5 Power, Inequality, and Institutional Change Free Online FlashCards

What is an institution?

Institutions are durable rules, norms, and practices that organize important areas of social life, such as education, work, family, religion, and government.

How can institutional power operate without direct force?

It operates through rules, routine decisions, control over resources, and authority to define what counts as normal, fair, or legitimate—not only through commands or force.

What is social reproduction?

Social reproduction is the process by which advantages and disadvantages are passed on or recreated across generations and settings.

What forces can drive institutional change?

Political coalitions, social movements, technologies, and economic or demographic conditions can contest, reinterpret, or alter institutional rules.

What is displacement as a pathway of institutional change?

Displacement occurs when existing institutional rules are replaced by new ones.

Why examine how institutional rules are applied, not just what they say?

Examine both the formal rules and how they are applied: an institution may change on paper while familiar practices continue.

How can institutional legitimacy help unequal practices persist?

Practices that seem natural or impartial can make an institution appear legitimate, even when its procedures distribute benefits unequally.

How can school practices reproduce unequal starting points?

Schools may reward language, knowledge, or participation styles that some students had more opportunity to learn at home, obscuring unequal starting points when treated as individual merit.

Which workplace processes can shape access to employment and influence?

Hiring, job assignments, promotion, pay, and organizational structure shape who gains secure employment and influence.

When can apparently neutral workplace practices produce systemic inequality?

When neutral-seeming practices repeatedly advantage some groups and disadvantage others, they can make inequality systemic rather than accidental.

How can social positions affect experiences of institutional rules?

Class, race, gender, and other social positions can intersect, shaping how people encounter institutional rules and what resources they can draw on.

What is layering as a pathway of institutional change?

Layering occurs when new rules are added alongside existing rules.