Understanding social structure

Soc

The sociological lenses for analyzing society (the theoretical paradigms), the major social institutions, and the concept of culture.

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Sociological theoretical approaches

theory Soc high-yield trap

The paradigms: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism are the big three; social constructionism, rational choice/exchange, and feminist theory round it out. Macro vs. micro is the key split.

Functionalism (macro) — society is a system of interrelated parts that promote stability and solidarity; institutions serve manifest (intended) and latent (unintended) functions; dysfunctions disrupt order. (Durkheim.)
Conflict theory (macro) — society is competition over scarce resources; structures benefit the powerful and reproduce inequality. (Marx.)
Symbolic interactionism (micro) — society emerges from everyday interactions and shared symbols/meanings. (Mead, Blumer.)
Social constructionism — many social realities (race, gender, money) are constructed through shared agreement, not natural givens.
Rational choice theory — people make decisions by weighing costs and benefits to maximize their own gain; social exchange theory applies this specifically to social relationships (we pursue interactions whose rewards outweigh their costs).
Feminist theory — analyzes gender-based inequality and power.

How AAMC tests it

A passage takes a stance (stability and shared function → functionalism; power and inequality → conflict; face-to-face meaning-making → symbolic interactionism). Macro = big structures; micro = individual interactions.

Don't confuse

Functionalism (macro, stability) vs. conflict (macro, inequality) vs. symbolic interactionism (micro, meaning). The macro/micro level + the core concern is the discriminator.

Social institutions

Soc med-yield

The enduring structures that organize society: family, education, religion, government/economy, and medicine.

Education — transmits knowledge and norms; the hidden curriculum (implicit lessons in conformity/values), tracking, and education as both a leveler and a reproducer of inequality.
Family — kinship, marriage forms (monogamy, polygamy), descent and residence patterns.
Religion — religiosity, types of religious organizations along a continuum of size and tension with society (ecclesia — a dominant, state-allied religion → church / denomination → sect → cult / new religious movement), secularization, and fundamentalism. (Durkheim's sacred vs. profane.)
Government & economy — types of authority (traditional, charismatic, rational-legal — Weber), capitalism vs. socialism, the division of labor.
Health & medicine — the sick role (Parsons: the rights/obligations of being ill), medicalization (defining conditions as medical problems), the illness experience, and social epidemiology (how social factors distribute disease).

Culture

Soc med-yield

The shared beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and material objects of a group — split into the tangible and the intangible.

Material culture = physical objects/artifacts; non-material (symbolic) culture = the intangibles — beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and language. Norms by strength: folkways (everyday etiquette), mores (morally significant), and taboos (forbidden). Symbols and language carry culture. Cultural change: transmission and diffusion (spread between cultures), cultural lag (material culture changes faster than non-material), cultural relativism vs. ethnocentrism (cross-ref 8B). Subcultures and countercultures exist within a dominant culture. Human culture also has an evolutionary dimension.

Don't confuse

Folkways vs. mores vs. taboos — increasing moral weight (bad manners → moral violation → unthinkable).

Worked question

A sociologist argues that schools endure because they efficiently sort and train young people for the labor market, helping society run smoothly. This argument reflects which theoretical approach?