Sociology Chapter: Social Institutions

Social Institutions and Society

• A social institution is a group of social positions connected by social relations. It performs social roles, such as the education system, religion, the political system, the family, and the economic system.
• Social institutions are purposive, relatively permanent, structured, unified structures, and value-laden.
• The family is the smallest social institution whose unique function is producing and rearing the young. It is the basic unit of society.
• Families are characterized by strong family ties, loyalty among members, where individual interests are sacrificed for the group, and extended kinship to "compadres" or sponsors.

Functions of the Family

• Reproduction of the human race and rearing the young (both biological and social).
• Cultural transmission or enculturation.
• Socialization of the child.
• Providing affection and a sense of security.
• Providing an environment for personality development and growth of self-concept.
• Providing social status.

Kinds of Family Patterns

According to Membership

• Conjugal or Nuclear Family: Husband, wife, and children.
• Consanguine or Extended Family: Married couple, their parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

According to Terms of Marriage

• Polyandry: One woman married to two or more men.
• Polygyny: One man married to two or more women.
• Cenogamy: Two or more men mate with two or more women in a group marriage.
• Monogamy: One man married to one woman.

According to Line of Descent

• Patrilineal: Descent is recognized through the father's line.
• Matrilineal: Descent is recognized through the mother's line.
• Bilineal: Descent is recognized through both the father's and mother's line.

According to Place of Residence

• Patrilocal: Married couple lives with the parents of the husband.
• Matrilocal: Married couple lives with the parents of the wife.
• Neolocal: Married couple maintains a separate household.

According to Authority

• Patriarchal: Father is the head and plays a dominant role in decision-making.
• Matriarchal: Mother is the head and makes major decisions.
• Egalitarian/Equalitarian: Both mother and father share in making decisions, are equal in authority.

Some other Sociological Issues on the Family

• Sibling structures and family relations.
• Sexuality, sexual attitudes, and family relations. Specific issues include :
  • Heterosexuality
  • Homosexuality
  • Bisexuality, etc.
  • Family violence & disability.
• Paraphilias (incest, zoophilia & beastality, pedophilia, necrophilia, celibacy, sadism, fetishism, transvestism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, masochism).

Education

• Education - refers to the contributions of the school to the development and maintenance of education across different society levels.

Multiple Functions of Education

• Technical/economic: School's contributions to technical or economic development and needs of individuals, the institution, the local community, society, and the international community.
• Human/social: School's contributions to human development, and relationships across society levels
• Political: Schools contribute to political development in different societal levels.
• Cultural: School's contributions to cultural transmission and development at societal levels.

Manifest and Latent Functions of Education

• Manifest: Open and intended goals or consequences of activities in institutions or organizations. Examples are Socialization/resocialization, social control, social placement,
• Latent: Hidden, unstated and sometimes unintended consequences of school activities. Examples are transmitting culture, promoting social and political integration, restricting some activities, matchmaking and production of social networks, creating a generation gap

Functions of Schools by Calderon (1998)

• Conservation function
• Instructional function
• Research function
• Social service function

Religion

• Religion is the socially defined patterns of beliefs concerning the ultimate meaning of life and assumes the existence of the supernatural.
• Characteristics of Religion include:
  • Belief in a deity or power beyond the individual
  • A doctrine of salvation (accepted teaching)
  • A code of conduct
  • Use of sacred assumptions (stories)
  • Religious rituals (acts and ceremonies)
• Functions of Religion include:
  • Social control
  • Personality development
  • Fear of the unknown
  • Explanation for events beyond human comprehension
  • Comfort, strength, and hope in times of crisis.
  • Preserving and transmitting knowledge, skills, spiritual, and cultural values and practices.
  • Being an instrument of change.
  • Promoting closeness, love, cooperation, friendliness, and helpfulness
  • Alleviating sufferings from major calamities.
  • Provides the possibility of a blissful life after death
  • Bridges the gaps between expectations and reality

Churches, sects and cults

• Church: Large, inclusive membership, lower tension with society, greater intellectual examination and interpretation of religion.
• Sect: Small, exclusive membership, high tension with society. Tends towards the emotional, mystical, and stress on faith, feeling, conversion experience (to be “born again").
• Cult: Innovative bodies or agencies, formed when people create new religious beliefs and practices. Three types: audience cults, client cults, and cult movements

Elements of Religion

• Sacred: Refers to phenomena regarded as extraordinary, transcendent, outside the everyday course of events (supernatural).
• Legitimation of norms: Religious sanctions and beliefs reinforce the legitimacy of many rules and norms in the community.
• Rituals: Formal patterns of activity that symbolically express a set of shared meanings.
• Religious Community: Establishes a code of behavior for members who belong to or do not belong.

