Social Institutions

A social institution is a complex, integrated set of social norms organized

around the preservation of a basic societal value. Obviously, the sociologist
does not define institutions in the same way as does the person on the
street. Lay persons are likely to use the term "institution" very loosely, for
churches, hospitals, jails, and many other things as institutions.
Sociologists often reserve the term "institution" to describe normative
systems that operate in five basic areas of life, which may be designated as
the primary institutions. (1) In determining Kinship; (2) in providing for the
legitimate use of power; (3) in regulating the distribution of goods and
services; (4) in transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next; and
(5) in regulating our relation to the supernatural. In shorthand form, or as
concepts, these five basic institutions are called the family, government,
economy, education and religion.
The five primary institutions are found among all human groups. They are
not always as highly elaborated or as distinct from one another as into the
United States, but, in rudimentary form at last, they exist everywhere. Their
universality indicates that they are deeply rooted in human nature and that
they are essential in the development and maintenance of orders.
Sociologists operating in terms of the functionalist model society have
provided the clearest explanation of the functions served by social
institutions. Apparently there are certain minimum tasks that must be
performed in all human groups. Unless these tasks are performed
adequately, the group will cease to exist. An analogy may help to make the
point. We might hypothesize that cost accounting department is essential to
the operation of a large corporation. A company might procure a superior
product and distribute it then at the price which is assigned to it, the
company will soon go out of business. Perhaps the only way to avoid this is
to have a careful accounting of the cost of each step in the production and
distribution process.
Social institutions
Each society has its own social institutions. These are not buildings or
places, but structures of relationship, obligation, role and function. These are
social concepts and practices, but also involve cognitive structures.
Members of a society have a similar mental concept of right and wrong,
order and relationships, and patterns of good (positive values). Those who
do not honor these concepts are "criminals," or at least antisocial.
Linguist Noam Chomsky provides a good model for cognitive culture. He
presents a coherent theory of how children create language by organizing
the early language experiences around them by using a native analytical
"faculty" in the human psyche. The same pattern applies to culture. Let's

look at some of the social institutions that insiders learn through their
socialization experiences, which affect insider identity.
Political: Every society has an organizational principle, with authority figures,
with defined roles and obligations. There are written or oral laws. Some
societies are tightly knit, while others are very loosely organized. The Luo
people, for instance, traditionally had no chiefs, the society being organized
around families.
Economic: This involves the production of goods and the organization of
labor, the provision of care and similar factors, not just money, buying and
selling. Every society has systems of provision or procurement. Economic
and political institutions are related.
Religious: This entails beliefs about the world, universal order and good,
spiritual beings and powers, as well as rituals and ceremonies. For many
peoples, religion is not separated into a separate sphere of life but is part of
the fabric of society, making "conversion" difficult, because of the "religious"
identity of the society. Concepts of loyalty, identity, faithfulness and
personhood are in this category. Political and religious institutions are often
related. This may involve "religious" ceremonies of cultural identity.
Linguistic: Language usages may involve role and function, affecting social
identity or status, so can be considered "institutions." There are often subtle
but significant meanings in the languages used or choice of words used in
certain situations or topics.
Educational: Even in "primitive" societies, there are highly developed
methods of conveying knowledge and values. These methods will affect
reception of new ideas. The effective communicator learns and uses the
insider formats and channels.
Aesthetic (Art and Architecture): The artistic self-expressions of a people
become part of their cultural identity. These are also communication media.
Think of "gothic architecture," "Dixieland Jazz," "Shakespeare," "Magnum,"
"Snow White."
These significant factors in a society's identity are important for
understanding the society and integration into the society. An outsider
normally has to become aware of these social institutions to gain acceptance
and credibility in the host society.
1.3.4 Social Institutions
Definition: Groups of persons banded together for common purposes having
rights, privilages, liabilities, goals, or objectives distinct and independant
from those of individual members.

Definition Source: Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary

Social Institutions Categories:
1.3.4.1 Community: A group of people residing in the same locality and under
the same government or a group or class having common interests.
(Definition Source: Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary)
1.3.4.2 Community Service Organizations: Non-profit, charitable
organizations dedicated to assisting others meet basic needs, resolve
personal or family problems, or improving their community. This includes
soup kitchens, rotary clubs, Boys and Girls Clubs, scouts, etc. (Definition
Source: None)
1.3.4.3 Educational Institutions: Social organizations dedicated to teaching
skills and knowledge to individuals. (Definition Source: None)
1.3.4.4 Ethnic or Cultural Groups: A social organization consisting of many
extended family groups related by a distant, common ancestry. (Definition
Source: None)
1.3.4.5 Extended Family: A social organization consisting of several nuclear
family groups related by common ancestry. (Definition Source: None)
1.3.4.6 Families and Households: A fundamental social group consisting
especially of a man and a women and their offspring; a domestic
establishment including the members of a family and other who live under
the same roof. (Definition Source: Webster's II New Riverside University
Dictionary)
1.3.4.7 Governments and Legal Institutions: The office, function, authority, or
organization that sets forth and administer public policy and the affairs. A
government consists of a legislative branch which writes law and policy,
executive branch which executes law and policy, and judicial branch which
enforces law and policy. This includes local, state, and national governments.
This includes all branches of the military. (Definition Source: Monitoring
Social Indicators for Ecosystem Management)
1.3.4.8 Health Care Institutions: Social institutions that specialize in
monitoring public health, providing health maintenance, and treating illness
and injury. (Definition Source: None)
1.3.4.10 Intellectual and Cultural Organizations: Social organizations
dedicated to search for new knowledge or the development and preservation
of art. (Definition Source: None)

