Social Institution I

SOCI 2021

By: Tsegaye E.
BDU, 2023
 Chapter One
Introduction to Social Institutions
Definition

 It refers to an organization with a definite system of interaction or

bureaucracies.
 It is an organized network of values, norms, folkways and mores

through which a particular human society organizes itself and directs

its members in the performance of its activities to satisfy their needs.
 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.
 Therefore social institution is a pattern which has developed around

major social functions, goal or need.

 Social institutions are of vital significance to the fabric of any

society.
 They deal with some basic perennial problems and needs of

societies.
 Social institutions are composed of two elements:

1. persons who are engaged in interaction with one another. (Micro-

level interaction).
2.The interactions that will develop when the interaction becomes
routinized, regularized and habitualized.
 It refers to the study of patterns of social relationships. (Macro-level

interaction)
The Origin/ Evolution of Social Institutions

 Tomas Hobbes and John Locks states that human kind had lived in

the state of nature without the need for social institutions

/organizations.
 Individual freedom and live without the help of others.

 For them, man eventually discovered the need for organization and

the advantages they can provide, then a social contract was made and
 Agreed on the idea of “social contract” by which members of

society loose some of their freedom in order to get protection/help.

 But sociologists do not accept this idea and argue that social

institutions have emerged with the emergence of man as a distinct

species.
 The isolated individual in the state of nature have never existed as

man cannot live without the help of others.

 People are influenced by the norms and beliefs of society.

Basic Social Institutions

 The major components of social structure include culture, social

class, social status, roles, groups, and social institutions.

 In industrial societies, social institutions include the family, religion,

law, politics, economics, education, science, medicine, the military,

and mass media.
 These institutions have their own values, roles, and norm, and each

of them has far-reaching effects on our lives.

 Social institutions establish the context in which we live, shape our

behavior, and color our thoughts.

1. Family
 Reproduction is essential to the survival of society.

 Within the institution of family;

 Sexual relations among adults is regulated,

 People are cared for,

 Children are born and socialized, and

 Newcomers are provided an identity-a "lineage” that gives them a

sense of belonging.
 Just how these activities are carried out varies from society to society,

but family, whatever its form, remains the hub of social life in
virtually all societies.

2. Education
 In small, simple societies the family is the primary institution

responsible for socializing new members into the culture.

 When they become more complex, it becomes exceedingly difficult

for a family to teach its members.

 Most modern, complex societies have schools; primary, secondary,

college, professional­ that not only create and disseminate knowledge

and information but also train individuals for future careers and teach
them their "place" in society.

3. Religion
 Religion gives individuals a belief system for understanding their

existence as well as a network of personal support in times of need.

 It is one of the enduring and powerful institutions in human societies.

 In some societies, it provides enormous comfort to people; in others, it

has created irreparable divisions.

 People should feel that their life is purposeful and worth living.
4. Economy
 It involves a systematic ways of gathering resources, converting

them into goods and commodities, and distributing them to

members.
 It includes ways of coordinating and facilitating the operation of this

massive process. Eg. Banks, Insurances etc…..

 Members of the society have to produce, exchange, distribute, and

consume the necessities of life.

5. The Polity (Government and law)

 All societies face the problem of how to preserve order and avoid

chaos.
 The legal system provides explicit laws or rules of conduct,

mechanisms for enforcing those laws, mechanisms for settling

disputes, and mechanisms for changing laws that have become
outdated or for creating new ones.
 These activities take place within a larger system of governance in

which power, authority, and leadership are established and changed.

6. Mass media and communication:

 Includes newspapers, television, films, magazines, radio,
advertisements, video games and CDs.
 These are referred to as ‘mass’ media because they reach mass
audiences - audiences comprised of very large numbers of people.
 They are also sometimes referred to as mass communications.
7. Health and Medicine:
 Most modern societies have established a complex system of health

care that disseminate medical treatments.

 Doctors, nurses, hospital, pharmacies, drug and medical equipment

manufacturers, Patient and others all play an active role in the health
care institution.
 In general, social institutions are highly interrelated.

