D2.Soc.9.9-12: The Role of Social Institutions in Society
In plain English: D2.Soc.9.9-12 is the C3 Framework sociology indicator for grades 9-12 that asks students to explain the role of social institutions in society. Students learn that institutions such as the family, schools, the economy, religion and government are lasting patterns that meet a society's needs, and they trace intended and unintended functions and how a task moves from one institution to another.
Explain the role of social institutions in society.
C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Sociology · Social Structure: Culture, Institutions, and Society · Official standard
D2.Soc.9.9-12 asks students to explain the role of social institutions in society. A social institution is a lasting, organized pattern of roles, rules and relationships that a society uses to meet a basic need: the family (raising children and caring for members), education (passing on knowledge and skills), the economy (producing and exchanging goods), religion (shared beliefs, rituals and community) and government (making and enforcing rules and settling conflicts). Students explain an institution's role by asking what it does for society, what it does that no one planned, whom it serves well or poorly, and how its work depends on other institutions.
The lesson uses four excerpts from Henry K. Rowe's 1916 textbook Society: Its Origin and Development, a federal table on how much time American children have spent in public school since 1869-70, and an invented case with invented data. Students plan studies on paper only.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Define a social institution and name the main needs that the family, education, the economy, religion and government meet
Tell an institution's intended (manifest) functions apart from its unintended (latent) functions and its dysfunctions
Explain, with evidence, how a task can move from one institution to another and why institutions depend on one another
Compute and interpret differences and percentages from historical school data and an invented survey, and name the limits of each
Plan, on paper only, a study of the latent functions of an institution in their own community
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Identifying important social institutions D2.Soc.8.9-12
Social context as the external forces that shape behavior D2.Soc.2.9-12
Computing a difference, a percent and a percent change
"Your school is officially for teaching. List three other things it does for students, families or the town that nobody wrote into its mission."
Collect answers on the board. Students often list meals, friendships, sports, child supervision during work hours, health checks and a place to vote. Point out that these are all functions: things an institution does for society. Today's question: what role do institutions play, and how can we tell?
Direct Instruction20 minutes
Five institutions and the needs they meet (definitions and examples written for this page)
Institution
Main need it meets
Example of how it does so
Family
Raising children and caring for members
Parents feed, protect and teach young children
Education
Passing on knowledge, skills and shared values
Schools teach reading and prepare students for work and citizenship
Economy
Producing and exchanging goods and services
Farms, stores and employers turn work into food, goods and wages
Religion
Shared beliefs, rituals and community
A congregation marks births, marriages and deaths together
Government
Making and enforcing rules, settling conflicts
A city sets traffic rules and runs courts
Three words for what institutions do. A manifest function is an intended, openly recognized result (a store sells goods). A latent function is an unintended or unrecognized result (people meet and trade news at the store). A dysfunction is a result that works against some people's needs or against the institution's own aims (a store that closes early serves only people who are free in the daytime). Institutions are also interdependent: when one changes, others take on or give up work.
Henry K. Rowe (1869-1941) was associate professor of history and sociology at Newton Theological Institution when he wrote Society as a textbook. Source warning: his chapters describe mainly American farm, village and city life of 1916 from his own observation and reading. They are general descriptions, not measured data, and they reflect the views of his time.
1[...] The family has a long history, but it exists, not because it is a long-established institution, but because it satisfies present human needs, as all institutions must if they are to survive. The family serves many ends, but as the primary social instincts are to mate and to eat, so the principal functions of the family are the domestic and the economic.
[...]
271. Social and Economic Changes in the Family.--The fundamental principles that govern the economic activities of the family are the same as they used to be. Industry, thrift, and co-operation are still the watchwords of prosperity. But with the development of civilization and the improvements in manufacture, communication, and transportation, the economic function of the family has changed. Instead of producing all the crops that he may need or the tools of his occupation, the farmer tends to produce the particular crops that he can best cultivate and that will bring him the largest returns. Because of increasing facilities of exchange he can sell his surplus and purchase the goods that will satisfy his other needs. The farmer's wife no longer spins and weaves the family's supply of clothing; the men buy their supply at the store and often even she turns over the task of making up her own gowns to the village dressmaker. Where there is a local creamery she is relieved of the manufacture of butter and cheese, and the cannery lays down its preserves at her door. Household manufacturing is confined almost entirely to the preparation of food, with a varying amount of dressmaking and millinery. In the towns and cities the needs of the family are even more completely supplied from without. Children are relieved of all responsibility, women's care are lightened by the stock of material in the shops, and the bakery and restaurant help to supply the table. Family life loses thereby much of its unity of effort and sympathy. The economic task falls mainly upon the male producer. Even he lives on the land and in the house of another man; he owns not the tools of his industry and does business in another's name. He hires himself to a superior for wage or salary, and thereby loses in a measure his own independence. But there is a gain in social solidarity, for the chain of mutual dependence reached farther and binds more firmly; there is gain in community co-operation, for each family is no longer self-sufficient.
