Society and Social Institutions
Core concepts
Society is a self-reproducing system of relationships among people. Candidates must be able to distinguish society (the whole web of relations), social group (a set of interacting people with shared expectations), and social institution (a stable, normatively regulated pattern of activity meeting a basic social need). Know the classic institutions: family, education, religion, economy, politics/state, and their functions - reproduction, socialization, production of goods, regulation of behaviour, transmission of culture.
Traps
A frequent trap is confusing institution with organisation: the family is an institution, a particular school is an organisation. Another trap is treating functions as one-to-one - education also performs social selection and economic functions. Questions often test social change: evolution versus revolution, and the idea that institutions lag behind changed needs (cultural lag). Also distinguish social progress (a value judgement about direction) from mere change, which is directionless.
Worked example
A question asks which institution primarily performs primary socialization. Options: school, mass media, family, state. The rule of thumb: primary socialization - the first, emotional, face-to-face learning of basic norms and language - belongs to the family; school performs secondary socialization. So the answer is family.
Rule of thumb
When an option names a concrete body (a ministry, a firm, a club), it is usually an organisation, not an institution; institutions are abstract role-patterns.