{"id":69,"date":"2016-05-03T18:40:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T18:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontosociology-waymaker\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=69"},"modified":"2024-04-25T14:43:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T14:43:27","slug":"reading-introduction-to-culture","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-introductiontosociology\/chapter\/reading-introduction-to-culture\/","title":{"raw":"Society, Culture, and Social Institutions","rendered":"Society, Culture, and Social Institutions"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Describe the relationship\u00a0between culture, society, and social institutions<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Identify and define social institutions<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAs you recall from earlier modules, <strong>culture<\/strong>\u00a0describes\u00a0a group's shared\u00a0norms (or acceptable behaviors)\u00a0and\u00a0values, whereas\u00a0<strong>s<\/strong><strong>ociety<\/strong>\u00a0describes\u00a0a group of people who live in a defined geographical area, and who interact with one another and share a common culture.\u00a0For example, the United States is a society that encompasses many cultures.\u00a0<strong>Social institutions<\/strong> are\u00a0mechanisms or patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs, such as government, economy,\u00a0education, family, healthcare, and religion. Some sociological methods focus on examining social institutions over time, or compare them to social institutions in other parts of the world.\u00a0In the United States, for example, there is a system of free public education but no universal healthcare program, which is not the case in many other affluent, democratic countries. Throughout the rest of this course, we will devote much of our attention to studying these specific social institutions.<del><\/del>\r\n\r\nWhat behavioral rules are in effect when you encounter an acquaintance at school, work, or in the grocery store? Generally, we do not step back to consider all of the intricacies of such normative rules. We may simply say \"Hello!\" and ask, \"How was your weekend?\" or offer some other trivial question meant to be a friendly greeting. Rarely do we physically embrace or even touch the individual, and this is often because in\u00a0<em>our\u00a0<\/em>culture we see this as the norm, or the standard of acceptable social behavior. Only when confronted with a different norm do we begin to\u00a0<em>see\u00a0<\/em>cultural differences or even understand that this everyday behavior is part of a larger socialization process. In other cultures, not kissing and\/or hugging could be viewed as rude, but in the United States,\u00a0we have fairly rigid rules about personal space.\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Watch It<\/span><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5275\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"295\"]<img class=\"wp-image-5275\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2034\/2016\/05\/22035147\/twitter-292994_1920-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of social media app icons on a phone screen.\" width=\"295\" height=\"197\" \/> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. The apps on a phone are like the cultural components of society.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #333333;\">One way to think about the<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u00a0<span style=\"color: #333333;\">relationship<\/span><\/span>\u00a0between society and culture is to consider the characteristics of a phone. The phone itself is like society, and the apps on the phone are like culture:<\/span>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Society and social institutions = the physical phone\/protective phone case\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The phone has a tangible structure, just as society has specific structures and institutions. Social institutions are like the hardware of the phone.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Culture = software\/apps\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Apps and software are instructions on the phone that are intangible, just as intangible culture provides the rules and input that make society function.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe software and apps on the phone could be compared to culture. These are the pieces that give the phone a recognizable \"personality\", just as the culture of a group describes its beliefs, practices, and guidelines for living. And just as phone apps go through updates or changes, culture can also evolve over time.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QQsBM1dZLO4\" width=\"800\" height=\"470\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Social institutions can be most visible when they break down. For example, for six days in January 2019, public school teachers in California went on strike. The Los Angelos school district (the second-largest in the nation) scrambled to provide s<\/span><\/span>ubstitute teachers and staff to stay with students after 30,000 teachers walked out, demanding smaller class sizes, more teachers and support staff, and a 6.5% raise.\u00a0They eventually compromised with a 6% raise, more support staff, and a gradual reduction in class size, but the six days out of school cost the district over 125 million dollars.\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">How do breakdowns of social institutions like this one (public education) affect individuals? How does it affect students? Parents? Teachers and administrators? How would the strike affect other school employees such as cafeteria workers or custodial staff? Our system of public education meets many complex societal needs, including the training and preparation of future voters and workers, but on a more pragmatic level it also provides a place for children to go while parents work.