Henry K. Rowe, Source 1: Rowe on why the family exists and how its economic work changed (1916) (1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
1The most primitive among these institutions is the country store. It has economic, social, and educational functions. It supplies goods that cannot be produced in the community, it serves as a mercantile exchange for local produce. It helps to remove the necessity of home manufacture of many articles. On occasion it may include an agency for insurance or real estate; it is frequently the village post-office; it contains the public bulletin-board; often the proprietor undertakes to perform the banking function to the extent of cashing checks. Socially the store serves a useful purpose, for it is the centre to which all the inhabitants come, and from which radiate lines of communication all over the neighborhood. It is a clearing-house for news and gossip, and takes the place of a local press. It was formerly, and to some extent is still, the social club of the men of the community during the long winter evenings. As such it performed in the past an educational function. Boxes, firkins, bales of goods, superannuated chairs, and the end of a counter constituted the sittings, and men of all ages occupied them, as they listened to harangues and joined in the discussions. The group constituted the forum of democracy, where politics were frequently on debate, where public opinion was formed, where conservatism and progressivism fought their battles before they tested conclusions at the ballot-box, where science and religion entered the lists, where local interests were threshed out in the absence of more general excitement and crops and agricultural methods filled in the pauses. In recent years the store circle has degenerated. The better class of habitual members has organized its lodges or found satisfaction in the grange, while the hangers-on at the store, barber-shop, or other loafing-place indulge in small talk on matters of no real concern.
Henry K. Rowe, Source 2: Rowe on the country store (1916) (1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
Table 1. U.S. public elementary and secondary schools, selected years (National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2022, Table 201.10; the 1869-70 enrollment figure is for 1870-71; public schools only)
School year
Enrolled, as a percent of 5- to 17-year-olds
Average length of school term (days)
Average days attended per pupil enrolled
1869-70
64.7
132.2
78.4
1899-1900
71.9
144.3
99.0
1929-30
81.7
172.7
143.0
1959-60
82.2
178.0
160.2
1999-2000
88.7
179.4
169.2
2017-18
94.3
179.2
166.9
Why an institution lasts: Source 1, paragraph 1
What reason does Rowe give for the family's survival, and what does his claim say about all institutions?
Result: Rowe says the family exists "not because it is a long-established institution, but because it satisfies present human needs, as all institutions must if they are to survive." His claim is functional: an institution's role is the need it meets, and an institution that stops meeting needs should weaken. It is a claim to test, not a proven law.
A task moves between institutions: Source 1, paragraph 2
Trace one task that left the farm household and say which institution took it over.
Result: "The farmer's wife no longer spins and weaves the family's supply of clothing; the men buy their supply at the store." Making clothing moved from the family to the economy (factories and the store), and sewing gowns moved to "the village dressmaker." The family still needs clothing; another institution now meets that need.
Manifest and latent functions: Source 2
Sort two of the country store's functions as manifest or latent.
Result: Manifest: "It supplies goods that cannot be produced in the community." Latent: the store "is the centre to which all the inhabitants come, and from which radiate lines of communication all over the neighborhood." Selling goods is what the store is for; becoming a meeting place is a result nobody set out to create.
Reading Table 1
How many more days did the average enrolled pupil attend public school in 1929-30 than in 1899-1900, and what does the change suggest about the role of schools?
Result: 143.0 - 99.0 = 44.0 more days a year. Children spent much more of the year in school, so schools took over more of their time and training from families and workplaces. The table shows the change, not its causes: attendance laws, longer terms and less child labor would each need checking.
Close the segment: Which institution in Table 1 gained a larger role between 1869-70 and 2017-18, and which institutions might have given up some of that time?
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read Source 4 together. Rowe sorts what a city government does into three groups of functions.
