Social Institutions and

Groups/ Socialization
By:
Faisal Rahman
MSN scholar (INS-KMU)
 Objectives
•At the end of this unit learners will be able to:
• Delineate the difference among Social Institutions
• e.g. Family-types function, marriage, caste, family
relationship, divorce etc.
• Religious – beliefs, superstitious etc. Political system - autocratic, democratic,
dictatorship Legal system: Recreation, Educational system.
• Describe Group: In-group, Out-group, primary group, and
secondary group.
• Reference group, caste, ethnic group, pressure group, vested
interest group etc.
 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
behavior, but institution is regarded as a higher- order,
more general unit that incorporates a plurality of roles.
 Cont…
• Social institutions are mechanisms or patterns of social order
focused on meeting social needs, such as:
• Government
• Economy
• Education
• Family
• Healthcare
• Religion
 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 behavior
that are centered on basic social needs.
 Elements of social institution
• A group of people
• United by common interest
• Having material resources
• Having norms
• In-order to fulfill some social needs.
 family
• Definition:
•Group of people who are related by marriage, blood, or adoption
and who often live together and share economic resources.

• The family is the most universal social institution, but what

constitutes a “family” varies across cultures.
 Function of family
• Regulation of Sexual Activity:
• All societies regulate sexual activity to some extent.
• Socialization:
• The family is the first agent of socialization, so societies rely
on the family to teach the norms of the society.
Parents, siblings, and other relatives serve as the earliest role
models.
 Cont…
• Reproduction:
• Family is the approved social unit for producing members to
replace those who die or move away.
 Rules are set in place about who can raise children and how
children should be raised
• Economic and Emotional Security:
• Family is the basic economic unit. Family is expected to guide
the psychological development of its members and provide a
loving environment.
 Cont…
• Reproduction of the race and rearing of the young.
• Cultural transmission or enculturation.
• Socialization of the child.
• Providing affection and a sense of security.
• Providing the environment for personality development and the
growth of self-concept in relation to others.
• Providing social status.
 Types of family
•According to Family Systems
 Nuclear family:
• One or both parents and their unmarried children
 Family of orientation:
• The nuclear family into which the person is born or adopted
 Family of procreation:
• When a person marries, a new nuclear family is formed, called a family of
procreation
 Extended family:
• Two or more generations
 Kinship:
• Network of people who are related by marriage, birth, or adoption
 Types of family
•According to Marriage Patterns
Monogamy: The marriage of one man to one woman
Polygamy: Multiple marriage partners
Polygyny: One man and multiple women (most common form
of polygamy)
Polyandry: One woman and multiple men (less common)
 Cont…
• The most common form of polyandrous marriage is termed as
fraternal polyandry
• It involves two or more brothers taking a single woman as their
wife.
• Polyandrous marriage is very rare.
• It occurs mainly in Tibet, Burma, Nepal, India
• (Angeloni, 1998; Howard and Dunaif-Hattis, 1992).
 Types of family
•According to Residential Patterns
 Patrilocality: Couple lives with or near husband’s family
 Matrilocality: Couple lives with or near wife’s family
 Bilocality: Couples, upon marriage, choose to live with or near
either spouse's parents
 Neolocality: Couple lives apart from both sets of parents
 Types of family
•According to Descendent Patterns
 Patrilineal descent: Kinship traced through the father’s family;
property passed from father to son
 Matrilineal descent: Kinship traced through
• mother’s family; property passed from mother to daughter
 Bilateral descent: kinship traced through both parents; property
inherited from either side of the family
 Types of family
•According to Authority Patterns
 Patriarchy: Father holds most of the authority
 Matriarchy: Mother holds most of the authority
 Egalitarian: Mother and father share authority
 Types of family
•According to Changing Patterns
 Dual-earner families: families in which both husband and wife have
jobs
 The sandwich generation are couples who have babies and elderly
parents to care for at the same time.
 Voluntary childlessness is the conscious choice to remain
childless.
 Marriage
• Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a socially or ritually
recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes
rights and obligations between them, between them and their
children, and between them and their in-laws.
 Marriage types
 Monogamy
 Polygyny
 Polyandry
 Plural marriage
 Child marriage
 Same-sex and third-gender marriages
 Temporary marriages
 Cohabitation
 Cont…
• Exogamy or Intermarriage – Marriage between people belonging
to different groups or backgrounds.
• Endogamy – A marriage within the boundaries of the domestic
group, between members of the same group.
• Arranged marriage – A marriage that is at some level arranged by
someone other than those being married.
 Healthy Family Relationship
Trust
Commitment
Affirmation

