Lecture:
Concept and types of social institutions
Remember that the subsystems of society are the economic, political, social and spiritual spheres of life. Each of us is included in all these areas. How? Let's look at the example of ninth-grader Andrei. Before going to school, Andrey’s mother asked him to take out the trash (social sphere). In a chemistry lesson, he learned a lot of new and interesting things about the types of covalent bonds (spiritual sphere). After school, Andrei went to the passport office of the Federal Migration Service and received a passport ( political sphere). And on the way home I bought fruit at the market ( economic sphere). The listed areas differ from each other in character public relations, types of activities and social institutions.
In this lesson we will look at what a social institution is. What's there to take apart? After all, it is clear to everyone that an institution is called educational institution! In fact, this concept is much broader. Social institutions are organizations (family, party, state), institutions (school, bank, police), and relationships (buying and selling, upbringing, education). There are a lot of institutions and each of them has its own significance for an individual and society as a whole. Because each institution performs certain functions to satisfy human needs, which are very diverse. For example, the institutions of marriage and family satisfy the need for procreation and raising children; an institution of the state in organizing people's life and ensuring order. Thus, institutions have developed historically and are in demand by society. Remember the lesson term:
Social Institute - is a sustainable form of organizing people’s life activities, aimed at meeting the needs of society and people.
Examples of social institutions by area:
Economic sphere: production, distribution, exchange, consumption, property, market, bank, firm, money, etc.
Political sphere: state, power, party, laws, parliament, government, court, citizen, etc.
Social sphere: family, marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, childhood, nation, school, university, healthcare, etc.
Spiritual sphere: religion, art, science, education, media, morality, etc.
Despite the fact that each social institution performs specific functions corresponding to it, they are also characterized common features:
Firstly, any social institution organizes, streamlines and coordinates human activity by establishing rules and patterns of human behavior. For example, a school regulates the relationship between teachers, students and their parents using the Charter.
Secondly, each social institution monitors compliance with rules and patterns, and applies sanctions to their violators - punitive measures, from legal to moral and ethical. For example, for violating the rules of the school's Charter, sanctions may be applied to a student, ranging from a warning to expulsion from school.
The importance of social institutions in the life of society and individuals is great. In subsequent topics, you will become familiar with the main social institutions in detail.
Exercise: Using social science knowledge, formulate your definition of a social institution. Write your answer in the comments 📝
What is a "social institution"? What functions do social institutions perform?
Specific formations that provide relative stability social connections and relations within the social organization of society are social institutions. The term “institution” itself is used in sociology in different meanings.
Firstly, it is understood as a set of certain individuals, institutions, provided with certain material resources and performing a specific social function.
Secondly, from a substantive point of view, an “institution” is a certain set of standards, norms of behavior of individuals and groups in specific situations.
When we talk about social institutions, we generally mean a certain organization of social activity and social relations, including both standards, norms of behavior, and the corresponding organizations and institutions that “regulate” these norms of behavior. For example, if we talk about law as a social institution, we mean both a system of legal norms that determine the legal behavior of citizens and a system legal institutions(court, police), which regulate legal norms and legal relations.
Social institutions- these are forms joint activities people, historically established stable, or relatively stable types and forms of social practice, with the help of which social life is organized, the stability of connections and relationships is ensured within the framework of the social organization of society. Different social groups interact with each other social relations, which are regulated in a certain way. The regulation of these and other social relations is carried out within the framework of relevant social institutions: the state (political relations), the workforce (social and economic), family, education system, etc.
Each social institution has a specific purpose of activity and, in accordance with it, performs certain functions, providing members of society with the opportunity to satisfy relevant social needs. As a result of this, social relations are stabilized and consistency is introduced into the actions of members of society. The functioning of social institutions and the performance of certain roles by people within them are determined by the presence of social norms in the internal structure of each social institution. It is these norms that determine the standard of people’s behavior; on their basis, the quality and direction of their activities are assessed, and sanctions are determined against those who exhibit deviant behavior.
Social institutions perform the following functions:
consolidation and reproduction of social relations in a certain area;
integration and cohesion of society;
regulation and social control;
communications and inclusion of people in activities.
Robert Merton introduced into sociology the distinction between explicit and latent (hidden) functions of social institutions. The explicit functions of the institution are declared, officially recognized and controlled by society.