1271. Functions of the City Government.--Among the recognized functions of the city government is, first, the normal function of operation. This includes the activity of the various municipal departments like the maintenance of streets, the prosecution of various public works, and the care of health by inspection and sanitation. Secondly, there are the regulative and reformatory functions, which make it necessary to organize and maintain a police and judicial force and to provide the necessary places of detention and punishment. Thirdly, there are educational and recreational functions represented by schools, public libraries, parks, and playgrounds. The tendency is for the city government to extend its functions in order to promote the various interests of its citizens. [...]
2272. How the Regulative Function Works.--Doubtless it will be always true that the regulative function in its largest sense will be the main business of the city government. The interests of individuals clash. The self-interest of one often runs counter to the interests of another, and the city government is their mediator. [...]
Henry K. Rowe, Source 4: Rowe on the functions of city government (1916) (1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
Sort. Make a three-column chart with Rowe's three groups of functions, and list the services he names under each.
Update. Add one present-day service a city or town provides to each column. Keep to services, not to debates about them.
Explain. In paragraph 2, why does Rowe think the regulative function will remain the government's main business?
Connect. Which of Rowe's educational functions overlap with the work of schools and families?
Independent Practice15 minutes
Students read Sources 3 and 5 on their own and use all five sources and Table 1 for the quiz and homework. Source 3 is from the same 1916 textbook; Source 5 is an invented case with invented data.
1124. The Grange.--The grange is an institution that includes both sexes and combines the interests of young people with those of their elders. Its primary purpose was to consolidate the common interests of a farming community and to stimulate economic prosperity, but it has included several social features, and in many localities exists merely for social purposes. It is an institution that is well adapted to become a social and educational centre for the rural community. When the child has advanced from the home to the school and, graduating from school, has entered into the adult life of the community, the grange serves as a training-school for civic service. In the grange-room, in company with his like-minded parents and friends in the community, he learns how to hold his own in debate in parliamentary fashion, he discusses improved agriculture and listens to lectures from masters of the science, he gains literary and historical knowledge, and from time to time he participates in the social diversions that take place under grange auspices. Music enlivens the meetings, and occasionally a feast is spread or an entertainment elaborated. The Farmers' Union is a similar organization, originating in the South in 1902.
2Such rural interests as these have come into existence spontaneously and continue to provide social centres of community life because other institutions do not satisfy. The home, the school, and the church are often spoken of as the essential institutions of the American community, but they do not at best perform all the functions of neighborhood life. The boys' gang, the circle of men about the stove at the corner grocery, the women's sewing circle or club, and the grange, each in its own way performs a necessary part of the group activities, and deserves recognition among the institutions that are worth while. It is scarcely necessary to note that they have their evils, but these are not of the nature of the institution. As the gang can be guided to worthy ends, so the energies of the store club and the sewing circle can be turned into channels of usefulness and low talk and scandal-mongering abolished. As for the grange, it is capable of becoming the most valuable social centre of the community, if it maintains the ideals of its existence and co-operates heartily with other social institutions of worth, like the church.
Henry K. Rowe, Source 3: Rowe on the grange and the other rural institutions (1916) (1916). Public domain (published 1916). Source text.
1Invented case with invented data, written for this page. The town of Harlow (invented, about 4,000 residents) has one public library. The sign at its door gives its purpose: "to lend books and information to everyone in Harlow." Last spring the library board asked why people come.
2On two weekday afternoons, a volunteer stood at the entrance and asked each visitor who agreed to answer one question: "What is the main reason you came today?" Sixty visitors answered. Their main reasons were: borrow or return books, 21; use the computers or the internet, 14; a quiet place to study or work, 11; a children's program, 8; meet friends or attend a community event, 6.
3The volunteer added two notes. First, several teenagers said they come after school because the library is warm, safe and free, and their parents know where they are. Second, the library closes at 5 p.m. on weekdays, and two visitors said that people who work until 5 can rarely use it.
4Sample warning: sixty visitors on two afternoons is a small sample. It includes only people who already use the library at those hours, so it cannot show how the whole town uses or values the library.
SVHS (invented scenario), Source 5: What the Harlow library does (invented case with invented data) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Task: make a three-row chart for the Harlow library in Source 5 with the headings Function, Evidence from the case, and Who it serves. Fill one row each for a manifest function, a latent function and a dysfunction.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: "Name one institution in your community. Give one intended function, one unintended function, and one way it serves some people better than others."
