15. Society: concept, social institutions
Society- a set of people who have historically lived in a certain territory for generations and are connected by a common economic, social, political and spiritual background. unified state power and legal system.
The people who make up a given society, as a rule, have the same morals, religion, and language. They subjectively distinguish themselves from people belonging to other communities.
A structurally developed society consists of individuals who form social groups (families, strata, strata, classes) in accordance with tribal, professional, property, national and other characteristics. These subjects realize their interests in activities in relation to each other, which constitute social life.
People are social beings; they cannot live, work, without uniting according to needs, interests, and goals. Social and political institutions arise due to biological, social, political and other reasons with objective necessity.
Institutes
Historically, the first social institution was tribal communities. Genus was a group (community) of people united by blood or perceived kinship, common property, joint labor and equal distribution. This social institution was very stable and viable. It ensured the survival of people who were still largely dependent on natural forces and could only exist on the basis of collective economic and social unity.
The clans existed and functioned for many millennia, they united into larger social institutions - tribes.
Later, religious associations (orders, etc.), trade and merchant guilds and other social institutions.
Historically first political institution, the most important and largest, became the state. As society becomes more complex and democracy develops, new social-production (cooperatives), socio-political (trade unions), political (political parties) and other institutions emerge.
Social institutions
Society is formed from a system of social institutions and is a complex set of economic, political, legal, spiritual relations that ensure its integrity as social system.
Social institution in a broad sense- historically established, stable forms of organization joint activities of people; social institution in a narrower sense- is an organized system of social connections and norms designed to satisfy the basic needs of society, social groups and individuals.
Main target social institutions - achieving stability during the development of society.
Highlightfunctionssocialinstitutes:
1. Meeting the needs of society.
Needs, which are satisfied by social institutions are diverse. For example, society's need for security can be supported by the institute of defense, spiritual needs - by the church, needs for knowledge of the surrounding world - by science. Each institution can satisfy several needs (the church is able to satisfy religious, moral, cultural needs), and the same need can be satisfied by different institutions (spiritual needs can be satisfied by art, science, religion, etc.).
2. Function of consolidation and reproduction public relations. Any institution consolidates and standardizes the behavior of members of society through its rules and norms of behavior. Each institution has a set of norms and rules of behavior, fixed, standardizing the behavior of its participants and making this behavior predictable. Social control provides the order and framework within which the activities of each member of the institution should take place. Thus, the institution ensures the stability of the structure of society. The Code of the Family Institute assumes that members of society are divided into stable small groups - families. Social control ensures a state of stability for each family and limits the possibility of its disintegration.
3. Regulatory function ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society by developing patterns of behavior and regulating their actions. It ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society through the development of patterns and patterns of behavior. A person’s entire life takes place with the participation of various social institutions, but each social institution regulates activities. Consequently, a person, with the help of social institutions, demonstrates predictability and standard behavior, fulfills role requirements and expectations
4. Integrative function includes the process of interdependence and mutual responsibility of members of social groups. This function ensures cohesion, interdependence and irresponsibility of members. This occurs under the influence of institutionalized norms, values, rules, a system of roles and sanctions. It streamlines the system of interactions, which leads to increased stability and integrity of the elements of the social structure.
5. Broadcasting function(socialization). Its content is the transfer of social experience, familiarization with the values, norms, and roles of a given society. Society cannot develop without the transfer of social experience. Each institution for its normal functioning needs the arrival of new people who have mastered its rules. This happens by changing the social boundaries of the institution and changing generations. Consequently, each institution provides a mechanism for socialization to its values, norms, and roles.
6. Communicative functions. Information produced by an institution should be disseminated both within the institution (for the purpose of managing and monitoring compliance with social norms) and in interaction between institutions. This function has its own specifics - formal connections. At the Institute of Funds mass media– this is the main function. Scientific institutions actively absorb information. The commutative capabilities of institutions are not the same: some have them to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent.