Latent functions- these are “not its own” functions, performed by an institution hidden or inadvertently (when, for example, the education system performs functions of political socialization that are not characteristic of it). When the discrepancy between manifest and latent functions is large, a double standard of social relations arises and threatens the stability of society. Even more dangerous situation when, together with the official institutional system, so-called “shadow” institutions are formed, which take on the function of regulating the most important public relations (for example, criminal structures). Any social transformations are carried out through changes in the institutional system of society, the formation of new “rules of the game”. First of all, those social institutions that determine social type society (property institutions, government institutions, educational institutions).
A social institution is a relatively stable and long-term form of social practice, sanctioned and supported by social norms and with the help of which social life is organized and the stability of social relations is ensured. Emile Durkheim called social institutions “factories for the reproduction of social relations.”
Social institutions organize human activity into a certain system of roles and statuses, establishing patterns of human behavior in various fields public life. For example, a social institution such as a school includes the roles of teacher and student, and a family includes the roles of parents and children. Certain role relationships develop between them. These relations are regulated by a set of specific norms and regulations. Some of the most important norms are enshrined in law, others are supported by traditions, customs, and public opinion.
Any social institution includes a system of sanctions - from legal to moral and ethical, which ensure compliance with relevant values and norms and the reproduction of appropriate role relationships.
Thus, social institutions streamline, coordinate many individual actions of people, give them an organized and predictable character, and ensure standard behavior of people in socially typical situations. When this or that human activity is ordered in the described manner, we speak of its institutionalization. Thus, institutionalization is the transformation of spontaneous behavior of people into organized behavior (“struggle without rules” into “game by the rules”).
Almost all spheres and forms of social relations, even conflicts, are institutionalized. However, in any society there is a certain proportion of behavior that is not subject to institutional regulation. There are usually five main sets of social institutions. These are kinship institutions associated with marriage, family and socialization of children and youth; political institutions related to relations of power and access to it; economic institutions and stratification institutions that determine the distribution of members of society into various status positions; cultural institutions associated with religious, scientific and artistic activities.
Historically, the institutional system has changed from institutions based on relationships of consanguinity and ascriptive characteristics characteristic of traditional society, to institutions based on formal relationships and achievement statuses. Nowadays, educational and scientific institutions that provide high social status are becoming the most important.
Institutionalization means normative and organizational strengthening and streamlining of social connections. When an institution appears, new social communities are formed, engaged in specialized activities, and social norms, which regulate this activity, and new institutions and organizations ensure the protection of certain interests. For example, education becomes a social institution when a new society, occupation professional activity on training and education in a public school, in accordance with special standards.
Institutions can become outdated and hinder development innovation processes. For example, the qualitative renewal of society in our country required overcoming the influence of the old political structures of a totalitarian society, old norms and laws.
As a result of institutionalization, phenomena such as formalization, standardization of goals, depersonalization, and deindividualization may appear. Social institutions develop through overcoming contradictions between the new needs of society and outdated institutional forms.
The specifics of social institutions, of course, are mainly determined by the type of society within which they operate. However, there is also continuity in the development of various institutions. For example, the institution of family, during the transition from one state of society to another, may change some functions, but its essence remains unchanged. During periods of “normal” development of society, social institutions remain quite stable and sustainable. When there is a discrepancy between the actions of various social institutions, their inability to reflect public interest, establish the functioning of social connections, this indicates crisis situation in society. It can be solved either by a social revolution and a complete replacement of social institutions, or by their reconstruction.
Exist different kinds social institutions:
economic, which are engaged in the production, distribution and exchange of material goods, organization of labor, money circulation, and the like;
social, which organize voluntary associations, the lives of groups, regulating all aspects of the social behavior of people in relation to each other;
political, related to the performance of government functions;
cultural and educational, affirming and developing the continuity of the culture of society and its transmission to next generations;
Religious, which organize people’s attitude towards religion.
All institutions are linked together into an integrated (united) system, in which only they can guarantee a uniform, normal process of collective life and fulfill their tasks. That is why all of the listed institutions (economic, social, cultural and others) are generally classified as social institutions. The most fundamental of them are: property, state, family, production teams, science, system mass media, education and training systems, law and others.
Social institutions are stable forms of organization and regulation of social life. They can be defined as a set of roles and statuses designed to satisfy certain social needs.
The term “social institution”, both in sociology and in everyday language or in other humanities, has several meanings. The totality of these values can be reduced to four main ones:
1) a certain group of persons called to perform matters important for living together;
2) certain organizational forms of a set of functions performed by some members on behalf of the entire group;
3) a set of material institutions and means of activity that allow some authorized individuals to perform public impersonal functions aimed at satisfying the needs or regulating the behavior of group members;
4) sometimes institutions are called certain social roles that are especially important for the group.
