Social Institution

Hi Rachel, Thank you for your sharing, I think your post is pretty interesting. Just like what Durkheim mentioned, sociology does not only study the psychological level of human being, but also the thoughts and behavior of individuals in the society. The social institution does play an important role in our life. The moral standard and ideal type of human affect and restrain people's mind and behavior. People try to fit in the ideal type of person and life goals since they are children, and they use these kinds of moral standard to evaluate others. I think what Durkheim mentioned that history influenced the social institution, and social institution leads people's code of conduct is the exact process in our society now. By learning sociology, we can understand why people have these kinds of behavior and how does it relate to the family, religion, economic, environment, and other elements in the society,

Durkheim regularly emphasizes that social institutions, such as religion, create these moral standards that guide people's actions. The idea of what is defined as a "social institution" becomes increasingly difficult to define, however, due to the rapid expansion of social forces that have come about in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. For example, forms of social media, such as texting and networking on Facebook, are highly centered on social interactions, but is social media necessarily considered an institution? That depends on how one thinks of an organized, systemic body that navigates social interaction. On the one hand, people have a lot of freedom in what they post or message on social media, as they can share anything that they want. On the other hand, there are patterns which unite people who use social media, such as emoji language to symbolize interactions in the digital realm, as well as memes, which are centered on the repetition of one topic by millions of users. Such examples raise questions about whether social media can be dismissed as an institution when it clearly has aspects of a systemic structure.

Hi Weijia, Thank you for your response to my post. I agree to what you have said, moral standard and ideal type do affect our behaviour and mind as we try to be "normal" in the society. I think gender role is one of the strongest norm people would follow since they were born. As the first social institution, family, children have already deeply rooted how they should act as a male or female according to their sex. If the child does not act their "normal" gender role, they might be exclude from the group or other social institution (e.g. school or community). Therefore, the behaviour and mind set are influenced by social institution as Durkheim suggests.