Love Time

Solving Problems
Communication

Respect
 Healthy Family Relationship
• Affirmation – adding positive input that helps others
feel appreciated and supported.

• Trust – high levels of trust include keeping promises and

being honest for both parents and children.

• Commitment – family members are willing to work

together and make sacrifices so it will benefit the whole
family.
 Healthy Family Relationship
• Time Together – a strong healthy family
relationship is not feasible without
spending time together.
• Communication – effective communication
means listening to the viewpoint of others
as well as being heard.
 Healthy Family Relationship
• Respect – this includes acceptance of
individual talents and opinions.

• Solving Problems – identifying problems before they

become too serious and asking for outside help.

• Love – healthy families give and receive love to one

another, physically and verbally.
 Divorce
• The legal dissolution of a marriage by
a court or other competent body.
Couples Most Likely to Choose Divorce
• Teen marriages •Love marriage
• Having divorced •Diversity in status
parents or culture
• Non-religious •Working women
couples
•Physical illness
• Pre-marriage
cohabitation •Depression
• Alcoholic •Low income
spouse
 Factors in Divorce Rate
• Age
• Education Level
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Divorce affects women more in economic ways, and men more
in emotional ways.
• Children of divorced parents often struggle to adjust.
 Reasons for Rising Divorce Rate
1. Laws governing divorce make the process easier than in the
past.
2. Increase in working wives make leaving a husband more
economically feasible.
3. Society attaches less stigma to divorce.
4. Many people expect more from marriage and are less ready to
accept marital problems.
 Educational Institution
• Definition: a system consisting of the roles and norms that ensure
the transmission of knowledge, values, and patterns of behavior
from one generation to the next.
•Formal Education:
• The highly institutionalized, chronologically graded and
hierarchically structured
• ‘education system’ spanning lower primary
• school and the upper reaches of university.
 Cont…
•Non-Formal Education:
• Any organized, systematic educational activity carried on outside the
framework of the formal system to provide selected types of learning
to particular sub-groups in the population, adults as well as children.
•Informal Education:
• The lifelong process by which every individual acquires and
accumulates knowledge, skills, attitudes and insights from daily
experiences and exposure to the environment.
 • This is education of an intentional, planned and structured
nature. It covers all the educational provision known
Formal compulsory
as schooling, from the first years of
education to the end of secondary education and university
primary

• This is education which takes place outside the sphere of

compulsory schooling but where there is educational intent
Non-formal and planning of teaching/learning activities.
include adult education courses, leisure or sporting activities.
Examples