For example, when we say that a school is a social institution, then by this we can mean a group of people working in the school. In another meaning - organizational forms of functions performed by the school; in the third meaning, the most important for the school as an institution will be the institutions and means that it has to perform the functions assigned to it by the group, and finally, in the fourth meaning, we will call the social role of the teacher an institution. Therefore, we can talk about in various ways definitions of social institutions: material, formal and functional. In all these approaches we can, however, identify certain common elements that form the main component of a social institution.
There are five fundamental needs and five basic social institutions:
1) needs for reproduction of the family (family institution);
2) needs for security and order (state);
3) needs for obtaining means of subsistence (production);
4) the need for the transfer of knowledge, socialization of the younger generation (institutes of public education);
5) needs for solving spiritual problems (institute of religion). Consequently, social institutions are classified according to public spheres:
1) economic (property, money, regulation of monetary circulation, organization and division of labor), which serve the production and distribution of values and services. Economic social institutions provide the entire set of production connections in society, connecting economic life with other areas of social life. These institutions are formed on the material basis of society;
2) political (parliament, army, police, party) regulate the use of these values and services and are associated with power. Politics in the narrow sense of the word is a set of means and functions based mainly on the manipulation of elements of force to establish, exercise and maintain power. Political institutions (state, parties, public organizations, courts, army, parliament, police) express in a concentrated form the political interests and relations existing in a given society;
3) kinship institutions (marriage and family) are associated with the regulation of childbirth, relations between spouses and children, and the socialization of youth;
4) educational and cultural institutions. Their task is to strengthen, create and develop the culture of society, to pass it on to next generations. These include schools, institutes, art institutions, creative unions;
5) religious institutions organize a person’s attitude to transcendental forces, i.e., to supersensitive forces operating outside of a person’s empirical control, and attitude to sacred objects and forces. Religious institutions in some societies have a strong influence on the course of interactions and interpersonal relations, creating a system of dominant values and becoming dominant institutions (the influence of Islam on all aspects of public life in some countries of the Middle East).
Social institutions perform the following functions or tasks in public life:
1) create the opportunity for members of society to satisfy various types of needs;
2) regulate the actions of members of society within the framework of social relations, i.e., ensure the implementation of desirable actions and carry out repression in relation to undesirable actions;
3) ensure the sustainability of public life by supporting and continuing impersonal public functions;
4) carry out the integration of the aspirations, actions and relationships of individuals and ensure the internal cohesion of the community.
Taking into account E. Durkheim’s theory of social facts and based on the fact that social institutions should be considered the most important social facts, sociologists have derived a number of basic social characteristics that social institutions must have:
1) institutions are perceived by individuals as external reality. In other words, an institution for any individual person is something external, existing separately from the reality of thoughts, feelings or fantasies of the individual himself. In this characteristic, the institution has similarities with other entities of external reality - even trees, tables and telephones - each of which is located outside the individual;
2) institutions are perceived by the individual as an objective reality. Something is objectively real when any person agrees that it really exists, regardless of his consciousness, and is given to him in his sensations;
3) institutions have coercive power. To some extent this quality is implied by the previous two: the fundamental power of an institution over the individual consists precisely in the fact that it exists objectively, and the individual cannot wish it to disappear at his will or whim. Otherwise, negative sanctions may occur;
4) institutions have moral authority. Institutions proclaim their right to legitimation - that is, they reserve the right not only to punish the violator in some way, but also to impose moral censure on him. Of course, institutions vary in the extent to which they moral strength. These variations are usually expressed in the degree of punishment imposed on the offender. In extreme cases, the state can take his life; neighbors or co-workers may boycott him. In both cases, the punishment is accompanied by a sense of indignant justice among those members of society who are involved in it.
The development of society occurs largely through the development of social institutions. The wider the institutionalized sphere in the system of social connections, the greater opportunities society has. The diversity of social institutions and their development is perhaps the most reliable criterion of the maturity and reliability of a society. The development of social institutions is manifested in two main options: first, the emergence of new social institutions; secondly, the improvement of already established social institutions.
The formation and formation of an institution in the form in which we observe it (and take part in its functioning) takes a fairly long historical period. This process is called institutionalization in sociology. In other words, institutionalization is the process by which certain types social practices become sufficiently regular and continuous to be described as institutions.