 For instance, ,although much dis­semination of information occurs in

the schools, families and churches still play a major role in teaching
society’s members how to get along.
 Major sociological theories/perspectives
A. The Structural- Functionalist Perspective
 It is one of the dominant theories both in Anthropology and

Sociology. Sometimes called functionalism.

 To explain how the relationships among the parts of society are

created and how these parts are functional and dysfunctional.

 It focuses on consensus, social order, structure, and function in

society.
 Functionalists sees society as a complex system whose parts work

together to promote solidarity and stability.

 It states that “the existing social structure is essential for the proper

functioning of the society as a system.”

 The theory focuses on order, structure, function and equilibrium.

 The parts of a social system are interdependent just as the human

body is made up of interrelated parts, each of which plays a role in

maintaining the whole.
 Example; Military (for weapon) → Industry/ Manufactures (for

trained or educated man power) → schools (for budget) →

Government (for revenue or income, or protection) → society or
military.
 A change in one part of a society leads to change in other parts.

 For Example; A major change in the economy, for example, may

change the family structure and political system.

 Societies are not perfectly integrated,

 Societies tend to return to the state of stability or equilibrium after

some upheaval has occurred,

 Dynamic equilibrium; changes and maintains most of its original

structure over time.

 Functional theory stresses the role played by each component

part in the social system, where as the structural perspective

suggests an image/system of society.
 The overall goal of the various social structures is to maintain

consensus, stability, harmony and order (not conflict) in society.

 For a system to operate effectively each of the individual sub-
systems must perform its task and function.
 The major argument is “society shapes the individuals.”

B. The Conflict Perspective

 It is rooted in the writings of Karl Marx, class conflict.

 Assumed that society is a complex system characterized by inequality

and conflict that generate social change.

 Doffer from structural functional paradigm by high lighting not

integration but division based on social inequality.

 So rather than identifying how social structure promotes the operation

of society as a whole, this approach focus on how these patterns

 Conflict, rather than consensus, and constant social change, rather

than stability emanating due to the existence of scarcity of

resources for achieving goals.

 “instead of people working together to further the goals of the social

system, people are seen achieving their will at the expense of others”.

 For Marx, the economic system of a society shapes all other

aspects of social life and breeds persistent social conflict.

 The only way for workers to overcome their oppression is through

social action and revolution.

 The struggle between social classes was the major cause of change in

society.
 Not all conflict theorists are Marxist.

 Weber, for instance, is also a conflict theorist but not Marxist.

 Whereas Marx focused on class conflict as the “engine” of

historic change, other see conflict among groups and individuals
as a fact of life in any society.
 Like the functionalists, conflict theorists recognize the existence

of social structures
 But, instead of structures existing for the good of the whole

system, social structures (institutions) serve the interest of the

powerful.
 C. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective-- social action theory

 Raised the idea from American sociologists George Herbert Mead,

Charles Horton Cooley, and Herbert Blumer

 It is concerned with how the self develops, the meaning people

attach to their own and others action, how people learn these
meanings and how meanings evolve.
 Assumed that society is the product of the everyday interaction of

individuals.
 It is primarily concerned with human behavior on a personal level.

 The different social institutions are ultimately created, maintained,

and changed by people interacting with one another.

 Symbols play an important role in interaction according to the

symbolic interactionist perspective.

 They are shared by people and used to communicate with one

another.
 Symbol can be any kind of physical phenomena-word, object, color,

sound, feeling, odor, movement, or taste-to which people attach a

name, meaning or value.
 These symbols are shared by people and used to communicate with

one another.
 Human beings are unique because most of what they do with one

another has meaning beyond the concrete act.

 People do not act or react automatically but carefully consider what

they are going to do.

 The expectations and interactions of other people greatly affect each

individual’s actions.
 “Structures” found in society are nothing but human creations.

 For them, society is always in a process of being created, and this

occurs through interaction, communication and negotiation.

 Social order is maintained through shared understanding of

everyday behavior and the social meanings of symbols.

Part II: The Family

 Many scholars argue that family is a group of persons united by the

ties of marriage, blood or adoption constituting a single household.

 A group of persons directly linked by kin connections, the adult

members of which assume responsibility for caring for children.

