FINALS - SOCSCI

• Social Institutions


  The survival of any society will depend on its ability to provide basic needs, reproduction, the transmission of knowledge, and provisioning, among are managed by it.
• Family - social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation, and reproduction (Peter Murdock, 1949)
• Function of Family - vital functions are socialization, providing live and affection, reproduction, regulation of sexual behavior, and acting as an economic unit.
• Education - social institution that is primarily responsible for teaching basic skills, imparting knowledge, and including norms to children in society,
• the two functions of Education - manifest function & latent function
• manifest function (real intent) - include socialization, social integration, social and cultural innovation, social placement.
• latent functions (unintended consequences) - child care and development of social relationships
• Economy - institution in society that focuses on the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services vital to the survival of individuals
• primary sector - directly producing or procuring raw materials from the natural environment
• secondary sector - transforms raw materials to manufactured goods
• tertiary sector - involves services rather good; healthcare, education, etc
• capitalism (laissez-faire) - personal profit is the goal, resources and means of production are privately owned
• a capitalist economy is a free market without government interference
• socialism

  • property, resources, and the means of production are collectively owned (by the government)
  • government controls the basic needs of the society
  • goals are collective in nature, give equity to everyone
• communism

  • all members of society are equal in all aspects
  • removes all class inequalities
• Karl Marx - father of communism
• Religion

  • set of beliefs and practices that members recognize as sacred
  • gives members a sense of order and meaning
• functions of religion

  • providing meaning and purpose
  • promoting social cohesion
  • ensuring conformity
• HealthCare - The provision of healthcare services to individuals, families, communities, and populations.
• Health - the state of combined physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease
• Aspects of healthcare

  • Psychological
  • Social
  • Spiritual
  • Physical
• The healthcare system must ensure:

  • universal access
  • availability
  • adequate healthcare infrastructure
  • acceptability and dignity
  • quality
  • non-discrimination
  • transparency
  • participation
  • accountability
• The State - defined as an organized way in which power and authority are distributed and decisions are made within a society
• Power - defined as the ability to accomplish desired objectives even if there is resistance or opposition from others.
• Authority - the power that people vest/place in someone that they agree to follow.
• • A state is different from chiefdom because it has a bureaucracy
  • Bureaucracy - the apparatus that ensures the vital functioning of states on a daily basis.
• Rational-legal authority (bureaucratic authority) - power derived from rules and regulations that are enacted legally
• Traditional authority

  • found mostly in pre-modern/pre-industrial societies
  • rules and regulations are shared by virtually everyone
• Charismatic authority - power legitimized by a person's extraordinary qualities that convince others to follow him/her despite great adversities
• Bands

  • made up of a family or small number of extended families, usually nomadic, that cooperate to survive by foraging or hunting
  • headed by a headman chosen by the members on the basis of skills and prowess (bravery, proficiency in hunting)
• Tribes

  • extended families and scattered self-sufficient communities or villages in different locations
• Chiefdom - centralized structure and is headed by a chief who formally exercises authority over all other or commoners within his realm
• State - has a centralized structure with a three-level system in which the bureaucracy stands between those in power or the ruling elite and the commoners
• Limited Monarchy

  • monarchs now have a lesser power than they had before
  • monarch do not have control over political power
• Monarchy - political system in which one person rules all over others in society
• Monarchy - a result of succession that has been in place for generations within the same family
• Democracy - political system where power rest largely on the people in the society
• Authoritarianism - prohibits the people from participating in the governance of the society
• Totalitarianism - a highly centralized system where people's lives are constantly monitored and regulated by those in power.
• Pluralist Model

  • power is spread widely across different organizations
  • no monopoly of power, compromises and alliances are formed