 Welcome to KK Handic State of the University Today we are going to talk about social institutions and what it means and what are the different types of social institutions. So when we talk about an institution, what do you mean? An institution is basically a kind of a social arrangement which regulates and try to guide the behavior of individuals and in a particular prescribed manner. And eventually when we are talking about institution in a sociological sense, we need to talk about what do we mean by social institution. So social institution it tries to fulfill certain basic social needs within the social structure. For example marriage, it's an important social institution because it tries to legitimate and it leases the sexual relations between a man and a woman and establishes a link between the next generation and between the previous one. So it's kind of an important social institution because it has important social functions. Social institutions are interrelated because say particular acts prescribed by different political social institutions like say the Indian parliament, it's prescribing certain acts and these acts say the acts related to marriage. It's related to marriage which is again a social institution. So both these institutions they are interrelated in their activities. While we are talking about social institutions, it's very essential that we try to define it from various viewpoints. It's different definitions as I have listed it out are first one we will be discussing about Maccabre and Page. So which is social institution it's basically an established forms of procedure characteristic of group activity. Then secondly we talk about definition given by Ginsburg which means it's recognized and established uses governing the relationship between different groups and individuals. Which means that what is the relationship between the different individuals or the different groups and what are the different interactions that are taking place and the prescribed manner in which they are taking place. So that is what social institution is according to Ginsburg. Then we have that social institutions they are basically normative structures. So one may ask the question why? So when we talk about social institutions they have within them certain basics norms or rules as I have time and again told that the rules that are basically related to guiding the behavior of an individual. Social institutions are basically normative structures that is they try to direct the behavior of the human beings in a particular manner or in a prescribed manner. While we have discussed the different definitions of social institutions it's essential that we also look into the characteristics of the same. While we are talking about characteristics these are the different characteristics that are there that is it's collective in nature it tries to guide the behavior of individual in a prescribed way and it's devised by the people in the society and it continues for generations ensuring smooth functioning of the society. It's somewhat like in a particular generation if a particular social institution is there which has been created by the society or the individual within it it cannot seize or stop to exist in the next generation it will continue its existence and it's universal in nature. It is founded almost all the societies. Further when we look about characteristics it's basically it tries to satisfy the basic social needs of an individual as social actors and also it tries to regulate the human behavior as I have already told you it tries to regulate the behavior as in prescribing ways of how to behave in a particular proper socially accepted manner in the social structure. So it acts as a means of social control and they are more or less permanent in their content as in what are the norms and rules related to say marriage or what are the norms and rules related to say family it doesn't change more or less it remains the same and they are more or less all of the social institutions they are abstract in nature. Say marriage we see two people getting married but you cannot point it out that yes I have seen marriage marriage is basically a custom or a set of rules and regulations so the entire thing together we term it as marriage and not individually there is no structure as such which will be saying that yes that is marriage so it's basically abstract in nature social institutions are abstract in nature while we are talking about these different social institutions first and a basic social institution that comes into our discussion is about family when you are talking about family family basically it's one of the most primary group and basic social institution from which an individual basically tries to build up his personality it's like very important in the entire social structure while we are talking about like family as an important social institution there are different definitions again of family say for according to Burgess and Locke family it's basically a group of persons united by ties of marriage blood or adoption constituting a single household interacting and intercommunicating with each other in their respective social roles of husband and wife father and mother son and daughter brother and sister creating a common culture in this definition we see that they are different it talks about different like elements say ties of blood ties through marriage like how two persons gets connected through that legally or socially acceptable institution that is marriage and how from that the blood relations come in and again there is also the scope for adoption where also relations are established so within a single household there may be different like links or like you can trace out different ties of relations between the different individuals and accordingly they have different social roles also to play in the social structure say the role of a mother the role of a wife the role of a son the role of a husband so these are different social roles that a family prescribes to a particular individual so this is a definition given by Burgess and Locke similarly there is a definition given by say GP Murdoch which also talks about family as a social group and adults including adults of both sexes and both of them maintaining or a kind of a sexual relation which is socially approved and one or more having one or more children may be adopted may be biological that's again another definition by GP Murdoch while we are talking about or discussing rather different definitions