Basic social institutions

Social institution

Organized system in which norms of the society are organized around a principal function to achieve the
goals of society.

Features of social institution

1. It consist of organized procedure or system. There is a definite way of doing things which is
guided by the norms of the society.

2. It is a response to a particular need. It serves the time-tested solution to problems confronting

the society. Since it has survived the test of time, it becomes institutionalized.

3. It fulfills diverse functions. The persistence of an institution depends on the importance of

functions fulfilled by the said institutions.

ALL SOCIETIES HAVE INSTITUTIONS SUCH AS;

 FAMILY

 ECONOMY

 RELIGION

 GOVERNMENT

 EDUCATION

THEY ARE INTERRELATED AND INTERDEPENDENT WITH ONE ANOTHER

 Values and attitudes acquired in family - Strengthened or modified in CHURCH or in SCHOOL

 Knowledge and skills acquired in school - Applied in business and industries, or for certain
occupational roles in government or private enterprises

Marriage and family

FAMILY – humankind’s most basic and oldest social unit.

The family provides the child’s

 SOCIAL

 PSYCHOLOGICAL and

 EMOTIONAL needs – warmth, intimacy, affection, love, nurturance, care and security

MARRIAGE – a special contract or permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in
accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. (The New Family Code of the
Philippines)

TWO VIEWS OR ASPECT OF MARRIAGE

 1. LEGAL POINT OF VIEW – posits that marriage is a contract.

As a contract, it applies to a man and a woman who agree to live together as husband and wife

To fulfill to each other their corresponding duties and obligations

It is permanent, in contrast to other ordinary contracts

Once the contract of marriage is valid, the status of being married is created between the parties

ADULTERY or CONCUBINAGE – there is a corresponding penal and civic sanction

ADULTERY - is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her
husband and by the man, who has carnal knowledge of her knowing her to be married, even is the
marriage be subsequently declared void. (As defined under Article 333 of the Revised Penal Code)

The Elements of Adultery

1. The woman is married;

2. The woman had sexual intercourse with a man not her husband;
3. The man she had sexual intercourse is aware that she is married.

CONCUBINAGE - Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual
intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with
her in any other place. (As defined under Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code)

The Elements Of Concubinage

1. That the man must be married.

2. That he committed any of the following acts:

Keeping a mistress in the conjugal dwelling.

Having sexual intercourse under scandalous circumstances with a woman who is not his wife.

Cohabiting with her in any other place.

3. That as regards the woman she must know him to be married.

2. RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW - posits that marriage is a sacrament.

As a sacrament, it is an inviolable bond between a man and a woman

Only death can separate the spouses

THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE AND

THE FAMILY ISSUE

TRADITIONAL SOCIAL NORM – views marriage as a sacred phenomenon

 that is, the family and marriage are divine and holy institutions, created and maintained by God,
or some supreme being greater than human beings.

THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY NORMS AND THE NON-TRADITIONAL ALTERNATIVES

SECOND TRADITIONAL NORM – views the meaning of marriage and family as centering primarily on
social obligations.

 authority becomes centered on human beings

 meaning of marriage are to maintain social respectability

 Conform to kin and community wishes

 Maintain a “proper image” within society

THIRD MEANING OF MARRIAGE – suggest that families and marital relationship exist for individual.

 Concern is not with God or with society but with “me”

 If I choose to marry outside of my race, religion, ethnic group, social class and education level,
that is “my business”

 If I choose a “marriage-like” relationship by cohabitating, either heterosexually or homosexually,

that too is “my business”

Essential requisites for marriage

The Family Code of the Philippines provides in Article 2: No marriage shall be valid, unless these
essential requisites are present:

Essential requisites:

 Legal capacity of the contracting parties (18 years or upwards), who must be a male and a
female; and

 Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.

Article 3. Formal requisites of marriage are:

 Authority of the solemnizing officer;

 A valid marriage license except in cases provided in chapter 2 of this title; and

 A marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of the contracting parties before
the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and
wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age:

Article 4. The absence of any of the essential or formal requisites shall render the marriage “void ab
initio” (void from the beginning) except as stated in Article 35(a).