The most important prerequisites for institutionalization - the formation and establishment of a new institution - are:
1) the emergence of certain public needs in new types and types of social practice and the corresponding socio-economic and political conditions;
2) development of necessary organizational structures and related norms and rules of conduct;
3) internalization by individuals of new social norms and values, the formation on this basis of new systems of personal needs, value orientations and expectations (and therefore, ideas about the patterns of new roles - one’s own and those correlated with them).
The completion of this process of institutionalization is the folding the new kind social practice. Thanks to this, a new set of roles is formed, as well as formal and informal sanctions to implement social control over relevant types of behavior. Institutionalization is therefore the process by which a social practice becomes sufficiently regular and continuous to be described as an institution.
23. Basic social institutions and their functions
Social institutions are the main structural units of society. They arise and function when corresponding social needs exist, ensuring their implementation. When such needs disappear, the social institution ceases to function and collapses.
Social institutions ensure the integration of society, social groups and individuals. From here we can define a social institution as a certain set of individuals, groups, material resources, organizational structures that form social connections and relationships, ensure their sustainability and contribute to the stable functioning of society.
At the same time, the definition of a social institution can be approached from the position of considering them as regulators of social life, through social norms and values. Consequently, a social institution can be defined as a set of behavior patterns, statuses and social roles, the purpose of which is to meet the needs of society and establish order and well-being.
There are other approaches to defining a social institution, for example, a social institution can be considered as a social organization - organized, coordinated and orderly activity of people, subject to general interaction, strictly focused on achieving a goal.
All social institutions function in close interrelation with each other. The types of social institutions and their composition are very diverse. Social institutions are typologized according to different principles: spheres of social life, functional qualities, time of existence, conditions, etc.
R. Mills stands out in society 5 main social institutions:
economic - institutions that organize economic activities
political - institutions of power
family institution - institutions regulating sexual relations, birth and socialization of children
military - institutions that organize legal heritage
religious - institutions that organize collective veneration of gods
Most sociologists agree with Mills that there are only five main (basic, fundamental) institutions in human society. Their purpose− satisfy the most important vital needs of the team or society as a whole. Everyone is endowed with them in abundance, and besides, everyone has an individual combination of needs. But there are not so many fundamental ones that are important for everyone. There are only five of them, but there are exactly five main social institutions:
the need for reproduction of the family (the institution of family and marriage);
the need for security and social order (political institutions, state);
need for means of subsistence (economic institutions, production);
the need for knowledge acquisition, socialization of the younger generation, personnel training (educational institutions in the broad sense, i.e. including science and culture);
the need to solve spiritual problems, the meaning of life (institute of religion).
Along with these social institutions, we can also distinguish communication social institutions, institutions of social control, educational social institutions and others.
Functions of social institutions:
integration,
regulatory,
communicative,
socialization function,
reproduction,
control and protective functions,
also the function of forming and consolidating social relations, etc.
|
Functions |
Types of institutions |
|
Reproduction (reproduction of society as a whole and its individual members, as well as their work force) |
Marriage and family Cultural Educational |
|
Production and distribution of material goods (goods and services) and resources |
Economic |
|
Monitoring the behavior of members of society (in order to create conditions for constructive activity and resolve emerging conflicts) |
Political Legal Cultural |
|
Regulating the use of and access to power |
Political |
|
Communication between members of society |
Cultural Educational |
|
Protecting members of society from physical danger |
Legal Medical |
The functions of social institutions can change over time. All social institutions have common features and differences.
If the activity of a social institution is aimed at stabilization, integration and prosperity of society, then it is functional, but if the activity of a social institution causes harm to society, then it can be regarded as dysfunctional.
The intensification of the dysfunctionality of social institutions can lead to the disorganization of society up to its destruction.
Major crises and upheavals in society (revolutions, wars, crises) can lead to disruptions in the activities of social institutions.
Explicit functions of social institutions. If we consider in the most general form the activities of any social institution, we can assume that its main function is to satisfy social needs, for which it was created and exists. However, to carry out this function, each institution performs functions in relation to its participants that ensure the joint activities of people striving to satisfy needs. These are, first of all, the following functions.