of family we need to also focus on the characteristics of family so while we are talking about family again since family is a social institution it's universal so it's also kind of gives to the individual a kind of an emotional basis because this is where the individual when maybe he is feeling sad say for example dear learners when you are feeling sad you go to your home and talk to your mother so mother is like your family so that that way it kind of gives an emotional basis to the particular individual or maybe in case to you so that way family provides emotional basis and again it helps in bringing up or building up basically the personality of the individual for example when a child is going growing up so here she is basically taught how they have to behave in a particular situation or how the things are to be done or you know different rules related to each and every small little things in our daily lives so that is how a family helps in building up the personality of the individual you like when you are in your family you tend to grow up with different sets of values and different sets of customs which have been you have been like kind of taught throughout your growing years so this way it helps in building up the personality also its size is limited say there may be a family which is like small or there may be a kind of an extended version of the family also like which will be comprising of the grandmother or the grandfather then you might be having some uncle and aunts also so it might be a form again of a complex kind of a family but the size is limited so like you can count there is a definite like number of persons who constitute the family again it's one of the most essential institution in the entire social structure obviously because the individual right from his birth itself the first social institution that he gets introduced is the family again when we talk about other characteristics that is it prescribes certain responsibilities of the members like the members they are told to do like you have like as a wife maybe has she has to look after the household maybe as a walking mother again she has to go out and work but at the same time look at look after her household so there are certain responsibilities that are prescribed within the family itself among its members again it tries to regulate the behavior of its members in relation to social norms and values certain norms and values that comes up and it tries to in that way through the norms and through the value it tries to regulate the behavior of individuals again institutional family as we say is permanent but while we talk about family as an institution it changes a structure due to new birds maybe deaths migration divorce etc for example when we talk about family as an institution because say family as an institution like maybe they are two like you know persons both of them are married and they have a children but then that constitutes a family but then suppose for some reason one of the person dies or maybe migration takes place like maybe the husband has to go out somewhere for a walk and on and he's like not so that will be kind of an association like you know family as an association but family as a basic social institution it's more or less permanent so that the basic social members who are the members within the family that's more or less it's permanent but its structure might change in due course of time like who constitutes the members or who are the members who are still like you know prominent or who may be like away that might differ again it's bilateral in nature that is families basically gives importance to both the sides it includes relatives of both the mother as well as the father it's kind of an extended version of the family you have your own family and your your grandmother from your mother's side or your grandmother from your father's side both of them will be constituting the members within the family again when we talk about types of family they are different types of family so while we are talking about family from the point of view of a family structure we have like basically these two families that is nuclear family and joint family say nuclear family that is like say the husband wife they two children so that will be the nuclear family but when we talk about joint family joint family will be constrain like you know it will be including like say your grandmother or grandfather then your uncle and aunts their cousins I have represented it diagram diagrammatically in the next slides that are about to come up so you can have a diagrammatic representation of the nuclear family as well as the joint family and while we are talking about family from the point of view of the individual or the ego like dear learners say for example from the point of view of you while you are thinking like who is my family so when we talk about that we have family of say I when I think about my family like who are my family so I have two kinds of family that is family of orientation and family of procreation like orientation basically procreation like for example procreation that is where I am born say I'm born into a particular family XYZ so I'm born into that family XYZ and similarly orientation is the family where maybe I'll be married into but that will be my family of orientation so these are the two families that is family of orientation family of procreation from the point of view of the individual or the ego then on the basis of residence if we talk about like we have two sets of families that is Petri local and Matri local that is where Petri local is basically where the residence is basically located in the individual safe say I my residence is located in my father's house like father he marries my he like he had married my mother and I am living in his house like you know father's house like that is the Petri local residence but when we talk about Matri local residence it basically means say my my father even after getting married he is going not to his own house but he's going to his wife's house and that is the residence so and and that is where I am living so that is the Matri local family or the Matri local residence again this is the diagrammatic representation as you can see this is the male this equal sign as you can see dear learners it represents the marital relation the circle here represents female and the line the arrow downwards arrow it represents descent and these two other siblings this is like again since it's male so obviously this is the son