1.3.4.11 Market Institutions: Social organizations dedicated to barter and

trade. This includes all corporations and businesses. (Definition Source:
None)
1.3.4.12 Political and Non Government Organizations: Social organizations
dedicated to influencing the processes of government; political parties. This
includes non-governmental organizations and groups of people with common
goals, interests, or ideals formally bound together by a common set of rules
or by-laws that influence public policy. (Definition Source: None)
1.3.4.13 Religious Organizations: Groups of people who share a common,
codified belief in and reverence for a supernatural power acepted as the
creator and governor of the universe. (Definition Source: Webster's II New
Riverside University Dictionary)
Social Institutions
by D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca-Zinn
From: In Conflict and Order, 9th Edition, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001 (pp.
47-49)
One distinguishing characteristic of societies is the existence of a set of
institutions. The popular usages of this term are imprecise and omit some
important sociological considerations. An institution is not anyone or
anything that is established and traditional (for example, a janitor who has
worked at the same school for forty-five years). An institution is not limited to
specific organizations, such as a school or a prison or a hospital. An
institution is much broader in scope and importance than a person, a
custom, or a social organization.
Institutions are social arrangements that channel behavior in prescribed
ways in the important areas of social life. They are interrelated sets of
normative elements norms, values, and role expectationsthat the people
making up the society have devised and passed on to succeeding
generations in order to provide permanent solutions to societys perpetually
unfinished business. Institutions are cultural imperatives. They serve as
regulatory agencies, channeling behavior in culturally prescribed ways.
Institutions provide procedures through which human conduct is patterned,
compelled to go, in grooves deemed desirable by society and this trick is
performed by making the grooves appear to the individual as the only
possible ones (Berger, 1963:87).
For example, a society instills in its members predetermined channels for
marriage. Instead of allowing the sexual partners a host of options, it is
expected in U.S. society that the couple, composed of a man and a woman,

will marry and set up a conjugal household. Although the actual options are
many the partners choose what society demands. In fact, they do not
consider the other options as valid (for example, polygamy polyandry or
group marriage). The result is a patterned arrangement that regulates sexual
behavior and attempts to ensure a stable environment for the care of
dependent children. The current demand by state legislatures that gay
partners should not be allowed to marry illustrates the strict institutional
demands of society over individual behavior.
Institutions arise from the uncoordinated actions of multitudes of individuals
over time. These actions, procedures, and rules evolve into a set of
expectations that appear to have a design, because the consequences of
these expectations provide solutions that help maintain social stability. The
design is accidental, however; it is a product of cultural evolution.
All societies face problems in common. Although the variety of solutions is
almost infinite, there is a functional similarity in their consequence, which is
stability and maintenance of the system. Table 2.1 cites a number of
common societal problems and the resulting institutions. This partial list of
institutions shows the type of societal problems for which solutions are
continually sought. All societies, for instance, have some form of the family,
education, polity, economy and religion. The variations on each theme that
are found in societies are almost beyond imagination. These variations, while
most interesting, are beyond the scope of this book. By looking at the
interrelated norms, values, and role expectations that provide pat solutions
to fundamental societal problems we can begin to understand U.S. society.
Institutions are, by definition, conservative. They are the answer of custom
and tradition to questions of survival. Although absolutely necessary for unity
and stability, institutions in contemporary U.S. society are often outmoded,
inefficient, and unresponsive to the incredibly swift changes brought about
by technological advances, population shifts, and increasing worldwide
interdependence.
As we look at the institutions of U.S. society we must not forget that
institutions are made by people and can therefore be changed. We should be
guided by the insight that even though institutions appear to have the
quality of being sacred, they are not. They can be changed, but critical
examination is imperative. Social scientists must look behind the facades.
They must not accept the patterned ways as the only correct ways. This is in
the U.S. heritage-as found in the Declaration of Independence. As Skolnick
and Currie have put it,
Democratic conceptions of society have always held that institutions exist
to serve man, and that, therefore, they must be accountable to men. Where
they fail to meet the tests imposed on them, democratic theory holds that

they ought to be changed. Authoritarian governments, religious regimes, and

reformatories, among other social systems, hold the opposite: in case of
misalignment between individuals or groups and the system, the
individuals and groups are to be changed or otherwise made unproblematic.
(Skolnick and Currie, 1970:15)