The function of consolidating and reproducing social relations. Each institution has a system of rules and norms of behavior that reinforce and standardize the behavior of its members and make this behavior predictable. Appropriate social control provides order and framework within which the activities of each member of the institution should take place. Thus, the institute ensures sustainability social structure
society. Indeed, the code of the family institution, for example, implies that members of society should be divided into fairly stable small groups - families. With the help of social control, the institution of family strives to ensure the state of stability of each individual family and limits the possibilities of its disintegration. The destruction of the family institution is, first of all, the emergence of chaos and uncertainty, the collapse of many groups, the violation of traditions, the impossibility of ensuring a normal sexual life and quality education of the younger generation. Regulatory function
is that the functioning of social institutions ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society through the development of behavior patterns. The entire cultural life of a person takes place with his participation in various institutions. Whatever type of activity an individual is engaged in, he always encounters an institution that regulates his behavior in this area. Even if an activity is not ordered or regulated, people immediately begin to institutionalize it. Thus, with the help of institutions, a person exhibits predictable and standardized behavior in social life. He fulfills role requirements and expectations and knows what to expect from the people around him. Such regulation is necessary for joint activities. Integrative function
.
This function includes the processes of cohesion, interdependence and mutual responsibility of members of social groups, occurring under the influence of institutionalized norms, rules, sanctions and role systems. The integration of people at the institute is accompanied by streamlining of the system of interactions, an increase in the volume and frequency of contacts.
3) conformity of the personal goals of individuals with the goals of others or the goals of the group. Integrative processes, carried out with the help of institutions, are necessary for the coordinated activity of people, the exercise of power, and the creation of complex organizations. Integration is one of the conditions for the survival of organizations, as well as one of the ways to correlate the goals of its participants.
Broadcasting function. Society could not develop if it were not for the possibility of transmitting social experience. Every institution needs new people to function properly. This can happen both by expanding the social boundaries of the institution and by changing generations. In this regard, every institution has a mechanism that allows individuals to be socialized into its values, norms and roles. For example, a family, raising a child, strives to orient him towards those values family life , which his parents adhere to. Government agencies
strive to influence citizens to instill in them norms of obedience and loyalty, and the church tries to introduce as many new members to the faith as possible. Communication function . Information produced within an institution must be disseminated both within the institution for the purpose of managing and monitoring compliance with regulations, and in interactions between institutions. Moreover, the nature of the communicative connections of the institution has its own specifics - these are formal connections carried out in a system of institutionalized roles. As researchers note, the communicative capabilities of institutions are not the same: some are specifically designed to transmit information (mass media), others have very limited opportunities for this; some actively perceive information (
scientific institutes
), others passively (publishing houses).
The explicit functions of institutions are expected and necessary. They are formed and declared in codes and enshrined in a system of statuses and roles. When an institution fails to fulfill its obvious functions, disorganization and change will certainly await it: these obvious, necessary functions can be appropriated by other institutions. The concept of a social institution Sustainability social system is based on the stability of social connections and relationships. The most stable social relations are the so-called modern society reproduction of social structure. It has always been vitally important for human society to consolidate certain types of social relations, to make them mandatory for all its members or a certain social group. First of all, such relationships need such consolidation that are significant for ensuring the functioning of the social system, for example, the supply of resources (food, raw materials), population reproduction.
The process of consolidating relationships aimed at satisfying urgent needs consists of creating a strictly fixed system of roles and statuses. These roles and statuses prescribe to individuals the rules of behavior within certain social relationships. A system of sanctions is also being developed to ensure compliance with established regulatory requirements. In the process of creating such systems, social institutions.
The modern term “institute” comes from the Latin institutum - establishment, establishment. Over time it has acquired several meanings. In sociology, it is primarily used to denote complex social entities designed to ensure stability and meet the needs of the social system.
Social Institute- this is a set of statuses and roles, necessary material, cultural and other means and resources aimed at performing a certain socially significant function. In terms of content, a social institution is a certain set of purposefully oriented standards of behavior in certain situation. In the process of its functioning, a social institution, on the basis of the rules, norms of behavior and activity it has developed, stimulates types of behavior that meet the standards, while simultaneously suppressing and correcting any deviations from accepted norms. Thus, any social institution exercises social control, that is, it regulates the behavior of members of a social institution in order to most effectively fulfill the tasks assigned to this institution.
Typology of social institutions
Fundamental, that is, fundamentally important for the existence of the entire society, social needs not so much. Different researchers name different numbers. But each of these needs necessarily corresponds to one of the main social institutions designed to satisfy this need. Let us indicate here the following social institutions and the socially significant needs corresponding to them:
1. Institute of Family and Marriage satisfies the social need for reproduction and primary socialization of the population.
2. Political institutions satisfies the social need to ensure management, coordinate social processes, social order and maintain social stability.
3. Economic institutions
satisfies the social need for material support existence of society.
4. Institute of Culture satisfies the social need for the accumulation and transfer of knowledge, structuring individual experience, preserving universal worldviews; in modern society, secondary socialization, most often associated with education, becomes an important task.
