Social Institutions: Foundations of Human Society

Social Institutions: Foundations of Society

Social institutions are fundamental structures created by human beings from social relationships within society. An institution is defined as an organized system of social relationships that embodies common values and procedures, meeting basic societal needs. These culturally approved patterns of behavior include prescribed roles and procedures, grouped to satisfy essential social requirements.

Major Categories of Social Institutions

Social institutions can be broadly grouped into two main categories:

  1. Informal or Social Institutions

    • Family
    • Marriage
    • Religion
    • Class
    • Caste
  2. Formal Institutions

    • Government/Political (e.g., Gram Panchayat)
    • Education (e.g., School)
    • Economy Services (e.g., Co-operative Society)

Detailed Examination of Informal Institutions

Family

The word ‘family’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Famulus’, meaning ‘servant’. Family is the most permanent and universal social institution, serving as the most basic unit for procreation, upbringing, and socialization of children. It is a biological and social unit composed of a husband, wife, and children, forming the fundamental unit of society and extension work. Families can be categorized into different types based on several criteria:

Types of Family Structures
  1. According to Blood Relations Living Together
    • Nuclear Family (or Primary Family): Consisting of a husband, wife, and their unmarried children.
    • Joint Family: Comprising more than one primary family, usually of close blood relations living together.
  2. According to Authority
    • Patriarchal Family: A family where the male head possesses inclusive powers, acting as the owner and administrator of family property rights.
    • Matriarchal Family: A family where the female head possesses inclusive powers, with the male subordinated to her. She is the owner and administrator of family property rights.
  3. According to Number of Spouses
    • Monogamous Family: Where one man marries one woman.
    • Polygynous Family: Where the man has more than one wife.
    • Polyandrous Family: Where the woman is married to more than one husband.
  4. According to Rule of Lineage/Ancestry
    • Patrilineal Family: Where the determination of descent and property inheritance follows the male line.
    • Matrilineal Family: Where descent and property inheritance occur along the female line.
  5. According to Rule of Residence
    • Patrilocal Family: Where the married couple and their children reside with the husband’s family.
    • Matrilocal Family: Where the couple establishes residence in the wife’s family after marriage.
    • Neolocal Family: Where the newlywed couple establishes a separate residence.

Marriage

Marriage is the public joining together, under socially specified regulations, of a man and a woman as husband and wife. The major forms of marriage include:

  1. Exogamy: Marrying outside one’s clan or social group.
  2. Endogamy: Marrying within one’s tribe or specific social group.
    • Levirate: A man marries his deceased brother’s widow.
    • Sororate: When several sisters are simultaneously the wives of the same man.
  3. Polygamy: One man marries more than one woman (often used as a general term for multiple spouses).
  4. Polyandry: One woman marries more than one man.
  5. Adelphical: When several brothers share the same wife (a form of polyandry).
  6. Hypergamy: When a man marries a woman of a lower social status.

Religion

Religion is a belief in the supernatural and an attitude towards superhuman powers. Beliefs and rituals are the two main components of religion everywhere. Religion provides a means by which individuals can face crises, ups, and downs in life with strength and fortitude.

Class

Social classes are defined as abstract categories of persons arranged in levels according to the social status they possess.

Caste

Caste is a social category whose members are assigned a permanent status within a given social hierarchy, and whose contacts are restricted accordingly.

Detailed Examination of Formal Institutions

Government

Government is a political institution that administers the regulatory functions of law and order and maintains security in society. As a welfare state, the Government is a system wherein all citizens can enjoy a minimum standard of employment, income, education, medical aid, social security, and other civic facilities.

Education

Education is the process of socialization that begins at home and continues through educational institutes and throughout life. Education plays an important role in the transmission of cultural heritage, social integration, socialization, and social change. It promotes social mobility and influences social stratification. Desirable changes in one’s attitude, skill, knowledge, and understanding are possible through education.

Economy

The economy provides the basic physical sustenance of society by meeting the needs for food, shelter, clothing, and other necessary supplies and services. These are essential for survival. Economic institutions include agriculture, industry, marketing, credit, and banking systems.