Social Institutions and Community Structure

Social Institutions, Civil Society and Local or Grassroots Level in the Community (Part I)

• Social institutions are social structures and mechanisms that govern member behavior.
• They are a group of social positions connected by social relations, performing a social role.
• Social institutions socialize community members.
• Social institutions are purposive, relatively permanent, structured, unified, and value-laden.

Functions of Social Institutions

• Social institutions simplify individual social behavior.
• They provide frameworks for social relations and roles.
• They act as coordination and stability agencies for culture.
• They control member behavior within a community.

Types of Social Institutions in the Community

Family

• The smallest social institution, responsible for producing and rearing the young.

• The basic unit of Philippine society.

• The primary agent of socialization, developing values, behaviors, and lifestyles.

• Filipino families are typically extended, with strong ties including "compadres" or sponsors.

• Functions of Family:

  • Reproduction and child-rearing
  • Cultural transmission (enculturation)
  • Socialization of children
  • Providing an environment for personality development and self-concept.
  • Providing social status.

Religion

• A system of beliefs and rituals binding people through shared worship, creating a social group.

• A set of beliefs and practices pertaining to a sacred or supernatural realm, guiding human behavior and providing meaning in life for a community of believers.

• Characteristics of Religion:

  • Belief in a deity.
  • Doctrine of salvation.
  • Code of conduct.
  • Religious rituals.

• Functions of Religion:

  • Social control
  • Preservation and transmission of knowledge, skills, spirituality, and cultural values and practices.
  • Instrument of change
  • Promotion of closeness/love

Education

• A form of learning where knowledge, skills, and habits are transferred between generations through teaching, training or other methods.

• Schools are primary social institutions, established for structure and social order.

• The teacher's role is to showcase reality to students.

• Functions of Education:

  • Schools are foremost social institutions.
  • Structure and function to preserve and extend social order.

Economics

• Concerned with factors determining production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
• Economy fulfills society's need for products, services, and an organized system of distribution.
• The economic system deals with what, how much, and for whom to produce, and how to distribute the outcome.

Government

• The institution solving public conflicts involving more than a few people.
• The primary functions of government are to protect basic human rights (life, liberty, and property).
• Government duty to fight poverty and improve citizens' quality of life by creating conducive environment for prosperity and economic growth.
• Government has a duty to defend citizens from internal and external enemies.

Civil Society in the Community

• Civil society is comprised of groups or organizations working in the citizenry's interest, operating outside governmental and for-profit sectors.
• It is about people living in a community or nation sharing interests, values, and purpose that benefit individuals' rights, liberty, and resources for personal development
• Includes: party-list, labor unions, non-profit organizations, churches, and service agencies that provide important societal services without excessive return expectation
• Often populated by registered charities, development NGOs, community groups, women's organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, social movements and businesses.
• Filipino concepts of pakikipagkapwa (holistic interaction) and kapwa (shared inner self) are foundational to Filipino civil society.
• Voluntary assistance (charity) connotes an equal status between the giver and receiver, embodied in concepts like damayan (peer assistance) and pagtutulungan (mutual self-help).
• Western notion of "kawanggawa" (charity) may have been introduced by Catholic missionaries.
• The Roman Catholic Church and its religious orders established the first civil welfare organizations in the Philippines, including parochial schools, orphanages, and hospitals.