Teacher notes. (1) Rowe wrote in 1916, and some of his language is dated. He writes of "primary social instincts" in a sense psychologists no longer use; he writes that the economic task "falls mainly upon the male producer," which describes many households of his time, not a rule. The section 32 sentences left out of Source 1 judge childless families and unmarried adults; they are omitted. (2) Rowe's judgments, such as "the better class" of store members and "low talk," are his opinions; ask students to separate them from his descriptions. (3) Table 1 covers public schools only and does not count private schools or home schooling. (4) Religion appears here only as a social institution; the lesson takes no position on any belief.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give the function table with one example filled in for each institution
Pre-highlight the sentences in Sources 2 and 3 that name a function, and have students label each one M (manifest) or L (latent)
Provide frames: "The ___ is meant to ___ (manifest). It also ___ (latent). It may fail ___ (dysfunction)."
For Advanced Students
Rewrite Rowe's claim in Source 1, paragraph 1 as a testable statement, and describe one institution that seems to survive for reasons other than present needs
Use Table 1 to compute the percent of the term attended in each year, and explain what changes in school attendance laws, child labor and farm work would have to be checked before naming a cause
Compare the store circle in Source 2 with a present-day place where people gather to talk, and explain which functions moved there
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
Strong answers name a specific institution and a specific function, say whether the function is intended or unintended, support the claim with a quoted source or a number, and note who is served well or poorly. Watch for students who list institutions without explaining what they do, who treat Rowe's 1916 descriptions as facts about today, or who read a change in Table 1 as proof of a single cause.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
Function Hunt: Six Invented Institutions
15 minGroups of 3-4, rotating
Six stations each hold one invented card describing an organization that belongs to a larger institution. At each station, groups write which institution it belongs to, one manifest function, one latent function and one possible dysfunction, and who is served well or poorly.
The 6 Station Cards
Invented: a town's swimming pool is built for exercise and swimming lessons; in summer it is also where most teenagers meet friends, and it closes on weekends when lifeguards cannot be hired.
Invented: a factory pays wages for assembling bicycles; it also runs the only bus that brings workers from three villages, and it hires mostly people who already know someone inside.
Invented: a high school offers classes in English and math; it also serves free breakfast, and its parking lot hosts a farmers' market on Saturdays.
Invented: a city court decides disputes between landlords and tenants; its hearings are held only at 9 a.m. on weekdays.
Invented: a family-run restaurant feeds customers; the owners' children learn to cook, count change and speak with strangers by working there after school.
Invented: a congregation holds weekly services; its hall is also used for a food pantry, scout meetings and a polling place on election days.
Debrief Questions
Which card's latent function would be hardest to replace if the organization closed?
Which dysfunctions come from schedules or access rather than from the organization's purpose?
Which card involves more than one institution at once?
Teacher Note
The cards are invented and describe no real place. Accept any well-argued function. Push groups to describe what the organization does before judging it, and to name who benefits.
2
Ripple Chain: When One Institution Changes
15 minPairs
Each pair draws one invented change and traces its effects through at least three other institutions, writing one sentence per link: which task moves, which institution gains it, and who gains or loses.
The 4 Invented Changes
A town's only grocery store closes.
The school day ends at 5 p.m. instead of 3 p.m.
A large employer opens a free child-care center for its workers' children.
A library starts lending laptops and offering tax-form help.
Debrief
Compare the chains with Source 1, paragraph 2. Rowe saw tasks leave the household for the store and the shop. Which of today's chains move tasks into the family, and which move them out?
Modification for Struggling Students
Give the chain with the first link done: "The grocery store closes, so families (family) must drive to the next town (economy), so..."
3
School Then and Now: Reading Table 1
15 minIndividual, then pairs
Students use Table 1 to compute the share of the school term that the average pupil attended in each listed year (days attended divided by term length), then plan on paper a study of their own school's latent functions.
Steps
Compute days attended as a percent of term length for 1899-1900, 1959-60 and 1999-2000, to one decimal place.
Describe the trend in one sentence, then list two events or laws you would need to research before explaining it.
Plan, on paper only, a one-week study of what students do at school besides attending class: what you would count, whom you would ask, and how you would keep answers anonymous.
