Lesson 2

Cultural, Social and Political Institutions

Forms of Social organizations

Humans are by nature social animals and apart from
sustained social relationship, humans would not enjoy life in
isolation (Doda,2005). Human beings are social animals by nature
and whatever they do or say are related to social environment. As
human beings have their lives have meanings in organized
relationships. Whether they eat, drink, work, play, worship,
recreate or learn, they do it in social group context. No one enjoys
alone outside organized network of social interaction and
relationships. Although human beings have the capacity for
privacy, no one can enjoy being alone for a sustained period of time,
without inflicting upon oneself adverse effects.

People then organize themselves or forge relationship with

one another in various aspects. By social organization, we refer to
the pattern of individual and group relations. The term
"organization" signifies technical arrangement of parts in a whole,
and

KINSHIP refers to human relationship, that is, a person’s

relationship by blood or marriage to another person or others. It
creates a network of social relationship that are basic and essential
in the lives of most humans in most societies.

A. KINSHIP BY BLOOD
Kinship patterns basically include people related either by
descent or by marriage. Kinship by blood - refers to
relationship by descent, that is, the relationship that arises in
one’s group of origin (descent group) or that which refers to
genetic relatedness.
Kinds of Kinship by blood:
 1. CONSANGUINITY – relationship by blood or by descent
of the same ancestor, and is related to genealogy – a line of
descent directly traceable from an ancestor.
2.PATRILINEAL – kinships is reckoned through his or her
father’s line of descent.
3.MATRILINEAL – kinship is seen through his or her
mother’s line of descent.
4.BILATERAL – most common form of descent pattern that
traces kinship both from the mother’s and the father’s line of
descent.

B. KINSHIP BY MARRIAGE
Marriage – a socially or ritually recognized union or legal
contract between spouses
 Affinity – the kinship by marriage or the human relation
through marriage.
 Endogamy - a partner must be selected from a person’s
own social group.
 Exogamy – a partner must be chosen from a group different
from one’s own.

MONOGAMY AND POLYGAMY

Monogamy refers to the marriage of one woman to one
man at a time.
Serial monogamy – if remarriage is allowed following
divorce or death of a partner.
Polygamy is the custom of having more than one legal
spouse at the same time.

C. KINSHIP BY RITUAL
In some societies, kinship relationships extend to people such
as an individual has religious, economic, or political relationship
with or other kinds of social ties such as friendship.
COMPADRAZGO – Godparenthood
D. FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD
Family refers to a group of people living
together and functioning as a
single household, usually
consisting of parents and their
children. The family is the most
important social unit in any
society. It is the building block of
any society.
The family fulfils two basic
functions. These are
reproduction and socialization. Society reproduces or recreates
itself through the family. Children are born in the family to join the
society. Parents play the roles of nurturing, caring for, teaching and
training children; children are expected to play the roles of good
and teachable trainees. The way parents nurture, train and care for
their children varies according to forms of family organization.

Types of Family:

NUCLEAR FAMILY- or Elementary Family is a family group

consisting of a pair of adults, and their offspring, regardless of
the number, as nuclear family may have any number of children.
Also called as conjugal family.

EXTENDED FAMILY- is a family which extends beyond the

immediate family, the basic example of which is a married
couple and his children that live with either the husband or the
wife’s parents.

RECONSTITUTED FAMILY refers to a family which is

formed by the joining of two adults through marriage,
cohabitation, or civil partnership, in which either one or both of
the adults have a child or children from a previous relationship
living in their home.
TRANSNATIONAL FAMILY are those which “adopt separate
living arrangement in two or more countries but retain close
links with their homeland” and also called separated families.
a. POLITICAL KINSHIP – kinship relations may extend to
people an individual or a family has political affiliation with.
b. POLITICAL DYNASTY – may refer to the system of
succession of political leaders from the same family or clan
that maintains power for many generations.
POLITICAL ALLIANCE – as political parties may be
formed by the joining of forces of political families, political
alliances may be created by the collaboration among some
political parties.