A defect in any of the essential or formal requisites shall render the marriage voidable as
provided in Article 45.

VOID AND VOIDABLE MARRIAGES

Art. 35. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning:
 1. Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of age even with the consent of parents or
guardians;

2. Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriages unless such
marriages were contracted with either or both parties believing in good faith that the
solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so;

3. Those solemnized without license, except those covered the preceding Chapter;

4. Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not failing under Article 41;

5. Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other; and

6. Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article 53.

ANNULMENT OF A MARRIAGE

Annulment – refers to the legal process of filing a petition in the appropriate court seeking a judicial
declaration of making a marriage null and void ab initio or from the beginning as if no marriage took
place. The legal effect, if petition, is granted is that the couple can re-marry.

GROUNDS FOR ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE

Art. 45. A marriage may be annulled for any of the following causes, existing at the time of the marriage:

1. That the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was eighteen years of
age or over but below twenty-one, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the
parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party, in that order,
unless after attaining the age of twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the other and
both lived together as husband and wife;

2. That either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason, freely
cohabited with the other as husband and wife;

3. That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party afterwards, with full
knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with the other as husband and
wife;

GROUNDS OF ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE

4. That the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence, unless
the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely cohabited with the other as
husband and wife;

5. That either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such
incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; or

6. That either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears
to be incurable.
LEGAL SEPARATION – refers to the legal process of filing a petition in the appropriate court seeking a
judicial declaration of legal separation for married couples. The legal effect, if petition is granted, is that
the couples are separated from bed and board but they cannot re-marry.

Art. 55. A petition for legal separation may be filed on any of the following grounds:

(1) Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common
child, or a child of the petitioner;

(2) Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religious or political
affiliation;

(3) Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the
petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such corruption or inducement;

(4) Final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than six years, even if pardoned;

(5) Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent;

(6) Lesbianism or homosexuality of the respondent;

(7) Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage, whether in the Philippines or
abroad;

(8) Sexual infidelity or perversion;

(9) Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner; or

(10) Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year.

Norms of marriage on the selection of potential marriage

NORMS OF MARIAGE:

1. Endogamy – is a rule that requires a person to marry someone from within his or her

own group – tribe, nationality, religion, race, community or any other social grouping.

Example: Marriage between Roman Catholics

2. Exogamy – is a rule that requires a person to marry someone from outside his or her own group.

Example: Marriage between a Filipino and an American

3. Sororate – prescribes that a widower marry the sister or nearest kin of the deceased wife.

4. Levirate – prescribes that a widow marry the brother or nearest kin of the deceased husband.

FORMS OF MARRIAGE – according to number of spouses or mates:

1. MONOGAMY – marriage between one man and one woman

2. POLYGAMY or PLURAL MARRIAGES – has three forms:

 a. Polygyny – one husband and two or more wives. Example: Muslim nations

b. Polyandry – one wife and two or more husbands. Example: Hindu Todas of Southern India

c. Group marriage – two or more husbands and two or more wives. Example: Kaingang of Brazil,
the Diere of Australia; the Chukchee of Siberia; and the Marquesan Islanders

BASIS ON CHOOSING A MARRIAGE PARTNER

1. PARENTAL SELECTION OR ARRANGED MARRIAGES

Families that have important stake in the type of spouse their son or daughter will take usually
practice this, E.g., Will he or she readily adjust to the family’s code of behavior? Will he or she share in
the family’s ideals and principles? Parents select their child’s spouse who would not imperil the
customary family relationships and practices.

2. ROMANTIC LOVE

Romantic love has become an important basis for marriage in our society. It is the theme of
most of our popular songs, the subject of many of our movies and television shows, and made active in
scores of popular books and magazine articles. By exalting romance, our society may be simultaneously
undermining the very relationship it tries to promote: stable, enduring, child-producing marriages.