 “a social group characterized by common residence, economic

cooperation, and reproduction”. George Murdock

 A family is a socially approved, heterosexually arranged group

made up of male and female and their children through which

procreation and socialization taking place.

 However, others challenge this definition.

 It does not match the reality of family life in contemporary

society.

 It will include of living arrangements such as single-parent

households, unmarried couples, lesbian and gay couples, and

multiple-generation families that include grandparents, parents,
and children.

 Relationships, an economic unit and care for any young, and

identity attached to the group are important concepts to define

family.

 Sexual expression and parent-children relationships are a part of

most, but not all, family relationships.

Global View of the Family

1. Composition

Families of Orientation and Procreation

 The family of orientation is the family to which a person is born and

in which early socialization usually takes place.

 The family of procreation is the family a person forms by having or

adopting children.
 It includes the relationship between a husband and wife (marriage r/n)

Extended and Nuclear Families

A. Extended Families: common in pre-industrial societies.

 Consisting of parents and children and as well as other kin.

 An extended family is a family unit (in most cases) that includes

three or more generations.

 Family based on consanguine “shared blood”.

B. Nuclear family:

 A family composed of one or two partners and their dependent

children all of whom live apart from other relatives.

 Resulted because of industrialization, social mobility and migration.

 A nuclear family is made up of a "couple” and their dependent

children.
Basic differences between nuclear and extended family;
A. Number of their members; fewer in nuclear families,

B. The extended families usually persist over generations,

C. For extended families blood is more emphasized criterion but for

nuclear families marriage (affinial kin) is the main emphasis.

D. Organizational principles; extended families are more complex.

2. Kinship Patterns: To whom are we related?

 The state of being related to others is called kinship.

 A social relationship based on family relatedness, as culturally

defined on marriage or on adoption.

Major Descent Patterns
A. Patrilineal descent
 The males are for more important than the females b/c they are
considered to be responsible for the perpetuation of the group.
 Therefore, the rights duties, etc, of the family or kin group is
transmitted through using the male line.
 Only the father’s relatives are important in terms of property,
inheritance, and emotional ties.
B. Matrilineal descent
 The duty of transmitting the rights and the duties from one
generation to the next falls on the female members of the group.
 Only the mother and her relatives are significant.

 Common in Nayaran and Toda in South India.

C. Bilateral descent (double descent)
 A descent reckoned both matrilineally and patrilineally, and it is very

rare.
 Property is divided between patrilineal line and matrilineal line

possessions.
 Unlike bilateral descent, descents are also called unisexual or

unilateral.
Functions of the kinship group

1. Mutual aid and security,

2. Defines and regulated marriage and sexual relations,

3. Legal Function and Conflict Resolution

4. Economic Function,

5. Religious or ceremonial function,

6. Continuity over generations,

3. Authority Patterns: Who rules?

 Who rules the family?

 Society varies in the way that power is distributed within the family.

 There are three types of authority patterns within the family;

A. Patriarchy
 A society expects males to dominate in all family decision making.

 The male members of family make the major decisions.

 The authority resides in the father and his kinsmen.

B. Matriarchy

 The major decision making power in the family resides on the mother

and her close relatives.

 Women have greater authority than men. Not common Eg. Native

American tribal societies.

C. Egalitarian

 Authority in the family resides both on the father and the mother more

or less equally.

 Spouses are regarded as equals i.e wives may hold authority in same

spheres, husbands in others.

4. Residence Patterns: Where to live?

A. Patrilocal residence:
 The most common type of family residence.

 Newly married couples reside within the premises of the husband’s

parent’s residence.
B. Matrilocal residence:
 Newly wed couples reside with in the premises of the wife’s parent’s

residence.
C. Neolocal residence:
 Newly married couples reside on their own house independent of their

parents.
Theoretical Views on the Family

1. The Functionalist Theory of the Family

 This theory looks at families in terms of the functions they perform

for individuals and for the larger society.

 These functions are seen as including:

 Biological reproduction: replication,

 The nurturance and socialization of children,

 Economic and psychological support: economy, affection, love, and

emotional support,
 Regulation of sexual behavior,

 Provision of social status.

