Final answer:
Culture is a constantly evolving but integrated system that reflects societal organization. Social institutions, such as religion and economics, play a significant role in cultural changes, with some changing slower and others faster due to various influences like technology.
Step-by-step explanation:
Culture and Social Change
Culture is a dynamic construct that reflects the way societies organize and integrate their various parts, including material culture (like technology) and non-material culture (ideas and beliefs). As the student has noted, culture is always changing, yet it often remains integrated, preserving a core set of values and practices even as it evolves.
Social institutions play crucial roles in how cultures change. For example, religious institutions often change more slowly than others, acting as repositories of tradition and integrating multiple beliefs and practices over time. However, they can also be agents of rapid social change under certain circumstances. In contrast, institutions related to economics can change much faster, especially due to technological advances. These differences underpin the cultural evolution and how we organize our world.
The balancE between stability and change within culture is a complex phenomenon. Cultures adapt to innovations and shifts in technology and ideas, but they also retain distinctive features. Aspects related to the economy, politics, and religion continue to be major forces directing or mediating how societies adapt and evolve.