and this is the daughter so it represents a nuclear family because there is the male the female both of them are getting married because it shows the marital relation the equal to sign and through the descent these two are their children so there is no other members in it so this is what the nuclear family is in a diagrammatic manner similarly this is a joint family similarly same year you can say like both of them they are getting married they have their children which is this is a son and this is a daughter so both of them again are getting married to their respective husbands and wives and they are again having children so that means this position here this one like this triangle here it's will that will be the grandfather of this child so that is how the joint family concept comes in and this is a daughter who is getting married away like this is her family of procreation but this is a family of orientation where she is getting married away and this is this is like her children so this is a joint family in a diagrammatic manner while we are talking about is different types of family their functions of family according to Kingsley Davis their major functions or social functions of family which is reproduction firstly maintenance it is maintaining the members in a particular guiding the members in a particular behavior of the members in a particular manner so that is what maintenance then we have social replacement of the young that is new members come in like new births take place that's take place within our family so there is always a continuity kind of a thing within the family structure again we have socialization where a particular individual when he is born into a family say for example a girl when she is born into a family she will be given maybe say Barbie dolls she will be told to wear frocks and when she is grown up maybe she will be told to wear salwar comey's and all so that way that's a process of socialization and she will be taught told that these are the things that you should do while since you are a girl so and these are the things that you should do since you are a boy so different kinds of patterns and rules and regulations circulate within the family itself and through the process of socialization the individual becomes important member of the family again after talking about this major social institutions we see that the biological function the sociological function socializing which is the sustenance function property transmission which is also very important within the family because it basically points out who are the inheritors of that particular property in the family and transmitting culture like say I am from an asemese background so my culture will be different from that of an Uria or maybe a South Indian it would be different so that way my parents they will be passing on to me certain cultural traits which are specific to the asemese tradition so that way there is transmission of culture which are very important functions of the family again important social institution that comes in after family is about marriage so while we are talking about marriage it's basically according to Gillian and Gillian that is it's a socially approved way of establishing a family of procreation when there is a need for procreation the particular social structure marriage is a way which is socially approved and it legitimizes the sexual relation between the man and a woman similarly according to Malinowski it's a contract for the production and maintenance of children similarly according to Duncan Mitchell there is also a different definition of marriage as you can see after looking at the different definitions of marriage we now move on to the characteristics of marriage so it's again universal because it's a social institution and it's enduring the bond is enduring it lasts and it's a relationship at least between two persons because there are two persons at the max like basically involved in the marriage and it requires social approval it has to be socially approved and it creates mutual obligations like it tries to delineate certain rules and regulations and obligations of the members when they enter into marriage and the different functions of marriage so it tries to provide stability to the sex relationship between the man and a woman and it tries and that way it ensures stability and continuity of the family and again since it provides for stability of the relationship between man and woman so in a way it also builds up a setup which is guaranteeing the children who are the progeny of the particular union that they are the socially accepted inheritor or socially accepted setup for the procreation of children and thus giving them social identity in the entire social structure again it also involves economic cooperation between the partners both of them will be contributing and will be having immense responsibility towards the running of the family and also marriage like both of them have to contribute like on an equal level because while in a family it cannot be the sole responsibility of the husband or say the wife to run the family similarly it it has to be shared between the two there can be a sustenance of the marriage so while we are talking about marriage their learners their different forms of marriage first one is monogamy that is there is marriage between one man and one woman which is mostly prevalent like so and there is polygamy secondly which is an individual who marries more than one partner then under polygamy itself we have polygyny which means there is a particular man who marries several women and sorrow polygyny which means is a man who marries several women but they are all sisters so that is sorrow polygyny for example nishi one two of northeast india that's a tribe so that is an example of polygyny again that is sorrow and polygyny again we have polyandry polyandry is basically where there is one woman who takes on more than one male as her husband that is if they are if all the males they are husbands they are brothers then it's fraternal polyandry so for example say in example of Draupadi in the case of Draupadi the historical figure while we are talking about Draupadi Draupadi has married all the five Pandavas so that's an example of fraternal polyandry because all the five Pandavas they were brothers so Draupadi marrying all the five Pandavas it's an example of fraternal polyandry one woman marrying several men but all of these men they are brothers but in this case in all these cases social fatherhood is