Sociology/ Sociological Concepts Analysis/ 1 Page Paper/ APA Style/No Plagiarism/ 6-8HRS ASAP

REALWORLD6_lectureppt_Ch10.pptx

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Chapter 10

Social Institutions: Politics, Education, and Religion

Kerry Ferris & Jill Stein

Lecture Slides

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #1

Social institutions are paradoxical for sociologists because

they function at the macro level to shape our everyday interactions.

our everyday interactions help to construct social institutions.

they impact our everyday interactions and our everyday interactions also impact them.

Instructors: Use these questions at the beginning of class to gauge prior student knowledge and comprehension, to elicit discussion, or to emphasize important parts of the upcoming lecture and class session!

Answer: c

Feedback: Social institutions are systems and structures within society that shape the activities of groups and individuals. Social institutions provide us with the opportunity to recognize individual agency and the connection between the individual and society.

Learning objective: To assess knowledge of key terms prior to reading Chapter 10.

Section: Introduction

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #2

The ability to impose one’s will on others is called

power.

the government.

politics.

authoritarianism.

Answer: a

Feedback: Please review “What Is Politics?” for more details.

Learning objective: To assess knowledge of key terms prior to reading Chapter 10.

Section: What Is Politics?

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #3

Charter schools are public schools run by private entities intended to give parents greater control over their children’s education.

true

false

Answer: true

Feedback: For more insight into this term, please review “What Is Education” in the text.

Learning objective: To assess knowledge of key concepts prior to reading Chapter 10.

Section: What Is Education?

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #4

Consider the three major theoretical perspectives routinely explored throughout the text. Which theoretical perspective might note that most positions of importance in the United States are held by a small concentrated group of men and thus, men wield the most power in decision making, while the masses, in turn, have little power in this process?

structural functionalism

conflict theory

symbolic interactionism

Answer: b

Feedback: Conflict theory sees conflict as the basis of society and change. It explores the impact of access (or lack of access) to key resources.

Learning objective: To assess knowledge of sociological perspectives prior to reading Chapter 10.

Section: What Is Politics?

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #5

Arthur does not leave his house each morning until after he puts on his chain with the Star of David on it. This exemplifies his

extrinsic religiosity.

intrinsic religiosity.

extrinsic spirituality.

intrinsic spirituality.

Answer: a

Feedback: To learn more about this term, review “What Is Religion” in the text.

Learning objective: To assess knowledge of key terms prior to reading Chapter 10.

Section: What Is Religion?

Getting Warmed Up! Lecture Launcher Question #6

The largest religious group in the United States is Catholic.

true

false

Answer: false

Feedback: The largest religious group in the United States is evangelical Protestant churches.

Learning objective: To assess knowledge of key ideas prior to reading Chapter 10.

Section: What is 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.

Social structures influence our lives, but they also influence other social structures. For instance, can you think of ways that politics might influence education, or education might influence religion? We can revisit this question at the end of this chapter to see if you’ve thought of any new connections.

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

Government: the formal, organized agency that exercises power and control in modern society, especially through the creation and enforcement of laws

“Politics” often refers to administering and controlling the affairs of the nation or state, but the term can also refer to the attitudes and activities of certain groups or individuals.

In the United States, we have various levels of government, including federal, state, county, local, and so on.

What Is Politics? (cont’d)

Power is the ability to impose one’s will on others.

Authority is the noncoercive, legitimate exercise of power.

If you are moving to a new apartment and you need help moving your stuff, you might convince one of your friends to help out. You are imposing your will on your friend, or exercising your power over that person. In this example, though, you don’t have any authority. In the United States, an obvious example of authority is a police officer—a person who has legitimate, state-backed power. You could also think of resident assistants in the dorms, principals at schools, or any other person in a position that formalizes, or legitimates, their noncoercive exercise of power.

[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Man_being_arrested.jpg]

Political Systems: Authoritarian Government

Authoritarianism: a system of government by and for a small number of elites that does not include representation of ordinary citizens

A dictatorship is a type of authoritarianism where the leader typically seizes power rather than being selected or elected.

This form of government gives one person the power to rule without the consent of the citizens.

Political Systems: Totalitarian Government

Totalitarianism is the most extreme and modern form of authoritarianism, in which the government seeks to control every aspect of citizens’ lives.

Oftentimes, these regimes stay in power by circulating propaganda (information intended to influence peoples’ beliefs) through government-controlled mass media.

Political Systems: Monarchic Government

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.