• This is education which takes place on an unintentional and

unplanned basis in the individual’s everyday interaction with
Informal others.
 Religious institution
• Religion: A system of roles and norms that is organized around the
sacred realm and that binds people together in social groups
 Function of religion
• Social Cohesion: Encourages the strengthening of
bonds among people.
• Social Control: Encourages conformity to the norms and
values of society
• Emotional Support: Provides comfort in times of personal
suffering and natural disaster
 Belief system
• A belief system is an ideology or set of principles that helps us
to interpret our everyday reality.
• This could be in the form of religion, political affiliation, philosophy,
or spirituality, among many other things.
 Superstition
• A belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown,
trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation can be
called superstitious belief.
• e.g. It is a common superstition that a black cat crossing your
path is bad luck or a crow cawing is related with the arrival of
guest, health related superstitions etc.
 Types of belief system
• Animism
• Theism
• Ethicalism
 Animism
• Belief that spirits actively influence human life
• Spirits are not worshiped as gods, but are instead seen as
supernatural forces that may issue assistance.
• Example: Shamanism and Totemism
 Theism
• A belief in a god or gods
• Monotheism: A belief in one god, who is usually the
creator and moral authority
• Examples: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• Polytheism : A belief in a number of gods. • Usually
centers on one powerful god with lesser gods
• Examples: Hinduism or Greek/Roman Gods
 Ethicalism
• Based on the idea that moral principles have a sacred quality
• A set of principles such as truth, honor, and tolerance serve as a
guide to living
• Examples: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto
 Government political institution
• Definition: Political organization authorized to formulate public
policies and conduct affairs of state.
• Regulates behavior of individuals to reduce conflict and maximize
cooperation.
• Government exists to provide the general welfare of all.
• Democracy, autocracy, dictatorship
 Democracy
• Demo means people or population and cracy mean government,
so in simple words, democracy is the government of the people
and by the people.
• It can also be define as, a political system that gives power to the
people as a whole OR
• A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of
citizens who can elect people to represent them.
 Monoarchy
• As the name indicates that Mono means single and archy means
authority or to rule over or one ruler, thus the type of political system
in which the governance is in the hand of a single personor family.
• It may also be defined as, “such a political system in which a single
family rules from generation to
• generation.”
• Such type of system is found in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
etc.
• This monarchy is called autocratic system as well if the country is
ruled by a single person.
 Dictatorship
• The system of government where the authority is practiced by a
single person using power often by the military is called
dictatorship.
• The leader has not been elected and may use force to keep control.
• In a military dictatorship, the army is in control
• e.g the government of Ayub khan, Zia ul haq and Musharraf in
Pakistan
 Economic institution
• It is defined as the maintenance of society through the
production, distribution and consumption of goods and
services.
•Functions of Economic Institution:
To control and regulate good and services
 Division of labor
To maximize economic production
 Group
• Group- can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one
another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of
unity.
 Types of groups
• Primary groups- are small groups with intimate, kinship-based
relationships: families.

• Secondary groups- in contrast to primary groups, are large groups

involving formal and institutional relationships.
• In-Group- A group or category to which people feel they belong.

• Out-Group- A group or category to which people feel they do not

belong.
 Cont…
• Reference Groups- A reference group is
• a group to which an individual or another group
• is compared.
• Sociologists call any group that individuals use as a standard for
evaluating themselves and their own behavior a reference group.

• Status Group- A term used by Max Weber to refer to people who

have the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class
positions.
 Cont…
• Pressure Group- a group in which individuals are similar in political
and economical interests, try to influence the policy of government.

• Ethnic Group- A group that is set apart from others because of its
national origin or distinctive cultural patterns.
 Cont…
• Racial Group- A group that is set apart from others because of
obvious physical differences.

• Interest Group- A voluntary association of citizens who attempt to

influence public policy

• Vested Interest Group- Those groups that seek to control an

existing system or activity from which they derive benefit..
 Cont…
• Caste- Hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that
tend to be fixed and immobile.

• Class- A term used by Max Weber to refer to a group of people who

have a similar level of wealth and income.
 References
1. Dan Merkur, in International Encyclopedia of the Social &
Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 2015
2. https://www.britannica.com/topic/shamanism
3. Dastani, M., Torroni, P., & Yorke-Smith, N. (2018). Monitoring norms:
A multi-disciplinary perspective. The Knowledge Engineering
Review, 33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0269888918000267
4. Interis, M. (2011). On norms: A typology with discussion. American
Journal of Economics and Sociology, 70(2), 424-438. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2011.00778.x
•The bad news is time
flies. The good news
is you’re the pilot.
• ―Michael Altshulerarlyle