Social Institution

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A Social Institution is a Social Structure/Social Mechanism that governs the behavior of a set of individuals within a given community.

  • Context:
  • Example(s):
    • an Institution of Marriage.
    • an Institution of Family/Family and Kinship Institutions, encompassing diverse structures such as extended family networks in collectivist societies, nuclear families in individualist cultures, and emerging forms like chosen families in LGBTQ+ communities. These institutions evolve in response to societal changes, such as increased mobility and changing gender roles, such as an extended family or a nuclear family.
    • a Political Institution.
    • an Economic Institution.
    • Educational Institutions, ranging from formal systems (e.g., public schools, universities) to informal practices (e.g., apprenticeships, mentoring). This category includes both global trends in education and localized practices like indigenous knowledge transmission, reflecting the tension between standardization and cultural preservation.
    • Economic Institutions, including various systems such as market economies, planned economies, and mixed systems. This category also covers informal economic practices like bartering and gift economies, as well as emerging forms like platform economies and cryptocurrencies, illustrating the dynamic nature of economic institutions.
    • Political and Governance Institutions, spanning democratic systems, authoritarian regimes, and traditional governance structures (e.g., tribal councils). This category also includes supranational bodies like the United Nations, highlighting the complex interplay between local, national, and global governance.
    • Legal and Justice Institutions, encompassing diverse systems such as common law, civil law, religious law (e.g., Sharia), and indigenous justice practices. These institutions often intersect with and are influenced by political and cultural institutions.
    • Religious and Belief Institutions, including organized religions (e.g., Christianity, Islam, Hinduism), spiritual practices, and secular ideologies. These institutions often play a significant role in shaping other social institutions and can be sites of both social cohesion and conflict.
    • Healthcare Institutions, covering a spectrum from Western medical practices to traditional and alternative medicine systems. This category includes public health infrastructures and community-based healing practices, reflecting diverse approaches to health and wellbeing across cultures.
    • Media and Communication Institutions, encompassing traditional mass media, digital platforms, and evolving forms of social media. This category also includes norms of interpersonal communication and emerging issues like digital literacy and misinformation, highlighting the rapidly changing nature of these institutions.
    • Scientific and Technological Institutions, including research organizations, innovation ecosystems, and systems for knowledge production and dissemination. This category also covers the ethical frameworks governing scientific research and technological development, reflecting the growing importance of these institutions in shaping society.
    • Cultural and Artistic Institutions, ranging from formal organizations (e.g., museums, theaters) to informal practices (e.g., folk traditions, street art). These institutions play a crucial role in preserving heritage, fostering creativity, and negotiating cultural identity in a globalizing world.
    • Language and Linguistic Institutions, including formal language structures, dialects, sign languages, and evolving forms of digital communication. This category reflects how language shapes and is shaped by other social institutions, including power dynamics and cultural identities.
    • Marriage and Partnership Institutions, encompassing diverse forms such as monogamous marriages, polygamous practices, civil unions, and cultural variations in courtship and partnership. These institutions are often sites of significant social change, reflecting evolving norms around gender, sexuality, and family.
    • Work and Labor Institutions, ranging from traditional employment structures to gig economy platforms, as well as unpaid labor and traditional occupations. This category reflects ongoing changes in the nature of work, including automation, remote work, and changing labor rights.
    • Environmental Management Institutions, including formal conservation practices, resource management systems, and traditional ecological knowledge. This category increasingly intersects with other institutions as societies grapple with climate change and sustainability.
    • Social Stratification Institutions, such as class systems, caste structures, and meritocracies. This category explicitly addresses power dynamics within societies and how they intersect with other institutions like education and economics.
    • Property Rights and Ownership Institutions, covering systems of private property, communal ownership, and intellectual property rights. This category reflects cultural variations in concepts of ownership and ongoing debates about digital and genetic property rights.
    • Temporal Institutions, including diverse calendar systems, cultural concepts of time, and structures governing work-leisure balance. This category reflects how societies organize and understand time, which impacts numerous other institutions.
    • Sports and Recreation Institutions, ranging from organized professional sports to traditional games and emerging e-sports. This category reflects cultural values, economic systems, and changing notions of health and competition.
    • Gender and Sexuality Institutions, encompassing societal norms around gender roles, expressions of sexuality, and LGBTQ+ identities. This category intersects with numerous other institutions and is often a site of significant social change and conflict.
    • Childhood and Youth Institutions, including diverse child-rearing practices, educational structures, and youth cultures. This category reflects changing notions of childhood and youth across cultures and over time.
    • Digital Governance Institutions, a rapidly evolving category encompassing issues of online privacy, digital rights, cybersecurity, and the governance of virtual spaces. This emerging institution intersects with numerous traditional institutions, reshaping them in the process.
    • ...
    • …
  • Counter-Example(s):
  • See: Institution-Level Organization, Social Order, Social Purpose, Society, Government, Social Sciences, Political Science, Public Institution.

References

2014

  • (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institution Retrieved:2014-4-29.
    • An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order governing the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community; may it be human or a specific animal one. Institutions are identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intentions by mediating the rules that govern living behavior. [1] The term "institution" is commonly applied to customs and behavior patterns important to a society, as well as to particular formal organizations of government and public services. As structures and mechanisms of social order among certain species, institutions are one of the principal objects of study in the social sciences, such as political science, anthropology, economics, and sociology (the latter being described by Durkheim as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning"). [2] Institutions are also a central concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule-making and enforcement.
  1. ↑ Stanford Encyclopaedia: Social Institutions
  2. ↑ Durkheim, Émile [1895] "The Rules of Sociological Method" 8th edition, trans. Sarah A. Solovay and John M. Mueller, ed. George E. G. Catlin (1938, 1964 edition), pp. 45


2013

2005

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