1. Contents Expectation Setting and Diagnostic Final Project
Introduction to Sociology (Brief)
Social Institutions

2. Expectation Setting What do you expect to learn from this class?
What do you expect from your teacher?
What do you expect from your classmates?
What do you expect from yourself?
What is sociology? What comes to mind when you hear it?

3. Details of Final Project
Identify two social problems or issues affecting one social institution.
A social problem affects a group and not only a few individuals.

4. Details of the Final Project
Choose two social issues/problems affecting one social institution (e.g., government, religion, education, economy, etc.).
Example:
Social Institution: Education
Two Social Issues:
Poor public school facilities
High cost of education Inequalities in access to education
Education: A right or a privilege
K-12

5. Identify the problem or the issue?
Why is it a problem?
Who are affected?
What are the social factors/forces/conditions that instigate the occurrence of the social problems?
What are the consequences of the problem?
Explain the issue using functionalist, conflict, feminist, or symbolic perspectives.

6. FINAL OUTPUT: Online Portfolio
Portfolio Contents:
Introduction of the Portfolio
Pages/Sections/Contents
Pictures
Discussion Board
Videos

8. Examples http://crackingthesocialwalnut.weebly.com /index.html
bly.com/
You can/may use for your portfolio.

9. Introduction to Sociology
Understanding Sociology
How do you understand it? (Diagnostic)

10. Video
What is Sociology?

11. WE CAN STUDY SOCIOLOGY EVERY WHERE…. WHEN ARE BEING CRITICAL…
WE CAN STUDY SOCIOLOGY EVERY WHERE…. WHEN ARE BEING CRITICAL…. EVEN THE MUNDANE THINGS….

12. URINAL GAME (Paul, 2006)
Sociology of Space

13. Your understanding of Sociology

14. DEFINITION
“Sociology is the study of social behavior and human groups” (Schaeffer, 2011).
Sociology is a branch of social science that deals with the study of society, groups, processes, norms (laws, practices, patterns of behavior; a belief of what is acceptable; unwritten or written rules on how to behave), and organizations.

15. What Is Sociology? Sociology Focuses on:
How social relationships influence people’s attitudes and behavior
How major social institutions affect us
How we affect other individuals, groups, and organizations
© 2006 Alan S. Berger

16. And the situation is defined by us.
Our behavior or the way we act on so something depends on what the society dictates us.
Our understanding, belief, idea of something is also contextual. It depends on the situation.
And the situation is defined by us.

17. DEFINITION
“A social science involving the study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies.” (American Sociological Society)

18. DEFINITION
“Sociology is the study of how society is organized and how we experience life.” (collective experience)
(British Sociological Association)

19. Why people group themselves?
Why people organize? Are there social forces/phenomenon that move people to organize?
How people interact with each other and how these interactions impact on individuals.

20. “Sociology is also the study of social interaction.”
DEFINITION
“Sociology is also the study of social interaction.”

21. FOCUS of Sociology (Schaeffer, 2011)
Impacts of relationships on people’s attitude and behavior.
Photo courtesy of

22. FOCUS of Sociology (Schaeffer, 2011)
How societies develop and change.

23. Sociology and the Social Sciences
Science: Body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation
Natural science: Study of physical features of nature and the ways they interact and change
Social science: Study of social features of humans and the ways they interact and change
Other examples of social science disciplines?
Source: Schaeffer, 2011 (McGraw Hill) 23

24. Social Institutions

25. Social Institutions
Organized pattern of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs.
It is a mechanism for social order. 25

26. “Institutions operate at all levels from
“Institutions can be defined as organizations or sets of conventions, policies or legislation which regularize social behavior.”
“Institutions operate at all levels from
the household to the international arena and in all spheres from the most private to
the most public.”
(Matsaert, 2002)

27. Examples School/Education Government/State Family Religion Economy
Health and Medicine

28. Functionalist Perspective
Preserving order
Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose
Replacing personnel
Teaching new recruits
Producing and distributing goods and services

29. Social Institutions Conflict view
Major institutions help maintain privileges of most powerful individuals and groups within society
Social institutions have inherently conservative natures
Social institutions operate in gendered and racist environments 29

30. Social Institutions Interactionist view
Social institutions affect everyday behavior
Social behavior conditioned by roles and statuses 30

31. Difference between Organizations and Institutions
They can be different and they have distinct meanings.

32. Caste System
Marriage
The Military
School
Hospital
Trade Union
Labor Laws
The World Bank
World Trade Organization
The United Nations
Church
All of them affect human behavior. All of them are considered institutions but not all of them are organizations.

33. Institution is an organized, established procedure (Jepperson, 1991).
Social order or pattern to regulate, stabilize, and shape human actions.

34. Institutions can be formal or informal.
Institutions are patterns of norms and behaviors that persist because they are given premium or high importance.

35. Elements of Institutions
Organization of team players
Rules of the game (Norms, etc.)

36. Features of Institutions
Policies and objectives
Laws, rules and regulations
Organizations, their bylaws and core values
Operational plans and procedures
Incentive mechanisms
Accountability mechanisms
Norms, traditions, practices and customs

37. Institutions Institutions change or is subjected to change.
Institution evolve brought about by changes in our society.

38. Sociological Institutionalism
Individual action and social structure are interdependent.
Individuals can make decisions, however, their decisions are constrained by norms . Besides, norms it is basically the social structure (institutional frameworks) that guide individual behavior.
Besides norms, relationships is always crucial in influencing individual action.

39. ISOLATED PERSONS ARE at risk of committing suicide
INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

40. What are institutional frameworks?
Weber maintains that rationality and choice is bounded by institutional frameworks.
Institutional frameworks refer to customs, conventions, social norms, religious and cultural beliefs, households, kinship, ethnic boundaries, organizations, community, class, status groups, markets, law and the state (external and internal to a specific institution).