Plans stay on paper: students do not survey or observe anyone. A strong plan names the outcome to count, a sample beyond one friend group, and a privacy step.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: Length of the School Term and Days Attended, 1869-70 to 2017-18
National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2022, Table 201.10 (Table 1 above), public schools only. The light bar is the average length of the school term; the dark bar is the average number of days attended per pupil enrolled. Bars are drawn to scale (1.1 px per day).
Diagram 2: Why Visitors Came to the Harlow Library (Invented Data)
Invented data from Source 5: the main reason given by each of 60 visitors on two weekday afternoons. A small sample of people who already use the library at those hours.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
Homework: What Institutions Do
Directions: Part 1 uses Sources 1, 3 and 5 and Table 1. Quote every source you use with its paragraph number. Part 2 asks you to explain and to plan on paper only: do not survey or interview anyone.
Part 1: Reading and Computing (Problems 1-3)
Source 1, paragraph 2 describes what the family lost as its economic work moved to other institutions. Quote two losses Rowe names, then explain whether you agree that families today have lost "unity of effort," with one general example (not about your own family).
Using Table 1, find the change in percentage points in the share of 5- to 17-year-olds enrolled from 1869-70 to 2017-18, and the percent increase in the length of the school term over the same years, to one decimal place. Then explain one reason the table cannot show why schools took on a larger role.
Using Source 5, compute the percent of visitors who named each of the five main reasons. Sort the reasons into the library's manifest function and its latent functions, and explain why the sample warning matters for any claim about the whole town.
Part 2: Explaining and Planning (Problems 4-6)
Plan, on paper only, a study of the latent functions of your school's lunch period. Name what you would record, how you would choose a fair sample of students and days, and how you would keep every answer anonymous.
Choose one institution (family, education, economy, religion, government or health care). In one paragraph, explain two functions it performs for society, one way it depends on another institution, and one way it may serve some groups better than others. Use neutral language and no current political debate.
Source 3, paragraph 2 explains why groups such as the grange and the sewing circle arise. Name a present-day group or organization that fills a gap left by the home, the school or a place of worship, and explain which need it meets.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Functions
Each function is specific, correctly labeled manifest, latent or dysfunction, and tied to an institution
Functions named but one vague or mislabeled
Functions missing or confused
Evidence
Quotations with source and paragraph numbers, or correct figures, support each claim
One claim unsupported
No evidence
Computation
Problems 2 and 3 correct with work shown
One error
Several errors
Limits and fairness
Notes what the data cannot show; neutral language; plans on paper only
Mostly careful, with one overclaim
Treats a weak sample or old description as proof
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Sources 1 and 2 and Table 1 are printed in Direct Instruction, Source 4 in Guided Practice, and Sources 3 and 5 in Independent Practice. Source 1 is used in Questions 1-4, 15 and 20; Source 2 in Questions 5 and 6; Source 3 in Questions 7, 10 and 16; Source 4 in Questions 8, 9 and 17; Table 1 in Questions 11, 12 and 18; and Source 5 in Questions 13 and 19. Question 14 needs no printed source. Questions 1-14 are multiple choice; 15-20 are short answer.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 2, how does the farmer now choose what to produce?
Answer: A
Rowe writes that the farmer "tends to produce the particular crops that he can best cultivate and that will bring him the largest returns." B is what farmers did before the change ("Instead of producing all the crops that he may need"). C and D are not in the source.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 1, paragraph 1, which two functions does Rowe call the principal functions of the family?
Answer: B
Rowe writes that "the principal functions of the family are the domestic and the economic." The other pairs name functions he gives to other institutions or does not mention here.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 2, which outside business relieves the farmer's wife of making butter and cheese?
Answer: D
"Where there is a local creamery she is relieved of the manufacture of butter and cheese." A takes over making gowns, B delivers preserves, and C helps "supply the table" in towns: each is a different task in the same paragraph.
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 1, paragraph 2, what gain does Rowe see when families stop producing most of what they need?
Answer: D
Rowe sees "a gain in social solidarity, for the chain of mutual dependence reached farther and binds more firmly." A is the opposite: "each family is no longer self-sufficient." B is a loss he names ("Family life loses thereby much of its unity of effort"). C is not claimed.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which function of the country store in Source 2 is a latent (unintended) function?
Answer: C
A store is set up to sell and trade goods, so A, B and D ("an agency for insurance or real estate") are manifest economic functions. Being "a clearing-house for news and gossip" that "takes the place of a local press" is a result no one planned.
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 2, why does Rowe call the group around the store "the forum of democracy"?