THEORIES OR PERPECTIVES ON THE FAMILY

There are three theories which give unique and valuable insights into human family life. They
are as follows:

1. THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE – Functionalist say that if a society is to survive and maintain
itself across time, certain essential functions must be performed. Functionalist view institutions
as the principal structures for organizing and directing people’s activities so that key tasks are
executed. They consider the family to be the institution responsible for the following functions:

a. Regulation of sexual behavior e. care and protection function

b. Reproduction f. social placement or group status

c. Biological maintenance g. social control

d. Socialization

THEORIES OR PERPECTIVES ON THE FAMILY

2. THE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE

Human societies operate under conditions of perpetual scarcity for most of the resources that
people need or want. Scarcity in turn leads to competition both within and between groups, and people
enter a great many relationships as real or potential competitors. Viewed from this perspective, families
do not differ from one another so much as to the presence or absence of conflict but rather in its forms
and intensity.
 Much family conflict involves negotiating and bargaining rather that fighting. The term
“negotiating” and “bargaining” imply that some matters are in dispute and the parties are attempting to
reach a collective agreement. The family is also a system for regulating conflict so as to enjoy processes
of “give and take”. Thus, family members develop patterns for confronting each other while
simultaneously structuring intricate modes of cooperation.

3. THE SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERPECTIVE

The symbolic interactionist direct considerable attention to the symbolic environment in which
people carry out their daily activities. They point out that human beings differ to learn, think and
communicate symbolically (Burnt et. Al, 1979). The symbols that people employ have meaning and allow
them to mentally evaluate and formulate various courses of action. As such, individuals fit and align
their actions in married and family relationships by evolving shared definitions of the situation.

Symbolic interactionist stress that a couple’s relationship undergoes a continuous process of

definition or redefinition. Hence, marital and family life consists of an ongoing process of attributing
meaning to situations and fashioning relationships based on these interpretations.

PATTERNS OF FAMILY ORGANIZATION

A. BASED ON INTERNAL ORGANIZATION OR MEMBERSHIP

1. NUCLEAR FAMILY – composed of a husband and his wife and their children in a union
recognized by the other members of the society.

a. The family of orientation – is the family into which a person is born and where
he is reared or socialized. Consist of a father, mother, brothers and sisters.

b. The family procreation – is the family that such person established through marriage and
consist of a husband, a wife, sons and daughters.

2. EXTENDED FAMILY – composed of two or more nuclear families, economically and socially
related to each other.

EXTENSIONS:

1. PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS – unmarried children, and married children with their families
live with the parents.

2. HUSBAND AND WIFE RELATIONSHIP – polygynous marriage (marrying multiple spouses)

2 TYPES OF FAMILY STRUCTURES CORRESPONDING TO NUCLEAR AND EXTENDED FAMILIES

1. CONJUGAL FAMILY – corresponds to the nuclear family where priority is given to marital ties.
The core family consist of the spouses and their offsprings: blood relative are functionally
marginal and peripheral.

2. CONSANGUINEAL FAMILY – corresponds to the extended family where priority is given to blood
ties (those parents and children or between brothers and sister). The core family consist of
blood relatives, with spouses being functionally and peripheral.
B. BASED ON DESCENT

Descent- implies family genealogical ties of a person with a particular group of kinsfolk.

1. BILATERAL DESCENT – involves the reckoning of descent through both the father’s and mother’s
families.

2. PATRILINEAL DESCENT – involves the reckoning of descent through the father’s family only.

3. MATRILINEAL DESCENT – involves the reckoning of descent through the mother’s family only.

C. BASED ON RESIDENCE – refers to the arrangement on where the newlyweds will reside.

1. PATRILOCAL – The married couple live with or near the husband’s family

2. MATRILOCAL – The husband leaves his family and sets up housekeeping with or near his wife’s
family

3. NEOLOCAL – The married couple establish a new home; they reside independently of the
parents of either groom or bride

4. BILOCAL – It gives the couple a choice of staying with either the groom’s parents or the bride’s
parents

D. BASED ON AUTHORITY –this refers to whom the power and decision-making is vested in the family

1. PATRIARCHY – it is one in which the authority is vested in the oldest male in the family, often
the father.

2. MATRIARCHY – it is one in which the authority is vested in the mother of the mother’s kin.

3. EQUALITARIAN OR EGALITARIAN – it is one in which the husband and the wife exercise a more
or less equal amount of authority.

4. MATRICENTRIC – it is one in which the authority is vested in the mother due to prolonged
absence of the father.