5. Institute of Religion (church) satisfies the social need for provision and structuring of spiritual life.
Structure of social institutions
Each of the above institutions represents complex system, consisting of many subsystems, which are also called institutions, but these are not the main, or subordinate, institutions, for example, the institution of legislative power within a political institution.
Social institutions- These are constantly evolving systems. Moreover, in society there is a constant process of formation of new social institutions, when certain social relations require giving them a clearer structure and consolidation. This process is called institutionalization. This process consists of several successive steps:
- the emergence of a socially significant need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized actions a certain number individuals;
- awareness of common goals, the achievement of which should lead to the satisfaction of a basic need;
- development in the course of spontaneous social interaction, often carried out by trial and error, of social norms and rules;
- the emergence and consolidation of procedures related to norms and rules;
- establishment of a system of sanctions to maintain compliance with norms and rules, regulation of joint activities;
- creation and improvement of a system of statuses and roles covering all members of the institute without exception.
In the process of its formation, which may continue long periods Over time, as was the case, for example, with the institution of education, any social institution acquires a certain structure, which consists of the following main components:
- a set of social roles and statuses;
- social norms and sanctions regulating the functioning of a given social structure;
- a set of organizations and institutions operating within the framework of a given social institution;
- the necessary material and cultural resources to ensure the functioning of this social institution.
In addition, to a certain extent, the structure can also include the specific function of an institution, which satisfies one of the basic needs of society.
Functions of social institutions
As already noted, each social institution performs its own specific functions in society. Therefore, of course, the determining factors for any social institution are precisely these profiling social significant functions, which were already mentioned earlier. Meanwhile, there are a number of functions that are inherent in a social institution as such and that are aimed primarily at maintaining the functioning of the social institution itself. Among them are the following:
The function of consolidating and reproducing social relations. Each institution has a system of rules and norms of behavior that reinforce and standardize the behavior of its members and make this behavior predictable. Thus, the institution ensures the stability of both its own system and the overall social structure of society.
Integrative function. This function includes the processes of unity, interconnection and interdependence of members of social groups, which take place under the influence of rules, norms, sanctions existing in a given institution. This leads to increased stability and integrity of the elements of the social structure. Integrative processes carried out by social institutions are necessary to coordinate collective activities and solve complex problems.
Regulatory function . The functioning of a social institution ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society by developing patterns of behavior. Whatever type of activity an individual is engaged in, he very often encounters an institution designed to regulate activities in this area. As a result, the individual’s activity receives a predictable direction that is desirable for the social system as a whole.
Translating function. Each institute, for its normal functioning, needs new people to come in, both to expand and to replace staff. In this regard, each institute has a mechanism that allows for such recruitment, which also implies a certain level of socialization in accordance with the interests and requirements of the institute.
It is worth noting that in addition to obvious functions, a social institution may also have hidden or latent(hidden) functions. A latent function may be unintentional, unconscious. The task of revealing and determining latent functions is very important, since they largely determine the final result of the functioning of a social institution, that is, the fulfillment of its main, or explicit, functions. Moreover, often latent functions have Negative consequences, lead to negative side effects.
Dysfunctions of social institutions
The activities of a social institution, as mentioned above, do not always lead only to the desired consequences. That is, a social institution, in addition to performing basic functions, can also produce undesirable, and sometimes clearly negative, consequences. Such a functioning of a social institution, when, along with benefits for society, it simultaneously causes harm to it, is called dysfunction.
The discrepancy between the activities of a social institution and the nature of social needs, or the disruption caused by such a discrepancy in the performance of their functions by other social institutions, can have very serious negative consequences for the entire social system.
The most significant example here is corruption as a dysfunction of political institutions. This dysfunction not only prevents the political institutions themselves from properly fulfilling their immediate tasks, in particular, to suppress illegal actions, prosecute offenders, and monitor the activities of other social institutions. The paralysis of authorities caused by corruption has a huge impact on all other social institutions. In the economic sphere, the shadow sector is growing, huge amounts of funds do not reach the state treasury, direct violations of the current legislation are committed with impunity, and an outflow of investment occurs. Similar processes occur in other social spheres. The life of society, the functioning of its basic systems, including life support systems, which include the main social institutions, is paralyzed, development stops, and stagnation begins.
Thus, the fight against dysfunctions, preventing their occurrence is one of the main tasks of the social system, the positive solution of which can lead to qualitative intensification social development, optimization of social relations.