CSS Sociology Social Institutions and Community Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Social Institutions and Community deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. What does the 'hidden curriculum' refer to in education?

   The implicit, unofficial lessons—such as punctuality, obedience, competition, discipline, and acceptance of hierarchy—that schools transmit alongside the formal academic curriculum.

2. How can education function to reproduce social inequality rather than reduce it?

   Unequal access to quality schooling, cultural capital advantages of higher classes, and elite institutions can reproduce existing class and status divisions across generations (conflict-theory critique).

3. What are the primary functions of the economic institution?

   Production of goods and services, their distribution and exchange, consumption, and the allocation of scarce resources and division of labor to meet society's material needs.

4. What is the 'division of labor' and why is it significant for the economy?

   The specialization of tasks among individuals and groups; it increases productivity and efficiency and creates economic interdependence among members of society (Durkheim linked it to social solidarity).

5. Distinguish the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the economy.

   Primary: extraction of raw materials (agriculture, mining, fishing); secondary: manufacturing and processing of goods; tertiary: services (trade, transport, education, finance, health).

6. How is the type of economy linked to societal type (e.g., agrarian vs. industrial)?

   In agrarian societies the economy centers on land and farming with simple division of labor; industrial societies feature factory production, complex specialization, markets, and a money economy.

7. What is the difference between a 'capitalist' and a 'socialist' economic system?

   Capitalism: private ownership of the means of production, market allocation, and profit motive; socialism: collective/state ownership and central planning aimed at collective welfare and reduced inequality.

8. What are the main functions of political institutions (the state/government)?

   Maintenance of internal order and law, external defense and protection, enforcement of norms (legislation and justice), planning/coordination for collective welfare, and arbitration of conflicts.

9. Define 'power', 'authority', and 'legitimacy' in political sociology.

   Power is the ability to impose one's will on others even against resistance; authority is power regarded as rightful/legitimate; legitimacy is the accepted justification that makes authority binding.

10. Name Max Weber's three types of legitimate authority.

    Traditional authority (based on custom and tradition), charismatic authority (based on exceptional personal qualities of a leader), and rational-legal authority (based on impersonal rules, law, and office).

11. What is the sociological definition of the 'state'?

    A political institution holding a legitimate monopoly over the use of force within a defined territory, comprising a permanent population, government, and sovereignty (capacity to make and enforce law).

12. What is a 'rural community' in sociological terms?

    A small, sparsely populated settlement, traditionally agriculture-based, characterized by close primary (face-to-face) relationships, homogeneity, strong tradition and informal social control, and a simple division of labor.

13. List the chief characteristics of rural community life.

    Agriculture as primary occupation, low population density, homogeneity, dominance of primary/face-to-face relations, strong family and kinship ties, informal social control, traditionalism, and slow social change.

14. What is an 'urban community' in sociological terms?

    A large, densely populated, heterogeneous settlement based on non-agricultural occupations, marked by secondary/impersonal relationships, complex division of labor, formal social control, anonymity, and rapid social change.

15. Contrast rural and urban communities on social relationships and social control.

    Rural: primary, personal, intimate relations with informal control by custom and opinion. Urban: secondary, impersonal, segmented relations with formal control by law, police, and bureaucracy.

16. What is Tonnies' distinction between 'Gemeinschaft' and 'Gesellschaft'?

    Gemeinschaft ('community') is bound by intimate, personal, traditional ties typical of rural life; Gesellschaft ('society/association') is based on impersonal, contractual, self-interested relations typical of urban-industrial life.

17. What is the 'rural-urban continuum'?

    The idea that rural and urban are not a sharp dichotomy but the two poles of a continuum, with settlements showing varying mixtures of rural and urban characteristics—explaining rural-urban convergence.

18. Define 'urbanization' and distinguish it from 'urbanism'.

    Urbanization is the process of increasing concentration of population in cities (movement from rural to urban areas); urbanism (Louis Wirth) is the distinctive way of life—impersonal, anonymous, secondary relations—that characterizes city dwellers.

19. According to Louis Wirth, what three factors define the city and shape urbanism as a way of life?

    Size (large population), density (people per area), and heterogeneity (social diversity); together these produce impersonality, anonymity, secondary contacts, tolerance, and segmented roles.

20. What is meant by 'rural-urban convergence'?

    The narrowing of differences between rural and urban areas as communication, transport, media, education, markets, and migration spread urban traits to villages and rural traits persist in cities—blurring the dichotomy.

21. Why is the family considered a 'universal' institution?

    Because some form of family exists in every known human society, performing the indispensable functions of regulating reproduction and sexual relations, socializing the young, and providing care and status.

22. How do religion and education overlap as institutions of socialization?

    Both transmit a society's core values, beliefs, and norms to new members; religion socializes through sacred teachings and rituals, while education does so through formal instruction and the hidden curriculum.

23. What is 'secularization' and how does it relate to social change?

    Secularization is the process by which religion loses social significance and influence over institutions (law, politics, education) as societies modernize, industrialize, and become more rational and scientific.

24. How does urbanization typically affect family structure?

    Urbanization tends to weaken extended/joint family ties and favor smaller nuclear families, due to mobility, employment patterns, housing constraints, and the impersonal, individualistic character of city life.

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