SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Institutions
• Institution is a set of norms to acheive
some goal or activity that people feel is
important.
• OR
• Institution is an organized cluster of
folkways and mores centered around a
major human activity (Horton & Hunt,
2004).
The development of
Institutions
• The process of intitutionalization

• Institutionalization consists of the

establishment of definite norms which
assign status, positions and role functions
for behavior.
• A norm is a group expectation of behavior.
• Institutionalization involves replacement of
spontaneous or experimental behavior
with behavior which is expected,
patterned, regular and predictable.
• A set of social relationships has become
instituionalized when:
– A regular system of statuses and roles has
been developed
– The system of status and role expectations
has been generally accepted in the society.
Individual roles in Institutional
behavior

• Institutionalized role behavior is guided by

role expectations not by personal
preferences.
 Intitutional Traits
• Cultural symbols
• People have developed symbols which
serve as a shorthand reminder of the
institution.
• Codes of behavior
• The people involved in institutional
behavior must be prepared to carry out
their appropriate roles.
• Ideologies

• The norm defines how people are

expected to act; the idology explains why
they should act that way and why they
sometimes fail to act as they should.
 Institutional functions
• Every institution has two types of
functions:
• Manifest Functions
• These are functions which people assume
and expect the institution to fulfill.
• For example, families should care for
children.
• Latent functions
• These are unintended, unforeseen
consequences of institutions.
• For example, our economic institutions
not only produce and distribute goods,
they also sometimes promote
technological change.