1. Answer the questions:

1. What’s the difference between living in a group and living alone?

2. How do we learn the rules which we are expected to obey?

3. How do sociologists call social rules?

4. What happens if you break a folkway, a norm and a law?

5. What is a role and what does it depend on?

6. What is a positive sanction and what is a negative one?

2. Are the sentences true (t) or false (f)? Correct the false sentence.

1. A person can survive alone.

2. If a person breaks a rule he is always punished.

3. Folkways are norms which are taken more seriously than laws and mores.

4. If someone has murdered a person, he has broken a law and will be condemned by the society.

5. Everyone has many roles he has to play.

6. A reward is a “negative sanction” which is given to a person for obedience.

3. Fill in the gaps.

1. Every baby who enters the world also enters a ………………

2. This process of learning the rules is called …………………….

3. ……………… are norms of politeness, or customs, such as eating properly or addressing a person in a proper way.

4. ……………………… are norms which are taken much more seriously than folkways.

5. ……………… are norms made and enforced by the government of a society.

6. Everyone plays many …………… in life.

What do you think?

• Is it possible for a person to live in a group and consider only his or her needs and wishes? Why?

• Can we act the same way in our family as we do when we are with close friends? Why?

Unit 4 Institutions

People live in groups in order to satisfy their needs. These needs may be satisfied in many ways. Over the centuries, most societies have found five ways of obtaining their most important needs. These ways are called institutions. Each of the five major institutions serves a particular need of the society.

The Institution of the Family meets the need for socializing children. The family (or marriage) also provides for the physical and “belongingness” needs of its members.

The Institution of Education helps the family teach children the society’s values. Education (or schools) helps prepare children to enter the adult world.

The Institution of Government makes and enforces laws based upon the mores of the society. Government is supposed to keep the society running smoothly. It protects the members of the society from harm and punishes those who break the law.

The Institution of Religion (sometimes called the Church) meets the need of people to worship God in a group.

The Economic Institution (or business) makes it possible for us to specialize in our work. Everyone can do a different job and produce different things. We can then “trade” our products for other things we need.

These five institutions – Family, Education, Government, Religion, and Economics – have been important parts of almost every society throughout the centuries.

1. Answer the questions:

1. What’s the reason of the fact that the institutions mentioned have been important parts of almost every society throughout the centuries?

2. Are they important nowadays? How can you prove it?

3. What is the most important institution for you?

4. What are the roles that you play?

5. What is the purpose of the Economic institution?