The structure of a social institution form:
social groups and social organizations designed to satisfy the needs of groups and individuals;
totality normal, social values and patterns of behavior that ensure satisfaction of needs;
system of symbols regulating relationships in economic sphere activities (trademark, flag, brand, etc.);
ideological justifications for the activities of a social institution;
social resources used in the activities of the institute.
In accordance with the spheres of public life, four main groups of institutions can be distinguished:
economic institutions - division of labor own, market, trade, wage, banking system, stock exchange, management, marketing etc.;
political institutions- state, army, militia, police, parliamentarism, presidency, monarchy, court, parties, civil society;
institutions of stratification and kinship - class, estate, caste, gender discrimination, racial segregation, nobility, social security, family, marriage, paternity, maternity, adoption, twinning;
cultural institutions- school, graduate School, secondary vocational education, theaters, museums, clubs, libraries, church, monasticism, confession.
Social institution: what is it
Social institutions act as historically established and sustainable forms of organizing the joint activities of people in one community. Authors and researchers use this term in relation to various areas. This includes education, family, healthcare, government and many others.
The emergence of social institutions and their coverage of wide sections of the population and various spheres of human activity is associated with a very complex process of formalization and standardization. This process is called “institutionalization”.
Note 1
Institutionalization is very multifactorial and structured, and includes a number of key points, which cannot be ignored when studying social institutions, their typology and main functions. One of the key conditions that precedes the emergence of a social institution is the social need on the part of the population. This is due to the fact that social institutions are necessary for organizing the joint activities of people. The main goal of such activities is to satisfy the basic social, economic, political and spiritual needs of the population.
The diversity of social institutions has been the object of study by many sociologists. They all tried to find similarities and differences in the functionality of social institutions and their purpose in society. Thus, they came to the conclusion that each social institution is characterized by the presence of a specific goal for its activities, as well as certain functions, the implementation of which is necessary to achieve the set goal and implement specific tasks. In addition, a participant in each social institution has his own social status and role, which is also important, since in this way a person in one period of his life can have several social statuses and roles (father, son, husband, brother, boss, subordinate and others).
Types of social institutions
Social institutions have a fairly diverse typology. The authors also propose various approaches to determining the specific and typological features of institutions.
Depending on the functional qualities, social institutions can be of the following types:
- Social economic institutions. These include property, exchange, the process of production and consumption, money, banks and various economic associations. Social institutions of this type provide the entire set of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of social and economic resources;
- . Their activities are aimed at establishing and further supporting certain forms political power. This includes the state, political parties and trade unions that provide political activity, as well as a number of public organizations that pursue political goals. In fact, the totality of these elements constitutes the entire political system existing in specific societies. ensure the reproduction, as well as the preservation of ideological values, stabilize the social and class structures of society, their interaction with each other;
- Socio-cultural and educational institutions. Their activities construct the principles of assimilation and further reproduction of cultural and social values. They are also necessary for individuals to join and be included in a certain subculture. Sociocultural and educational institutions influence the socialization of the individual, and this applies to both primary and secondary socialization. Socialization occurs through the assimilation of basic social and cultural norms and standards, as well as the protection of specific norms and values, their further transmission from the older generation to the younger;
- Normative-orienting institutions. Their goal is to motivate the moral and ethical basis of a person’s personality. The entire set of these institutions affirms in the community imperative universal human values, as well as special codes that regulate behavior and its ethics.
Note 2
In addition to the above, there are also normative-sanctioning (law) and ceremonial-symbolic institutions (otherwise they are called situational-conventional). They determine and regulate daily contacts, as well as acts of group and intergroup behavior.
The typology of social institutions is also determined by the scope of action. Among them the following stand out:
- Regulatory social institutions;
- Regulatory social institutions;
- Cultural social institutions;
- Integrative social institutions.
