Social institutions are closely tied to culture. An example we learn from Newman could be a democratic government. Most everyone is familiar with democracy and having a say in our administration. More specifically, institutions such as education, family, and religion are constantly changing to fit culture as time goes on.
They say that institutions are “strongly” sustained by cultural norms. Meaning when a pattern or behavior becomes “accepted” socially, it is developed institutionally. In present day society it is hard to know who exactly accepts these behaviors or patterns, you find yourself just doing as others do. What tends to be “socially acceptable”, we typically abide by. For instance, it is socially acceptable to drink on occasion or socially rather then it is to be an alcoholic or binge drink on your own. It is more socially acceptable to be 110 pounds as it is to be 210.
What I find most enjoyable is people or topics which tend to break the rules on what is “socially acceptable”, for example, people like Madonna or Marilyn Monroe. Here we have two women who never fit the mold on what it means to come from structured “institutions” or followed most “cultural norms”. Rather they broke the mold and opened the door to many new norms that have become acceptable. Topics like the “initialism of main-stream self designation” have taken this society by storm and broken every mold or norm in its path. If it we’re not for people like Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, or groups that support self designation, or society would be stuck in a rigorous circle of the same institutions or cultural norms. It is what it NOT “socially acceptable” that forces our society to grow and change.
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