Political Systems: Democratic Government

A democracy is a political system in which all citizens have the right to participate.

The American political system prides itself on being a democracy, a government that confers power to the people. Despite controversy about how to count voter turnout, many worry that fewer eligible voters actually vote in the United States than in some comparable democracies.

Who Rules America?

Pluralism: a system of political power where a wide variety of individuals and groups have equal access to resources and power.

Sociologists have two answers to the question of who rules America—the pluralist theory of power and the idea of a power elite. Many people like the idea of pluralism because the nature of this system is to embrace diversity of views and perspectives.

Who Rules America?: Power Elite

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.

Some people argue that the United States has a power elite, because there are a relatively small number of people who each have several important positions. (For instance, Dick Cheney, a former vice-president of the United States, was affiliated with a multibillion-dollar corporation that made a profit from an international conflict.) These kinds of connections, according to Mills, keep the powerful in power and make access to power very difficult for an outsider without prior connections.

Who Rules America?: Interest Groups

Special interest groups are organizations that raise and spend money to influence elected officials or public opinion.

Many people worry about the influence of money in politics.

Sociological Perspectives on Social Institutions

The Media and the Political Process

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.

The free press was very important to the drafters of the Constitution, and was originally intended to inform and educate the populace and to serve as a watchdog on government.

The media continue to play a key role in the political process, but too often they focus on surface perceptions to the detriment of substantive debate.

For an interesting discussion, come prepared to discuss some major event that has happened recently. This will work best if the event is somewhat local (for instance, within your state). Ask students what they think about the event, and then ask how they formed this opinion. Was anyone actually there? Do they know someone who was? If not, how do they even know what really happened?

The Media and the Political Process (cont’d)

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.

Schooling began to be considered a necessity for preparing children to enter modern industrial occupations in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

So, you have all been through the educational system to some extent. What kinds of things did you learn?

Ask your students to talk about their experiences in the educational system. Hopefully they will be able to discuss examples of manifest and latent functions of education, which you can elaborate on in a moment.

What Is Education? Functions

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

The transmission of knowledge is a manifest function—that means it is an obvious function of education. Obviously, you learn to read, write, do math, and so on. Other functions are not so obvious, and those are called latent functions. Examples of latent functions include learning to follow society’s rules and to respect authority, and being socialized to develop other qualities that will eventually make us efficient and obedient workers. These goals aren’t on the class syllabus, but students learn them through interactions with teachers and others within the system.

What Is Education? Values

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.

It is clear that while education does benefit everyone, it unfortunately does not benefit everyone equally. Sociologists have long been interested in the hidden curriculum, which is related to the latent functions of education we just discussed. This includes things such as obedience to authority and strict adherence to norms. Many argue that the hidden curriculum reinforces and reproduces conditions of social inequality in society.

In The Credential Society, Randall Collins argues that reproducing society’s existing class structure is the true function of education.

What Is Education? The Pygmalion Effect

The Pygmalion Effect: the idea that teachers’ attitudes about their students unintentionally influence their academic performance

Rosenthal and Jacobson’s symbolic interactionist study of education suggested that teachers’ attitudes about their students unintentionally influenced their academic performance. When teachers expected students to succeed, the students indeed tended to improve.

What Is Education? Inequality

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.

Kozol documents the significant differences among America’s schools: “the highest spending districts have twice as many art, music, and foreign language teachers . . . 75 percent more physical education teachers . . . 50 percent more nurses, school librarians, guidance counselors, and psychologists . . . and 60 percent more personnel in school administration than the low-spending districts.”

What Is Education? America in Crisis?

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? Early College High Schools

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? Homeshooling and Distance Learning

Homeschooling: the education of children by their parents, at home

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.

Homeschooling has grown steadily in popularity since the 1980s. In 2007–2008, it was estimated there were more than 2 million homeschooled children in the United States. The academic achievement of homeschooled students, on average, was significantly above that of publicly schooled children, even if their parents were not certified teachers.

What Is Education? School Vouchers and Charter Schools

School vouchers are payments from the government to parents whose children attend failing public schools to help parents pay for private school tuition.

Charter schools: public schools run by private entities to give parents greater control over their children’s education

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).

There are many different kinds of religions in the world, but they all share these same basic tenets.

What Is Religion? A Sociological Approach

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.

It is very important that as sociologists, we take a step back from our own beliefs and employ our sociological imaginations to understand the values and beliefs of others.

As sociologists, we are interested in society and social interactions, and we cannot understand these things without understanding the religious beliefs of people within various societies.