Functions of a social institution
The functions of social institutions and their structure have been developed by many authors. The classification of J. Szczepanski is of interest to us, since it is the most standard and relevant in modern society:
- Social institutions satisfy the basic needs of the population in general and the individual in particular;
- Social institutions regulate relations between social groups;
- Social institutions ensure the continuous process of an individual’s life, making it expedient and also socially significant;
- Social institutions connect the actions and relationships of individuals, that is, they contribute to the emergence of social cohesion, which prevents crisis and conflict situations.
Note 3
Other functions of social institutions include improving and simplifying adaptation processes, fulfilling important strategic tasks of society, regulating the use of significant resources, ensuring public order and structuring Everyday life individuals, coordination of the interests of each member of society with the interests of the state (stabilization public relations).
Society is complex social education, and the forces acting within it are so interconnected that it is impossible to foresee the consequences of each individual action. In this regard, institutions have manifest functions, which are easily recognized as part of the institution's recognized goals, and latent functions, which are carried out unintentionally and may be unrecognized or, if recognized, considered a by-product.
People with significant and high institutional roles often do not sufficiently realize latent effects that can affect their activities and the activities of people associated with them. As positive example The use of latent functions in American textbooks most often cites the activities of Henry Ford, the founder of the campaign that bears his name. He sincerely hated trade unions, big cities, big loans and installment purchases, but as he advanced in society, he more than anyone else stimulated their development, realizing that the latent, hidden, side functions of these institutions worked for him, for his business. However, the latent functions of institutions can either support recognized goals or render them irrelevant. They may even lead to significant damage to the norms of the institution.
How does a social institution function? What is its role in the processes taking place in society? Let's consider these questions.
Explicit functions of social institutions. If we look at it at its core general view activity of any social institution, then 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 primarily the following functions.
1. 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 institution ensures the stability of the social structure of 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.
2. The regulatory function is that the functioning of social institutions ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society by developing patterns of behavior. 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 manifests his social life predictable and standardized behavior. He fulfills role requirements and expectations and knows what to expect from the people around him. Such regulation is necessary for joint activities.
3. Integrative function. This function includes the processes of cohesion, interdependence and mutual responsibility of members of social groups, occurring under the influence of institutional 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. All this leads to increased stability and integrity of the elements of the social structure, especially social organizations.
Any integration in an institute consists of three main elements or necessary requirements: 1) consolidation or combination of efforts; 2) mobilization, when each group member invests his resources in achieving goals; 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.
4. 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 through both expanding the social boundaries of the institution and 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 they strive to influence citizens in order to instill in them norms of obedience and loyalty, and the church tries to attract as many members of society as possible to the faith.
5. 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 changes will certainly await it: these obvious, necessary functions may be assigned by other institutions.
Latent functions. Along with the direct results of the actions of social institutions, there are other results that are outside the immediate goals of a person and are not planned in advance. These results may have great importance for society. Thus, the church strives to consolidate its influence to the greatest extent through ideology, the introduction of faith, and often achieves success in this. However, regardless of the goals of the church, there are people who leave production activities for the sake of religion. Fanatics begin persecuting non-believers, and the possibility of major social conflicts on religious grounds. The family strives to socialize the child to accepted standards family life, however, it often happens that family upbringing leads to a conflict between the individual and a cultural group and serves to protect the interests of certain social strata.
The existence of latent functions of institutions is most clearly shown by T. Veblen, who wrote that it would be naive to say that people eat black caviar because they want to satisfy their hunger, and buy a luxurious Cadillac because they want to buy good car. Obviously, these things are not acquired to satisfy obvious immediate needs. T. Veblen concludes from this that the production of consumer goods performs a hidden, latent function - it satisfies the needs of people to increase their own prestige. Such an understanding of the actions of the institution for the production of consumer goods radically changes the opinion about its activities, tasks and operating conditions.
