In the previous chapter, I looked at Meredith's situation in a particular way - from the point of view of an individual. I introduced words that help in talking about personal experience like self, identity, truth, power and dissonance. A model of experience as encapsulating body, feelings and emotions, perceptions, motivations and volitions was outlined. These ideas provide a means of maintaining analytic focus on all aspects of lived actions. As people reflect on their experience they refer to forces external to them which are generated by the various groups and organizations to which they belong. Another way to explore what is happening in a culture is to start with ideas that aid understanding of institutions or organizations; that is, those groups of people who share whole interdependent sets of beliefs and practices that help to order their interactions and relationships. Institutions generate and purvey information specific to the nature of their core business. Looking at culture by examining the ways institutions operate helps us to talk about how individuals' choices can be constrained or facilitated by factors external to them.

As many other writers have pointed out, Catholicism is one of the three remaining active producers of male culture. Walby (1990) argues that the form and dimensions of patriarchy have changed since the second wave women's movement from private to public patriarchy. Where once middle-class men and women were segregated in the spheres of work and home, the control of women is now achieved by allowing them access to workplaces but keeping them subordinated within it.