Criticism to wards functionalist theory of family
a) Other institutions could fulfill the same functions as family and that
therefore functionalism does not explain why families are structured the
way they are.

b) Overlook its negative aspects. They overlook how it helps to perpetuate

unequal power relations, gender inequality, and even violence.

2. Conflict and Feminist Perspectives of the family

 View the functionalist perspective on the role of the family in society as

idealized and inadequate.

 Rather than operating harmony for all members, families are arenas of

social inequality and conflict.

 Families in capitalist economies Vs workers in a factory.

 Women dominated by men Vs workers dominated by managers.

 The effect that class conflict has on the family.

 The exploitation of the lower classes by the upper classes contributes

to family problems such as high rates of divorce and overall family

instability.
 Feminist perspectives on inequality in families focus on patriarchy

(men's domination over women) rather than class.

 Conflict theory focuses on how the family serves to reproduce social

inequality; as a “gender factory’’ creating social stratification.

 Dangerous not only for women but also for children and the elderly.
Criticisms towards conflict theory of family:

a) It focuses on the negative aspects of family relationships, overlook its

important positive functions.

b) Family members are not prisoners but participants in a crucial social

institution that they themselves help to construct through their daily

interactions.

3. Interactionist View of Family

 Explains that reality of family life is constructed by members in their

daily interaction.
 Interested in how individuals interact with one another at micro level.

 As family members share many activities over time, they build

 Eg, When there is father’s support for their children minimize their

behavioral problem.

Marriage and the Family

 In traditional norms marriage seen as a sacred phenomenon, devine

institution, created and maintained by God.

 Others consider it as a mechanism that provides for the legitimation of

children.
 “socially accepted union of individuals in husband and wife roles with

the key function of legitimation of parenthood”. Iro Reiss

 “a bundle of rights; fatherhood, legal motherhood, sexual access ,

services, property and relationship of affinity”. Leach

Common criteria of marriage
o It is a heterosexual union,

o It legitimizes sexual relationships and child bearing,

o It is a binding relationship that assumes permanence,

o It is a public affair rather than a private personal matter,

o It involves reciprocal and mutual right and obligations between the

spouses,
o It is a highly patterned and institutionalized arrangement.

Forms of marriage

 Monogamy: one women and one man are married only to each other

at a time. Includes bigamy (new marriage before settling the first).

 Serial Monogamy: a person may have several spouses in his or her

life time, but only one spouse at a time (can be divorce, death…..).
 Polygamy: a marriage between one member of a sex and two or

more members of the opposite sex at the same time.

 An individual can have several husbands or wives simultaneously.

 Polygyny: the marriage of a man to more than one women at the

same time.
 sororal polygyny (when wives are sisters eg. Zulu’s ).

 non-sororal polygyny (when wives are not sisters).

 Polyandry: refers to a marriage in which a woman can have more

than one husband at the same time. When there are small number of
 Fraternal polyandry: husbands are all brother or related (levirate).

 Non- fraternal polyandry: the husbands are not brothers or related.

 Unlike Polygyny, polyandry creates one problem; the biological

fathers of the new born are not known, and no tracing pattern is
possible.

 But uses as a mechanism of adjustment to poverty,

 To fill the unbalanced sex ratio, and

 It enables to keep the birth rate low.

Aspects of mate selection

 Endogamy (with in): allows mating within the same group.

 Exogamy (Out side): required to marry out side the group.

Divorce
 In the past the death of one or both of the parents was the major cause

for family disorganization. But now it is because of divorce.

Factors associated with divorce:

 Greater social acceptance of divorce,

 Considered as a legal ending to un happy marriage,

 To have fewer children,

 economic and emotional hopeless,

 The rise of individualism,

 Romantic love fades,

 Many of today’s marriages are stressful,

 Legally, a divorce is easier to get,

 The growing of secularization,

 The growth of the privatized nuclear family,

 Higher expectations in marriage.

Diverse Lifestyles
 Cohabitation: living together & sexual relationship without being

married.
 Remaining single: maintaining a single lifestyle for a longer period.

 Lesbian and Gay relationships

 Marriage without children

 Finally, industrialization (modernization) changed family roles and

 f U ni t O ne
End o