Social Institutions: Family, Marriage, Kinship, Education, Religion and Economy
Family and marriage
Know the typologies. By composition: nuclear versus extended; by residence: patrilocal, matrilocal, neolocal; by descent: patrilineal, matrilineal, bilateral; by authority: patriarchal versus matriarchal/egalitarian. Marriage forms include monogamy, polygyny (one man, several wives) and polyandry (one woman, several husbands). Distinguish bride price from dowry - a classic trap. Functions of the family include reproduction, socialisation, economic support and emotional security; note debates about the "decline" of the extended family.
Kinship
Kinship covers descent, marriage alliance and affinal versus consanguineal ties; understand lineage and clan.
Education
Functionalists stress transmission of culture and skills and social integration; conflict theorists stress reproduction of inequality (Bowles and Gintis, the hidden curriculum); interactionists study labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy. Note the distinction between formal and informal education.
Religion
Know Durkheim's sacred/profane distinction and the social functions of ritual; Weber's Protestant ethic thesis; Marx's view of religion as opium; Malinowski on religion and anxiety. Distinguish animism, totemism, theism and monotheism.
Economy
Separate production, distribution and consumption; know division of labour (Durkheim's mechanical versus organic solidarity), and the shift from subsistence to industrial and now service/information economies.
Rule of thumb
For any institution, ask: what need does it meet, what norms govern it, and how do functionalist, conflict and interactionist lenses read it differently?