Week 14 — Social Institutions: Economy, Work & Politics

Why this matters

A delivery driver weighing a contract job and a neighbor speaking at a town council meeting both meet this week's ideas.

In plain language

Most of your waking hours go to two things this week is about: work, and the rules that someone else made. This chapter treats the economy (the way a society produces, shares out, and uses up goods and services) as an institution, as real as the family or the school. You will compare two ways of owning the work, look at how jobs are changing, and ask why people obey some kinds of authority (power people accept as rightful) and not others. Then you will read real Bureau of Labor Statistics figures on how many workers belong to a union, and learn why that figure is a rate of workers and not of people.

• Already covered: Weeks 1 to 13 built the perspectives, the four data questions, inequality, and the family, school, and religion.
• This week: the economy's sectors, changing work, power and authority, and who holds power.
• How they connect: Week 1's alienation and Week 5's bureaucracy return, and Week 2's four questions read the union figures.
• Where we're going next: Week 15, Population, Urbanization & Social Change.

Focus

How is work organized, why do people accept authority, and what does a union rate count?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] sort work into the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors
• [ ] tell an employee from an independent contractor
• [ ] sort authority into Weber's three types
• [ ] read the 2025 and 1983 union figures four ways

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 14 (about 40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Sociology in Action Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: explain why the 10.0% union rate is a share of wage and salary workers, not of all people.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if you get stuck.

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