very much important than the biological one the biological one is not given importance but rather the socially accepted fatherhood or the fatherhood that the society approves of is more important for example will be Todas of Nilgiri Hills then when we talk about group marriage is another form of marriage it means several men marrying several women which is group marriage again ghost marriage is there where it's an example of newer of southern Sudan of Africa where for example say and woman's husband dies she gets married to her husband's brother but the child that both of them will be having the father will be the dead husband because they believe this ghost marriage to who followed a ghost marriage they believe that the spouses who were dead are still exist like they still exist in a spirit form in the society and so the fatherhood will be given to the dead husband rather than to the actual husband to whom that woman is married in this case maybe say the husband's brother similarly this is a diagrammatic representation of forms of marriage where we have talked about different forms of marriage and I represented it diagrammatically about the different forms and important concepts within marriage when we talk about marriage marriage is basically between very close of blood relatives which again is an incest it is it's a taboo because it's universally prohibited so marriage between brother and sister cannot take place because that's an because they are both blood relatives so it's an incest or it's a taboo it's incest taboo again marriage within one's own group that is Andogami that is say for example people are time and again told that is they have to marry within their own caste that is an endogamous form of marriage because that is marrying between one's own group again we have outside one's own group for example exogami that is of one's family clan or Gautra that is you have to marry outside one's Gautra or outside one's family you cannot marry your brother you cannot marry your mother so you have to marry outside your family you have to marry outside your Gautra that is marriage outside one's own group that is exogami again endogamous marriage is very much there at times we can see among the royal families which is basically because to so that the property is like kind of there between the family members itself say our brother marrying a sister because because so as the sister doesn't go away to another kingdom and then they will be shared in the property so such that the property remains within the hands of the kingdom and also at times we see that they are cross cousin marriages which are still at times you know still prevalent in many parts of southern India and again we also see that many people men in many cultures there is a custom of paying bright price that is where a woman is not the liability which is very much construct in in contrast to dowry because a bright price is where the woman is thought to be an asset to the family and since the woman is going away so the groom's family they have to pay a price in return because they're taking away value a valuable part of their family but in cases where the woman is a liability they have to like the woman's family they have to pay the price to the groom's family after talking about marriage will move on to kinship kinship while we are talking about it refers to different culturally distinct relationships between individuals who are very much likely to thought of as having family ties and bonds are created through if marriage then it's a final kinship and bonds if created through say socially accepted blood relations or adoption then it's consanguinal kinship for example a final kinship will be say husband and wife father in law and daughter in law but while we talk about consanguinal kinship social acceptance is very much given importance and so that is what consanguinal kinship is again while we are talking about kinship relationship between the consanguines those between cousins are horizontally related that is of the same generations like that is of horizontal nature the relationship of horizontal nature similarly we have the vertical relation that is where the relationship is across generation say parent child the parent is of a different generation child is of a different generation similarly father-in-law or the daughter-in-law both of them belong to the two different generations but they will be termed as vertically related and again through this we can also trace out decent okay now dear learners after talking about these different matters related to kinship we'll be talking about degree of kinship so while you are talking about degree of kinship they are primary relatives or kins who are related to each other say husband and wife are primary a final kins since they are married so a final and they are primary kins because they are nobody between them to establish their relations it's already established through the social accepted form of marriage that is primary relatives or kins secondly we have secondary relatives or kins those kings who are related to the primary kin of an individual for example one's daughter-in-law is the primary a final kin of one's son that is say the son's wife the wife's relation to the father-in-law it's established through the son so that is how it's secondary relative or kins again this has been diagrammatically represented for example while we talk about this I have represented diagrammatically like where c and d a and b c and d then a and b a and b then a b together and c c d together and e f and g then fg together and d are all primary kins okay and when we talk about a b and d then a b and e for example they are our secondary kins for example you see a b they have a son c okay and their son is getting married to d that is the circle that you can see d so the relationship between this d and a b will be of secondary kins but the relationship between a and b to c will be of primary nature okay similarly it has been explained how a kin can be a consanguinal kin or how a kin can be a primary kin so looking at this diagram and understanding it would give you a more clearer picture again while we talk about degree of kinship also we have a tertiary kin which refers to the primary kin of the secondary relative or kin for example one's son's father-in-law son's wife's father is one's tertiary kin for example while we talk about this son's wife's father-in-law that is this is the son's his wife is this one d father-in-law will be f so between c and f they have