This booklet allows students to learn about the social institutions in Kentucky and various aspects of it such as elements, characteristics, religion, economy, family.
1. Social Institutions MA FINAL
2. Institution Dictionary meaning • Institution = established practice: • an established law, custom, or practice Penguin Dictionary of Sociology • The term is widely used to describe social practices that are regularly and continuously repeated, are sanctioned and maintained by social norms, and have a major significance in the social structure. • Like role, the term refers to established patterns of behaviour, but institution is regarded as a higher-order, more general unit that incorporates a plurality of roles. Established: قاعدہ،قائم
3. DEFINITION • A social institution is an interrelated system of social roles and social norms, organized around the satisfaction of an important social need or social function. • Social Institutions are organized patterns of beliefs and behaviour that are centered on basic social needs.
4. ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL INSTITUTION • A group of people • United by common interest • Having material resources • Having norms • Fulfill some social need.
5. CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS • Social institutions are universal. • They vary from time to time and across cultures, in terms of complexity, specialization, scope, formality and organization. But their basic nature and purpose are similar everywhere. • Social institutions are resistant to change; they tend to persist.
6. Characteristics of Social Institutions • Each institution performs two types of social function. • (a) primary functions, which are also called manifest, explicit, or direct functions; • (b) secondary functions, which are also called indirect, hidden, or latent functions. Through these functions, social institutions fulfill important needs in the society.
7. THE FAMILY • The family is generally regarded as a primary social institution. • The institution of family is a basic unit in the society, and the multifaceted functions performed by it makes it a much-needed institution in a society. • It is one of the oldest social institution on the earth. Although families differ widely around the world, they also share certain common concerns in their everyday lives.
8. EDUCATION • Educational institution is responsible for the systematic transmission of knowledge, skills and cultural values within a formally organized structure. • It is one of the most influential institutions in contemporary societies. Every nation in the world is equipped with some form of education system, though those systems vary greatly.
9. ECONOMY • Economy is the social institution that ensures maintenance of society through the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. • Economy is the social institution that organizes a society’s production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. • The economy system is the complex of interrelated institutions through which the economic activity of man is expressed.
10. RELIGION • Religion is a social institution composed of a unified system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals— based on some sacred or supernatural realm— that guides human behavior, gives meaning to life, and unites believers into a community. For many people, • religious beliefs provide the answers for seemingly unanswerable questions about the meaning of life and death. • Religion is a system of faith and worship.
11. POLITICAL INSTITUTION • Political institution is the distribution system of power and authority which is used to maintain social order. • Politics is the social institution through which power is acquired and exercised by some people and groups.
12. Characteristics of Social Institutions • Institutions are the controlling mechanisms: • Institutions like religion, morality, state, government, law, legislation etc. control the behaviour of men. • These preserve the social order and give stability to it.
13. Characteristics of Social Institutions • Institutions are interrelated: Institutions, though diverse, are interrelated and interdependent. These are connected through statuses and roles of the individuals. • Relatively permanent: Many institutions are rigid and enduring. Institutions normally do not undergo sudden or rapid changes. Changes take place slowly and gradually in them. • Therefore institutions are the great conservers and transmitters of cultural heritage.
14. Characteristics of Social Institutions • Use Symbols to distinguish: Institutions have cultural symbols. The symbols may be either material or non-material. A country has a flag, an emblem, a national anthem as its symbol. A school may have its own flag, uniform dress etc. • Possess material objects: The institutions being group of people have national resources and material objects. The buildings, furniture, books and other objects are part of social life are a part of institutions.
15. • Social institutions are patterns of behaviour grouped about the central needs of human beings in society.
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