatism rejecting both goals and means, like isolation or substance abuse

Kinship, Marriage, and Family Structures

• Kinship refers to relationships formed through blood, marriage, or rituals that define social roles and responsibilities

Types of Kinship

• Blood or consanguineal kinship is based on ancestry, like parents and siblings
• Marriage or affinal kinship is formed through marriage
• Ritual or fictive kinship is based on religious/cultural practices, like godparents

Marriage Customs

• Endogamy means marrying within a social, religious, or ethnic group
• Exogamy means marrying outside a social group
• Monogamy means having one spouse at a time
• Polygamy means having multiple spouses

Family Structures & Postmarital Residence

• Nuclear family consists of parents and children
• Extended family includes other relatives
• Neolocal residence means that a couple lives independently
• Patrilocal residence means the couple lives with the husband's family
• Matrilocal residence means the couple lives with the wife's family
• Bilocal residence means couples alternate between families

Economic Institutions

• Economic institutions regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services

Types of Exchange

• Reciprocity means giving and taking without immediate return, like gift-giving and barter
  • Generalized reciprocity involves no expectation of return, like parents providing for children
  • Balanced reciprocity involves an expected return within a timeframe, like trade agreements
  • Negative reciprocity means gaining more than is given, like bartering with deceit
• Redistribution refers to goods collected by a central authority and reallocated, like taxation or social welfare programs
• Market transactions refer to buying and selling based on supply and demand

Political Institutions

• Political institutions are organizations that govern society and maintain order

Types of Political Organizations

• Bands are small, nomadic groups with informal leadership
• Tribes are kin-based groups with a central community head
• Chiefdoms are political units led by a chief, often hereditary
• States are centralized governments with sovereignty and defined territory

Types of Authority (Max Weber)

• Traditional authority is based on customs and long-standing practices, like monarchies
• Charismatic authority is based on a leader's personal traits, like revolutionary leaders or celebrities
• Legal-rational authority is based on laws and institutions, like elected officials or courts