Thus, it is obvious that only by studying the latent functions of institutions can we determine the true picture of social life. For example, very often sociologists are faced with a phenomenon that is incomprehensible at first glance, when an institution continues to exist successfully, even if it not only does not fulfill its functions, but also interferes with their implementation. Such an institution obviously has hidden functions with which it satisfies the needs of certain social groups. A similar phenomenon can be observed especially often among political institutions in which latent functions are most developed.
Latent functions, therefore, are the subject that should primarily interest the researcher. social structures. The difficulty in recognizing them is compensated by creating a reliable picture social connections and features of social objects, as well as the ability to control their development and manage the social processes occurring in them.
Relationships between institutions. There is no such social institution that would operate in a vacuum, in isolation from other social institutions. The action of any social institution cannot be understood until all its interrelations and relationships are explained from the standpoint of the general culture and subcultures of groups. Religion, government, education, production and consumption, trade, family - all these institutions are in multiple interactions. Thus, production conditions must take into account the formation of new families in order to meet their needs for new apartments, household items, child care facilities, etc. At the same time, the education system largely depends on the activities of government institutions that maintain the prestige and possible prospects for the development of educational institutions. Religion can also influence the development of education or government institutions. A teacher, a father of a family, a priest or a functionary of a voluntary organization are all subject to influence from the government, since the actions of the latter (for example, the issuance of regulations) can lead to either success or failure in achieving vital goals.
An analysis of the many interrelations of institutions can explain why institutions are rarely able to completely control the behavior of their members, to combine their actions and attitudes with institutional ideas and norms. Thus, schools can apply standard educational plans for all students, but students' reactions to them depend on many factors beyond the teacher's control. Children in whose families interesting conversations are encouraged and carried out and who are introduced to reading books that develop them, acquire intellectual interests more easily and to a greater extent than those children in whose families preference is given to watching TV and reading entertaining literature. Churches preach high ethical ideals, but parishioners often feel the need to neglect them due to the influence of business ideas, political leanings, or desires to leave the family. Patriotism glorifies self-sacrifice for the good of the state, but it is often inconsistent with many of the individual desires of those raised in families, business institutions, or some political institutions.
The need to harmonize the system of roles assigned to individuals can often be satisfied through agreement between individual institutions. Industry and trade in any civilized country depend on the support of the government, which regulates taxes and establishes exchange between individual institutions of industry and trade. In turn, the government depends on industry and trade, which economically support regulations and other government actions.
Moreover, given the importance of certain social institutions in public life, other institutions are trying to seize control of their activities. Since, for example, education plays a very significant role in society, attempts to fight for influence on the institution of education are observed among political organizations, industrial organizations, churches, etc. Politicians, for example, contribute to the development of schools, confident that by doing so they support attitudes towards patriotism and national identity. Church institutions try, through the educational system, to instill in students loyalty to church doctrines and deep faith in God. Production organizations are trying to guide students from childhood to master production professions, and the military is trying to raise people who can successfully serve in the army.
The same can be said about the influence of other institutions on the institution of the family. The state is trying to regulate the number of marriages and divorces, as well as the birth rate. It also sets minimum standards for the care of children. Schools are looking for cooperation with families, creating teacher councils with the participation of parents and parent committees. Churches create ideals for family life and try to hold family ceremonies within a religious framework.
Many institutional roles begin to conflict due to the affiliation of the individual performing them with several institutions. An example is the well-known conflict between career and family orientations. In this case, we are dealing with clashes of norms and rules of several institutions. Research by sociologists shows that each institution strives to the greatest extent to “disconnect” its members from playing roles in other institutions. Enterprises try to include the activities of their employees’ wives in their sphere of influence (system of benefits, orders, family vacation etc.). Army institutional rules can also have a negative impact on family life. And here they find ways to include wives in army life, so that husband and wife are related to common institutional norms. The problem of a person fulfilling exclusively the role of a given institution is most definitely solved in some institutions christian church, where the clergy are released from family responsibilities by taking a vow of celibacy.