What Is Religion? Functions

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.

Again, this is true of nearly any religion. Oftentimes, the individual beliefs of religions may differ yet the structures of the religions are similar.

What is Religion? Societal Effects

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.

In the Civil Rights era, most communications about gatherings, protests, or events to raise awareness were announced and advertised through churches.

Religious Composition in the United States

Second Largest Religious Tradition in Each State, 2010

Religion in America

Religiosity is the regular practice of religious beliefs, measured by church attendance.

Thirty-eight percent of Americans report attending services weekly.

Religion in America: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic

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.

Religion in America: Fundamentalist vs. Unchurched

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

In recent decades the number of Americans who identify themselves as fundamentalist (the practice of emphasizing literal interpretation of texts and a “return” to a time of greater religious purity) and unchurched (a term describing those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious, and who often adopt aspects of various religious traditions) has dramatically increased.

As we can see, even religion can’t be studied without examining the context (the society, the people, their attitudes, etc.), and it’s clear that religious practice changes over time and across cultures.

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!

Discussion:

Ask students if they have gained any new insights after this presentation.

Now can you think of ways that politics might influence education, or education might influence religion?

How about other institutions that we didn’t talk about today?

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #1

The ability to impose one’s will on others is called

the government.

politics.

power.

authoritarianism.

Answer: c

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #2

The placement of students into different educational programs of study such as remedial classes or college-prep classes is called

tracking.

intrinsic education.

the hidden curriculum.

simulacrum.

Answer: a

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #3

The values or behaviors that students learn indirectly over the course of their schooling because of the educational system’s structure and teaching methods are called

tracking.

intrinsic education.

the hidden curriculum.

simulacrum.

Answer: c

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #4

Public schools run by private entities to give parents greater control over their children’s education are called

charter schools.

early college high schools.

home schools.

tracking schools.

Answer: a

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #5

Attendance at a religious service is an example of _____ religiosity.

intrinsic

secular

liberation

extrinsic

Answer: d

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #6

The practice of emphasizing literal interpretation of religious texts and a “return” to a time of greater religious purity is called

fundamentalism.

liberation theology.

secularization.

intrinsic religiosity.

Answer: a

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #7

Schooling began to expand in the United States in the ________ century.

eighteenth

nineteenth

twentieth

twenty-first

Answer: b

Social Institutions – Concept Quiz Question #8

Which theoretical perspective holds that social institutions, such as politics, education, and religion, represent the interests of those in power?

structural functionalism

conflict theory

symbolic interactionism

Answer: b

Chapter 10: Participation Question #1

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?

close to 100 percent

not 100 percent, but over 75 percent

around 50 percent

less than 25 percent

Answer: c

These questions can be used with “clickers,” cell phones, or other audience response systems to increase participation in your classes. They can also be used to encourage discussion without technological input.

Chapter 10: Participation Question #2

Are you registered to vote?

yes

Chapter 10: Participation Question #3

Which of the following best describes your K–12 school experience?

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 Question #4

Do you think that high school prepared you for college?

yes

Chapter 10: Participation Question #5

Have you taken an online class?

yes

Chapter 10: Participation Question #6

Which of the following best describes you?

attend religious services regularly

attend religious services occasionally

rarely or never attend religious services

Chapter 10: Data Workshop Activity

Refer to the Data Workshop to prepare for this activity.

In a moment, I will explain what existing sources you will use for your content analysis.

As you review these sources, refer to the questions and take notes about what you see. Be prepared for a group discussion of findings!

Directions for Instructors:

-Refresh students’ memories about data collection from Chapter 2. This activity exemplifies the terms “existing sources,” “content analysis,” and “bias.” You may find it helpful to remind students of the meaning of these terms.

-Refer students to page 291. Ask them to read the data workshop activity.

-Depending on the access to technology in your classroom, there are a few ways you can approach this activity. You can put students in groups with at least one person who has an internet-capable device like a laptop, tablet, or smart phone, or you can navigate the internet while students work together and take notes on what they see. This activity will work best if students view a diverse selection of different materials.

-On page 286, the Data Workshop directs students to examine fake news shows. Instead, for the purpose of an in-class activity, ask students to review corresponding websites.

-Once students are in groups and have had the opportunity to review the materials, ask them to address the questions in bullet points on pages 286-287.

-Finally, ask students to share what their content analysis revealed. Ask students if they experienced any difficulty in analyzing these sites due to their own bias (maybe they regularly watch and enjoy the program?).

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for Chapter 10.