Chapter 6.1 Social Institutions
- Many influences fit into our society as "social structures" and "social institutions".
- S.I.s include family, church, school, government, peers, etc.
Personal institutions: those that affect the person's lives immediately, such as family.
Impersonal institutions: those that involve the activities and behaviours affecting large groups of people, such as government.
Social institutions' characteristics:
- existed for a long period of time
- entrenched (well-established) patterns of functioning known as a structure.
- have a specific purpose; members joined by shared values and beliefs.
Purpose of social institutions:
- act as an agent of socialization
- maintain order and security
Total Social Institutions: Institutions such as prisons that are designed to give people new socialization experiences to replace the negative results of their prior socialization. Sociologist Erving Goffman coined this term and identified key features of it, including isolation from society.
Parts of Re-socialization:
- eroding the person's identity
- systematic attempt to build a different personality
conformity: when an individual changes their behaviour to fit in with the expectations of an authority/larger group.
Negative results of re-socialization:
- institutionalization: an inability to make decisions and live independently, preventing an individual to function in the outside world again.
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Read page 153-155 and answer the following:
(1) How do social institutions differ from total instutitions?
(2) How does a social instution turn into a total instutition?
(3) Why is it not possible to guarantee successul resocialization within a total instutiton?
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