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #333333;\">Let's examine a complicated social institution\u2014that of the family. When we think about family as a social institution, we might consider the ways in which the definition of family has changed over time and how this has produced new formal norms (i.e., state and federal laws). The family meets a variety of social needs\u2014including legal (i.e., right to make medical decisions), economic (i.e., inheritance), and social\/emotional. The legalization of same-sex marriage was an issue that divided many states and serves as an illustrative sociological example of the interplay between society and culture.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\r\nWatch this video to see specific examples of social institutions.\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9KR1bad76qg\" width=\"800\" height=\"470\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c8a0457f-a569-4013-b433-edd7b6e178c4\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/5cd4581b-61fb-4d8c-9c2f-47f128fcd18f\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<dl class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>culture:<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id1446338\">shared beliefs, values, and practices<\/dd>\r\n \t<dd><\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl>\r\n \t<dt>social institutions:<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>mechanisms or patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs, such as government, economy,\u00a0education, family, healthcare, and religion<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<dl id=\"import-auto-id2301684\" class=\"definition\">\r\n \t<dt>society:<\/dt>\r\n \t<dd id=\"fs-id2694145\">people who live in a definable, often geographically bordered community and who share a culture<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Describe the relationship\u00a0between culture, society, and social institutions<\/li>\n<li>Identify and define social institutions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>As you recall from earlier modules, <strong>culture<\/strong>\u00a0describes\u00a0a group&#8217;s shared\u00a0norms (or acceptable behaviors)\u00a0and\u00a0values, whereas\u00a0<strong>s<\/strong><strong>ociety<\/strong>\u00a0describes\u00a0a group of people who live in a defined geographical area, and who interact with one another and share a common culture.\u00a0For example, the United States is a society that encompasses many cultures.\u00a0<strong>Social institutions<\/strong> are\u00a0mechanisms or patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs, such as government, economy,\u00a0education, family, healthcare, and religion. Some sociological methods focus on examining social institutions over time, or compare them to social institutions in other parts of the world.\u00a0In the United States, for example, there is a system of free public education but no universal healthcare program, which is not the case in many other affluent, democratic countries. Throughout the rest of this course, we will devote much of our attention to studying these specific social institutions.<del><\/del><\/p>\n<p>What behavioral rules are in effect when you encounter an acquaintance at school, work, or in the grocery store? Generally, we do not step back to consider all of the intricacies of such normative rules. We may simply say &#8220;Hello!&#8221; and ask, &#8220;How was your weekend?&#8221; or offer some other trivial question meant to be a friendly greeting. Rarely do we physically embrace or even touch the individual, and this is often because in\u00a0<em>our\u00a0<\/em>culture we see this as the norm, or the standard of acceptable social behavior. Only when confronted with a different norm do we begin to\u00a0<em>see\u00a0<\/em>cultural differences or even understand that this everyday behavior is part of a larger socialization process. In other cultures, not kissing and\/or hugging could be viewed as rude, but in the United States,\u00a0we have fairly rigid rules about personal space.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Watch It<\/span><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_5275\" style=\"width: 305px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5275\" class=\"wp-image-5275\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2034\/2016\/05\/22035147\/twitter-292994_1920-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of social media app icons on a phone screen.\" width=\"295\" height=\"197\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5275\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. The apps on a phone are like the cultural components of society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">One way to think about the<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u00a0<span style=\"color: #333333;\">relationship<\/span><\/span>\u00a0between society and culture is to consider the characteristics of a phone. The phone itself is like society, and the apps on the phone are like culture:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Society and social institutions = the physical phone\/protective phone case\n<ul>\n<li>The phone has a tangible structure, just as society has specific structures and institutions. Social institutions are like the hardware of the phone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Culture = software\/apps\n<ul>\n<li>Apps and software are instructions on the phone that are intangible, just as intangible culture provides the rules and input that make society function.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The software and apps on the phone could be compared to culture. These are the pieces that give the phone a recognizable &#8220;personality&#8221;, just as the culture of a group describes its beliefs, practices, and guidelines for living. And just as phone apps go through updates or changes, culture can also evolve over time.