CULT 818: Social Institutions

CULT 818-001: Social Institutions
(Fall 2025)

07:20 PM to 10:00 PM T

East Building 134

Section Information for Fall 2025

Course Overview (adapted from and with thanks to Dr. Roger Lancaster) 
This course explores how social institutions -- like family, education, media and government—structure collective life and shape social identity. Institutions are not just reflections of personal will; they organize behavior, streamline decision-making and mediate between individuals and broader social forces. 
We will examine institutions as historically contingent and interconnected systems that both endure and evolve. Drawing on Marxist and functionalist paradigms in past and contemporary scholarship, we’ll analyze how institutions legitimize social relations, reproduce inequality and respond to political and economic change. 
Central to our inquiry is the question of identity -- not as a fixed trait, but as something socially constructed and institutionally shaped. Cultural Studies provides the framework for this analysis, emphasizing the role of social institutions in mediating between political economy and the field of culture; and the historical contingencies and social conjunctures in which identities and institutions emerge and are transformed.

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Considers theories of institutional practice and social structures, from Max Weber to Michel Foucault. Covers prisons, bureaucracies, museums, schools, political parties, and social movements. Notes: This course is designed for the PhD student. Those students not admitted to a PhD program are required to contact the instructor.Offered by Cultural Studies. May not be repeated for credit.
Recommended Prerequisite: Admission to a doctoral program, or permission of instructor.
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Cultural Studies.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.