Answer: B
The group was a forum "where politics were frequently on debate, where public opinion was formed," before members "tested conclusions at the ballot-box," which happened elsewhere, so A is wrong. C is not in the source, and D confuses the bulletin-board with the discussion.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 2, why have groups such as the grange and the sewing circle come into existence?
Answer: A
Rowe writes that they "continue to provide social centres of community life because other institutions do not satisfy," since the home, school and church "do not at best perform all the functions of neighborhood life." D overstates: those institutions still exist. B and C are not in the source.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 4, paragraph 1, which of the city government's functions requires a police and judicial force?
Answer: C
"Secondly, there are the regulative and reformatory functions, which make it necessary to organize and maintain a police and judicial force." A covers streets, public works and health inspection; B covers schools, libraries, parks and playgrounds; D belongs to the store in Source 2.
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 4, paragraph 2, why will regulation always be the main business of city government?
Answer: D
Rowe writes that "the interests of individuals clash," self-interest "often runs counter to the interests of another," and "the city government is their mediator." A contradicts this, and B and C are not his reasons.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 3, paragraph 2, what does Rowe say about the faults of the store club, the sewing circle and the gang?
Answer: A
Rowe writes that "they have their evils, but these are not of the nature of the institution," and that "the gang can be guided to worthy ends" and "low talk and scandal-mongering abolished." B is the opposite of his view, C is not in the source, and D ignores that he names the evils.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Using Table 1, how many more days did the average enrolled pupil attend public school in 2017-18 than in 1869-70?
Answer: B
166.9 - 78.4 = 88.5 days. A subtracts the term lengths (179.2 - 132.2), C subtracts the 1869-70 attendance from the 2017-18 term length (179.2 - 78.4), and D adds the two attendance figures instead of subtracting.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Using Table 1, about what percent of the school term did the average enrolled pupil attend in 2017-18?
Answer: C
166.9 / 179.2 = 0.931, about 93.1%. A reads the gap (179.2 - 166.9 = 12.3 days) as a percent, B is the 1869-70 figure (78.4 / 132.2), and D divides the wrong way (179.2 / 166.9).
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 5, what percent of the 60 visitors gave borrowing or returning books as their main reason?
Answer: B
21 / 60 = 0.35, so 35%. A reads the count as a percent, C adds the computer users ((21 + 14) / 60 = 58%), and D is the percent who gave some other reason (39 / 60).
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which example best shows a dysfunction of an institution?
Answer: D
A dysfunction works against some people's needs or the institution's own aims: a bank open only when customers work fails the people it is meant to serve. A and B are latent functions that help, and C is a manifest family function.
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Source 1, paragraph 2, explain how a change in the economy changed the role of the family. Name one task other than making clothing that moved, the institution that took it, and one effect Rowe sees on family life.
Model answer: As "manufacture, communication, and transportation" improved, the farm family stopped making most of its own goods: the creamery took over butter and cheese, and "the cannery lays down its preserves at her door." The family's economic role shrank to earning money: "Children are relieved of all responsibility," and "women's care are lightened by the stock of material in the shops" (Rowe's wording). Rubric: 1 point for a task with its new institution; 1 point for the effect, quoted; 1 point for linking the change in the economy to the change in the family.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Using Source 3, explain the grange's manifest function and two of its latent functions. Then say which latent function you think matters most to the community, and why.
Model answer: Its manifest function was economic: "to consolidate the common interests of a farming community and to stimulate economic prosperity" (paragraph 1). Latent functions include sociability ("music enlivens the meetings") and civic training: members learn "how to hold his own in debate in parliamentary fashion," so the grange is "a training-school for civic service." The civic training may matter most, because it prepares young adults to take part in town meetings, a need the school and home do not fully meet. Rubric: 1 point for the manifest function with evidence; 1 point for two latent functions with evidence; 1 point for a reasoned judgment.
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 4, paragraph 1 says that city government tends "to extend its functions in order to promote the various interests of its citizens." Choose the operation function or the educational and recreational functions, list the services Rowe names for it, and give two present-day services that extend it, without taking a side on any current policy debate.
