SOCI 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Mass Media, Opiate, Stock Market Crash
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Document Summary
Institutions can be physical, or the social arrangements for how things are done. are standardized ways of doing something. Also important: mass media, medicine, science, military. Institutions are important because they generally help society run smoothly. Can also serve as a negative function by maintaining and reinforcing. Can also be an avenue for social change inequality. If society is based on interactions among people, it can change just as people do. Karl marx: thought religion was the opiate of the masses. Durkheim: thought religion was an important part of the glue that holds individuals together in society. Weber: thought bureaucracies and science would make religious answers to our questions less relevant. Three core aims of sociology: see general themes in everyday life, seek to assess critically what seems familiar and common sense, examine how individuals both shape society and are shaped by society. Emile argued that psychology cannot explain suicide.