Economic Institutions

• Microeconomics: Concerned with specific economic units of parts that make an economic system and the relationships between these parts.
• Macroeconomics: Concerned with the economy as a whole or large segments.
• Basic Economic Issues:
  • What goods and services to produce and how much?
  • How to produce goods and services?
  • For whom are the goods and services?
• What is an Economy: The organized way a nation provides for its people, including manufacturing, transporting, buying, selling, investing, and jobs. The physical infrastructure such as roads, ports, and sanitation also fall under this category.
• Factors in determining economic activity include the country's resources (natural, human, and man-made) and the economic system.
• How does an economy work?:
  • Nations need to answer three basic questions regarding their economic system (Which goods or services should be produced? How will the goods and services be produced? For whom should the goods and services be produced?).
  • Economic systems are classified as Traditional, Market, Command
• Traditional Economy: Traditions and rituals shape the economic decisions. What is decided to be produced and for whom is governed by generational traditions.
• Market Economy: The market is the force that shapes the decisions on what, how, and for whom goods and services are produced, with a focus on competitiveness and profitability
• Command Economy: Government decides which goods and services are needed, how production works, and for whom the wealth is distributed.
• Historical Changes in the Economy:
  • Industrial Revolution: introduction of the factory system of production where goods are mass-produced. Scientific Management (Taylorism) was developed and applied to improve management process. Work processes were separated from the conceptualization of work.
  • Deindustrialization: the decline of manufacturing and rise of service industries was influenced by aging technology, global expansion, rise of the consumer society, among others.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism

• Capitalism: An economic system based on market competition, private ownership of the means of production, and a profit motive. Examples include competitive capitalism, monopoly capitalism, and transnational capitalism.
• Socialism: An effort by society to plan and organize production consciously and rationally, ensuring that all benefit.
• Communism: An economic system where the means of production are owned collectively
• Welfare States: Societies with socialist elements and strong social welfare programs.

Historical Changes in the Economy

• Deindustrialization: Decline of manufacturing, increase in service sector. Factors in it include aging technology expansion of globalization, the rise of the consumer society and rise of service sector.

When Is an Economy Successful?

• Increase productivity
• Decrease unemployment
• Maintain Stable prices

Understanding the Economy

• Inflation refers to rising prices. Higher inflation rates means that a country's money is worth less. Governments can combat this by raising interest rates to discourage borrowing and thus slow economic growth.

The Business Cycle

• The business cycle has five phases: expansion, recession, trough, depression, and recovery.
• Expansion: Time when the economy flourishes and is characterized by low unemployment, high output of goods and services, and high consumer spending.
• Recession: A period of economic slowdown lasting at least six months. Characterized by reduced workforces, higher unemployment, low consumer spending, and low production of goods and services.
• Trough: The lowest point in the business cycle. Marked by the end of the period of recession and the beginning of recovery.
• Depression: A protracted and severe recession. Characterized by severe and extended periods of low business activity and high unemployment.
• Recovery: Characterized by an increase in sales, a decrease in unemployment, and increased consumer spending.

The Political/Government System

• Government is the institution that resolves conflicts involving more than a few people.
  • Government can be local, provincial, national, or international
• The three branches of government include:
  • Executive: Enforces rules and laws
  • Legislative: Makes rules and laws
  • Judicial: Interprets rules and laws

Politics and Administration

• Politics: A pattern of human interaction that resolves conflicts between people, institutions, and nations; societal competition through established governmental channels to advance positions or enact policies benefitting group members (Ritzer, 2015).
• Administration: The aggregate of persons who manage the reigns of government during a term.

Constituent and Ministrant Functions of the Government

• Constituent functions: Contributing to the bonds of society, these are compulsory. Examples include keeping order, offering protections against property damage or violence, defining and punishing crimes, and administering justice in civil cases.
• Ministrant functions: Taken to advance the general interest of society. Examples include public works and charity; these are optional.

Test your understanding of social institutions and their roles in society with this quiz. It covers various aspects of institutions such as family, education, and economy, including their characteristics, functions, and definitions. Challenge yourself to identify key features and functions of these essential societal structures.