The appearance of institutions is constantly adapting to changes in society. Changes in one institution usually lead to changes in others. After changing family customs, traditions and rules of behavior, a new system social provision of such changes involving many institutions. When peasants come from the village to the city and create their own subculture there, the actions of political institutions must change, legal organizations etc. We are accustomed to the fact that any change in political organization affects all aspects of our daily life. There are no institutions that would be transformed without change into other institutions or would exist separately from them.
Institutional autonomy. The fact that institutions are interdependent in their activities does not mean that they are willing to give up internal ideological and structural control. One of their main goals is to exclude the influence of leaders of other institutions and keep their institutional norms, rules, codes and ideologies intact. All major institutions develop patterns of behavior that help maintain a degree of independence and prevent the domination of people grouped into other institutions. Enterprises and businesses strive for independence from the state; educational institutions also try to achieve the greatest independence and prevent the penetration of norms and rules of foreign institutions. Even the institution of courtship achieves independence in relation to the institution of the family, which leads to some mystery and secrecy of its rituals. Each institution tries to carefully sort out the guidelines and rules brought in from other institutions in order to select those guidelines and rules that are least likely to affect the independence of the institution. Social order is good combination interaction of institutions and their respect for independence in relation to each other. This combination allows one to avoid serious and destructive institutional conflicts.
The dual function of intellectuals in relation to institutions. In all complex societies, institutions require constant ideological and organizational support and strengthening of the ideology, system of norms and rules on which the institution is based. This is carried out by two role groups of members of the institution: 1) bureaucrats who monitor institutional behavior; 2) intellectuals who explain and comment on the ideology, norms and rules of behavior of social institutions. In our case, intellectuals are those who, regardless of education or occupation, devote themselves to the serious analysis of ideas. The importance of ideology lies in maintaining loyalty to institutional norms through which the heterogeneous attitudes of those people who are able to manipulate ideas develop. Intellectuals are called upon to satisfy the urgent need for explanation social development, and to do so in terms consistent with institutional norms.
For example, intellectuals associated with political communist institutions set out to show that modern history is really developing in accordance with the predictions of K. Marx and V. Lenin. At the same time, intellectuals who study US political institutions argue that real history is built on the development of the ideas of free enterprise and democracy. At the same time, institutional leaders understand that intellectuals cannot be completely trusted, since while studying the basic foundations of the ideology they support, they also analyze its imperfections. In this regard, intellectuals can begin to develop a competitive ideology that better suits the requirements of the time. Such intellectuals become revolutionary and attack traditional institutions. That is why, during the formation of totalitarian institutions, they first of all strive to protect ideology from the actions of intellectuals.
The 1966 campaign in China, which destroyed the influence of intellectuals, confirmed Mao Zedong's fear that intellectuals would refuse to support the revolutionary regime. Something similar happened in our country in the pre-war years. If we turn to history, we will undoubtedly see that any power based on faith in the abilities of leaders (charismatic power), as well as power that uses violence and undemocratic methods, seeks to protect the actions of the institution of power from the participation of intellectuals or completely subordinate them to its influence . Exceptions only emphasize this rule.
So, it is often difficult to use the activities of intellectuals, because if today they can support institutional norms, then tomorrow they become their critics. However, there are no institutions in modern world which have escaped the constant influence of intellectual criticism, and there are no properties of institutions that can continue to exist for a long time without intellectual protection. It becomes clear why some totalitarian political regimes vacillate between a certain amount of freedom and repression of intellectuals. The intellectual best able to defend fundamental institutions is the person who does so out of a desire for truth, regardless of obligations to institutions. Such a person is both useful and dangerous for the well-being of the institution - useful because he talentedly seeks to protect institutional values and respect for the institution, and dangerous because in the search for truth he is capable of becoming an opponent of this institution. This dual role forces fundamental institutions to deal with the problem of ensuring discipline in society and the problem of conflict and loyalty for intellectuals.
