Examples of social institutions in the following topics:
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Social Institutions
- An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given community.
- An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given community.
- Sociology traditionally analyzes social institutions in terms of interlocking social roles and expectations.
- Social institutions are created by and defined by their own creation of social roles for their members.
- The social function of the institution is the fulfillment of the assigned roles.
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The Functionalist Perspective
- The functionalist perspective attempts to explain social institutions as collective means to meet individual and social needs.
- The functionalist perspective attempts to explain social institutions as collective means to meet individual and social needs.
- It is sometimes called structural-functionalism because it often focuses on the ways social structures (e.g., social institutions) meet social needs.
- Because social institutions are functionally integrated to form a stable system, a change in one institution will precipitate a change in other institutions.
- Functionalists analyze social institutions in terms of the function they play.
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Understanding Social Interaction
- In sociology, social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between individuals or groups.
- The United States Congress is an example of a social institution that is clearly predicated upon social interactions.
- A social interaction is a social exchange between two or more individuals.
- Social structures and cultures are founded upon social interactions.
- By interacting with one another, people design rules, institutions and systems within which they seek to live.
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Resocialization and Total Institutions
- A total institution is a place where a group of people is cut off from the wider community and their needs are under bureaucratic control.
- Within a total institution, the basic needs of a entire bloc of people are under bureaucratic control.
- Institutions established to care for harmless or incapable people, including orphanages, poor houses and nursing homes
- First, the staff of the institution tries to erode the residents' identities and independence.
- Review Goffman's five types of social institutions and their functions, including their processes of resocialization
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The Conflict Perspective on Deviance
- Conflict theories emphasize the social, political, or material inequality of a social group, that critique the broad socio-political system.
- Foucault theorized that institutions control people through the use of discipline.
- In conflict theory, deviant behaviors are actions that do not comply with social institutions.
- He also theorized that institutions control people through the use of discipline.
- Institutions of knowledge, norms, and values, are in place to categorize and control humans.
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Institutionalized Children
- Institutionalized children may develop institutional syndrome, which refers to deficits or disabilities in social and life skills.
- In clinical and abnormal psychology, institutional syndrome refers to deficits or disabilities in social and life skills, which develop after a person has spent a long period living in mental hospitals, prisons, or other remote institutions.
- The term institutionalization can be used both in regard to the process of committing an individual to a mental hospital or prison, or to institutional syndrome; thus a person being "institutionalized" may mean either that he/she has been placed in an institution, or that he/she is suffering the psychological effects of having been in an institution for an extended period of time.
- Deinstitutionalization can have multiple definitions; the first focuses on reducing the population size of mental institutions.
- This can be accomplished by releasing individuals from institutions, shortening the length of stays, and reducing both admissions and readmission.
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Social Control
- Social control refers to the various means used by a society to bring its members back into line with cultural norms.
- There are two general types of social control:
- formal social control refers to components of society that are designed for the resocialization of individuals who break formal rules; examples would include prisons and mental health institutions
- Some researchers have outlined some of the motivations underlying the formal social control system.
- rehabilitation - some argue that formal social controls should work to rehabilitate criminals, eventually turning them into productive members of society
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Social Constructionism
- Social constructionism is a school of thought introduced into sociology by Peter L.
- Berger and Thomas Luckmann with their 1966 book The Social Construction of Reality.
- Social constructionism focuses on the description of institutions and actions and not on analyzing cause and effect.
- Berger and Luckmann argue that social construction describes both subjective and objective reality - that is that no reality exists outside what is produced and reproduced in social interactions.
- A clear example of social constructionist thought is, following Sigmund Freud and Émile Durkheim, religion.
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Elements of Socialization
- Depending on the degree of isolation and resocialization that takes place in a given institution, some of these institutions are labeled total institutions.
- In his classic study of total institutions, Erving Goffman gives the following characteristics of total institutions:
- The most common examples of total institutions include mental hospitals, prisons, and military boot camps, though there are numerous other institutions that could be considered total institutions as well.
- The goal of total institutions is to facilitate a complete break with one's old life in order for the institution to resocialize the individual into a new life.Mortimer and Simmons note a difference in socialization methodologies in different types of institutions.
- When the goal of an institution is socialization (primary or secondary), the institution tends to use normative pressures.
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The Role of Socialization
- Socialization prepares people for social life by teaching them a group's shared norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors.
- The role of socialization is to acquaint individuals with the norms of a social group or society.
- Socialization is an important process for children, who are socialized at home and in school .
- Second, socialization teaches individuals how to prepare for and perform certain social roles—occupational roles, gender roles, and the roles of institutions such as marriage and parenthood.
- The term "socialization" refers to a general process, but socialization always takes place in specific contexts.