Model answer: Operation, as Rowe lists it, covers "the maintenance of streets, the prosecution of various public works, and the care of health by inspection and sanitation." Present-day extensions include recycling pickup and restaurant health inspections. (Or: educational and recreational functions, "schools, public libraries, parks, and playgrounds," extended today by summer-camp programs and public computer labs.) Rubric: 1 point for Rowe's services listed correctly; 1 point for two fitting present-day services; 1 point for neutral description.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Table 1 shows that school terms grew longer and pupils attended more days between 1869-70 and 2017-18. Explain what this suggests about the role of education compared with the family and the workplace, and give two limits of the table.
Model answer: Pupils attended 88.5 more days a year by 2017-18, and enrollment rose from 64.7% to 94.3% of 5- to 17-year-olds, so schools took over a much larger share of children's time, training and supervision, work that families and workplaces once did. Limits: the table covers public schools only, so private schools and home schooling are missing; it counts days, not what was learned; and it shows a change but not its causes, such as attendance laws or less child labor. Rubric: 1 point for the interpretation with a figure; 1 point for the comparison with family or work; 1 point for two limits.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
The Harlow library board in Source 5 wants to know what role the library plays in the town. Explain why the volunteer's survey cannot answer that question well, and describe, on paper only, a better sample.
Model answer: Sixty visitors on two weekday afternoons are few, and they are all people who already use the library at those hours. The survey misses people who work until 5, families who never visit, and weekend or morning users, so it can say why some current visitors come, not what the library means to the whole town. A better plan would sample residents from across the town, at different times and days, including non-users, with anonymous answers. Rubric: 1 point for naming both weaknesses (size and who is included); 1 point for what the sample can and cannot show; 1 point for a workable improved sample.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Rowe claims in Source 1, paragraph 1 that every institution must satisfy "present human needs" to survive. Evaluate the claim with one example that supports it and one that complicates it.
Model answer: Support: in Source 2, the store circle "degenerated" once lodges and the grange met the same needs better, so an institution that stopped meeting needs weakened. Complication: an institution can survive through tradition, law or the interests of the people who run it even when it serves some groups poorly; the Harlow library in Source 5 keeps hours that fail people who work until 5, and it survives because it serves others well. So meeting needs helps explain survival, but the question "whose needs?" matters too. Rubric: 1 point for the claim explained; 1 point for a supporting example; 1 point for a complicating example and a judgment.
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06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does D2.Soc.9.9-12 mean?
D2.Soc.9.9-12 asks high school students to explain the role of social institutions in society. It goes one step beyond D2.Soc.8.9-12, which asks students to identify the important institutions: here they explain what those institutions do and why it matters.
What is a social institution in sociology?
A social institution is a lasting, organized pattern of roles, rules and relationships that meets a basic need of society. The family, education, the economy, religion and government are the usual examples; many courses add health care and the media.
Is a school an institution or an organization?
Both, at different levels. A single school is an organization; education, the whole pattern of schools, teachers, rules and expectations, is the institution. Students should say which level they mean.
What is the difference between manifest and latent functions?
A manifest function is an intended, recognized result; a latent function is unintended or unnoticed. A school's manifest function is teaching; a latent function is that students make friends and find a place to spend the day while their parents work. The terms come from the sociologist Robert K. Merton.
Do institutions only help society?
No. An institution can also have dysfunctions, results that work against some people's needs or its own aims, and it can serve some groups better than others. Good answers ask whose needs an institution meets.
How is D2.Soc.9.9-12 different from D2.Soc.10.9-12?
D2.Soc.9.9-12 explains what institutions do; D2.Soc.10.9-12 analyzes how social structures and cultures change. This lesson touches change through Rowe's account of tasks leaving the household, but the focus stays on function.
Why use a sociology textbook from 1916?
Rowe's book is in the public domain and describes institutions in plain language at a time when their roles were visibly shifting. Students also practice separating his descriptions from his dated judgments, and they check one claim against federal school data.
How can teachers assess D2.Soc.9.9-12?
Ask students to explain one institution's manifest function, latent function and a dysfunction with evidence, and to trace how a task moves between institutions. The quiz and homework rubric here score evidence, labels and stated limits.
How should religion be discussed in this lesson?
Only as a social institution: what congregations do for members and communities, such as rituals, mutual aid and meeting places. The lesson takes no position on any belief and asks students to describe, not judge.
Do students collect data for this lesson?
No. Students plan studies on paper only: they name what they would record, how they would choose a fair sample and how they would keep answers anonymous, but they do not survey or observe anyone.
07
Related Standards
6 standards
These standards connect to D2.Soc.9.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.