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QQsBM1dZLO4\" width=\"800\" height=\"470\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Social institutions can be most visible when they break down. For example, for six days in January 2019, public school teachers in California went on strike. The Los Angelos school district (the second-largest in the nation) scrambled to provide s<\/span><\/span>ubstitute teachers and staff to stay with students after 30,000 teachers walked out, demanding smaller class sizes, more teachers and support staff, and a 6.5% raise.\u00a0They eventually compromised with a 6% raise, more support staff, and a gradual reduction in class size, but the six days out of school cost the district over 125 million dollars.\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">How do breakdowns of social institutions like this one (public education) affect individuals? How does it affect students? Parents? Teachers and administrators? How would the strike affect other school employees such as cafeteria workers or custodial staff? Our system of public education meets many complex societal needs, including the training and preparation of future voters and workers, but on a more pragmatic level it also provides a place for children to go while parents work.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Let&#8217;s examine a complicated social institution\u2014that of the family. When we think about family as a social institution, we might consider the ways in which the definition of family has changed over time and how this has produced new formal norms (i.e., state and federal laws). The family meets a variety of social needs\u2014including legal (i.e., right to make medical decisions), economic (i.e., inheritance), and social\/emotional. The legalization of same-sex marriage was an issue that divided many states and serves as an illustrative sociological example of the interplay between society and culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\n<p>Watch this video to see specific examples of social institutions.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9KR1bad76qg\" width=\"800\" height=\"470\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_c8a0457f-a569-4013-b433-edd7b6e178c4\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c8a0457f-a569-4013-b433-edd7b6e178c4?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_c8a0457f-a569-4013-b433-edd7b6e178c4\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_5cd4581b-61fb-4d8c-9c2f-47f128fcd18f\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/5cd4581b-61fb-4d8c-9c2f-47f128fcd18f?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_5cd4581b-61fb-4d8c-9c2f-47f128fcd18f\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<dl class=\"definition\">\n<dt>culture:<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id1446338\">shared beliefs, values, and practices<\/dd>\n<dd><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl>\n<dt>social institutions:<\/dt>\n<dd>mechanisms or patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs, such as government, economy,\u00a0education, family, healthcare, and religion<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<dl id=\"import-auto-id2301684\" class=\"definition\">\n<dt>society:<\/dt>\n<dd id=\"fs-id2694145\">people who live in a definable, often geographically bordered community and who share a culture<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-69\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Culture and society | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Khan Academy Medicine. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=9&#038;v=QQsBM1dZLO4\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=9&#038;v=QQsBM1dZLO4<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>Other<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Sarah Hoiland and Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Types of Societies. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: OpenStax CNX. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/AgQDEnLI@12.1:qs6Nobg-@7\/4-1-Types-of-Societies\">https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/AgQDEnLI@12.1:qs6Nobg-@7\/4-1-Types-of-Societies<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d@3.49<\/li><li>phone image. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: LoboStudioHamburg. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Pixabay. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/twitter-facebook-together-292994\/\">https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/twitter-facebook-together-292994\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">All rights reserved content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Social Institutions. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Khan Academy. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=1&#038;v=9KR1bad76qg\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=1&#038;v=9KR1bad76qg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>Other<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Types of Societies\",\"author\":\"OpenStax CNX\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/AgQDEnLI@12.1:qs6Nobg-@7\/4-1-Types-of-Societies\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/02040312-72c8-441e-a685-20e9333f3e1d@3.49\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Culture and society | Society and Culture | MCAT | Khan Academy\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Khan Academy Medicine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=9&v=QQsBM1dZLO4\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"other\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"phone 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