Only in sociology would there be different definitions for a word depending on whether it has a lower or uppercase letter at the beginning. The definitions are very straightforward and easily understood- those being for the differences between institution and Institutions, and discourse and Discourse.
The one topic that I found particularly interesting this week was reverse-polarity questions. I am fascinated at the way in which people can influence or manipulate the responses of others based on the way that they phrase their questions. This way of talking reminds me of when you meet people for the first time and don't want to offend them, so you want to try and please them by giving them the answers that they want to hear, or the answer that they imply they want to hear. For example, when you're getting ready for a party with a couple of new friends and one of them asks, "this shirt doesn't look good, does it?"
To me, this question has already answered itself. The person asking it just wants an opinion from someone else to enforce their decision that is does not look good. Chances are, they wouldn't have worn the shirt even if I had told them it looked great.
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