Institute. Most often, this word is used in the sense of a higher educational institution (pedagogical, medical institute). However, the word “institute” is ambiguous. "Institute" is a Latin word. Translated it means “institution”.
In social sciences the term “social institution” is used.
What is a social institution?
There are several definitions of this concept.
Here is one of them, easy to remember and containing the essence of this term.
Social Institute - this is a historically established, stable form of organizing the joint activities of people implementing certain functions in society, the main one of which is the satisfaction of social needs.
EXPLANATION.
A social institution, to put it more simply, is such formations in society (an institution, a government body, a family and many, many other entities) that make it possible to regulate some relationships and actions of people in society. Allegorically speaking, this is the door through which you will enter to resolve some issues.
- You need to order a passport. You will not go anywhere, but to the passport office - the institution of citizenship.
- You got a job and want to know what your specific salary will be. Where will you go? In the accounting department, it was created to regulate salary issues. This is also the salary institute network.
And there are a huge number of such social institutions in society. Someone somewhere is responsible for everything, performing certain functions to satisfy people’s social needs.
I will give a table in which I will indicate the most important social institutions in each sphere of social relations.
Social institutions, their types
| Institutes by spheres of society. | What is regulated | Examples |
| Economic institutions | Regulate the production and distribution of goods and services. | Property, market, production |
| Political institutions | They regulate social relations using authority. | The main institution is the state. Authorities, parties, law, army, court |
| Social institutions | They regulate the distribution of social positions and public resources. Provide reproduction and inheritance. | Education, healthcare, leisure, family, social protection |
| Spiritual institutes | They regulate and develop the continuity of the cultural life of society and spiritual production. | Church, school, university, art |
Social institutions are a constantly evolving structure. New ones arise, old ones die off. This process is called institutionalization.
Structure of social institutions
Structure, that is, the elements of the whole.
Jan Shchepalsky identified the following elements of social institutions.
- Purpose and scope of activity of a social institution
- Functions
- Social roles and statuses
- Facilities and institutions performing the functions of this institute. Sanctions.
Signs of social institutions
- Patterns of behavior, attitudes. For example, an educational institution is characterized by the desire to acquire knowledge.
- Cultural symbols. So, for the family it’s wedding rings, marriage ritual; for the state - coat of arms, flag, anthem; for religion - icon, cross, etc.
- Oral and written codes of conduct. So, for the state - these are codes, for business - licenses, contracts, for families - a marriage contract.
- Ideology. For a family it means mutual understanding, respect, love; for business - freedom of trade and entrepreneurship; For religions - Orthodoxy, Islam.
- Utilitarian cultural traits. So, for religion - religious buildings; for healthcare – clinics, hospitals, diagnostic rooms; for education - classes, gym, library; For family home, furniture.
Functions of social institutions
- Satisfying social needs is the main function of every institution.
- Regulatory function— that is, the regulation of certain types of social relations.
- Consolidation and reproduction of social relations. Each institution has its own norms and rules that help standardize people's behavior. All this makes society more sustainable.
- Integrative function, that is, cohesion, interconnection of members of society.
- Broadcasting function— the opportunity to transfer experience and knowledge to new people who come to a particular structure.
- Socialization— the individual’s assimilation of norms and rules of behavior in society, methods of activity.
- Communicative- this is the transfer of information both within an institution and between social institutions as a result of the interaction of members of society.
Formal and informal social institutions
Formal institutions— their activities are regulated within the framework of current legislation (authorities, parties, courts, family, school, army, etc.)
Informal institutions- their activities are not established by formal acts, that is, laws, orders, documents.
Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna
What is a "social institution"? What functions do social institutions perform?
Specific formations that ensure the relative stability of social connections and relationships within social organization 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 specific organization social activities And social relations, including both standards, norms of behavior, and relevant 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 of joint activity of 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. Various social groups enter into social relations with each other, 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.
There are different types of 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, mass information system, education and training systems, law and others.