a tertiary relationship so this is the thing that is what tertiary kinship is again when we talk about kinship system dear learners we have it's an important system of the entire it's an important subsystem of the entire social structure and it's the relationships are one or not one-to-one basis it's the relationships are both consanguin as well as a final and also there are certain important aspects like same marriage inheritance economic role etc which it tries to cover the kinship system and it has different social roles and regulations which it tries to cover so kinship and affinity when we talk about what do we mean so according to Ratcliffe Brown kinship system as a system of kinship and affinity kinship system as a system of dyadic relations its network of one to one dyadic social relations between person to person in a community and there are two sets of relatives that is consanguin and a final so a final is the one with whom there is a like it established to marriage and consanguin is the one where it's basically the relationship between like the brother and the sister consanguin so two sets of relatives that way you have then religion so while you are talking about religion it basically according to E.B. Tyler it's also a very important social institution while we talk about religion it basically means belief in the supernatural beings or belief in unifying systems of beliefs and practices or combining the entire community into one into one so that will be given by Emile Durkheim again when we talk about religion it has two categories monotheism and polytheism monotheism means belief in one supreme God as I've already written polytheism again means belief in many gods similarly there are different other forms of religion say animism animatism totemism magic there's all these different forms to either believe in setotemism there is a particular say a stone the particular tribe or a particular group they will be believing that the particular stone will be having certain supernatural powers within it so they will be worshipping it so that's a totem for the particular group so that is what totemism animism again everything living or non-living they will be having certain souls so that is what animism is so similarly animatism magic when we talk about this different types of like religion or their different functions of religion in the human society for example it tries to provide for emotional security it tries to help and the individual in trying to understand and explaining the events occurring around them and also acting as a powerful means of social control and also as a bond for social union and unity amongst all who follow the same religion while we're talking about religion the different social institution that comes up in our mind is polity or political organization while we talk about polity or political organization what do we mean by political so according to John Betay the term political it means maintenance of ordered relations between different categories and groups of people and compasses a wider social field includes relations between separate societies and political authority these are the terms that according to John Betay that is what the term political it basically tries to explain and while we are talking about polity or political organization two important things that come up is the state and the government the first one we'll be discussing about is state so state is basically it's not the same as the community it's something very different it has been created with a specific purpose and it has its own set of function which has been already defined according to Harold Lasky the definition for state is it's a territorial society it's divided into governments and subjects claiming within it's allotted physical area a supremacy over all other social institutions while we're talking and discussing about state their learners there are four basic components for state first one territory second one people third one government and fourth one is sovereignty there so there are these four basic components for state again we need to look into now the functions of a state so what are the different functions of the state according to McEver it basically the functions are very much peculiar like what a state can do and cannot do is already prescribed so and and the functions that the state will be having they are very much well versed like they know how to do it and what to do it and functions from which the state is ill-adapted against their certain elements in the society through which which the state cannot cope up so that is what the state is ill-adapted again functions which the state is incapable of performing obviously because there are certain functions which the state cannot say the state a particular state cannot interfere into the relations or into the activities of another state without you know obviously consent or maybe after a mutual discussion they can but not without prior permission so these are certain responsibilities or we can say functions of the state again we have different functions according to functionalist functionalist because they view that every element in the society they need to have certain activities so as to maintain the social structure so keeping that in view point functionalist they basically see state as planning and direction that is doing something like you know planning out activities directing it enforcement of norms telling its citizens as to what to do and what not to do arbitration of conflicting interest protection against other societies these are the different functions according to functionalist of the state the second element that we discuss under policy or political organization is government as a very important social institution when we talk about government it's basically it's an organized system of functions through which the authority of the state is applied to the given situation say a particular state is there and it has formulated certain rules and regulations so government is the mechanism through which those rules and regulations will be enforced on its citizens for the smooth conduct within the social structure again under the government there are three important organs that is the legislative the executive and the judiciary these are the three important organs of the government these are the different forms of government which I have represented diagrammatically so under forms of government the first one that we see is the despotic type which is under one man's absolute rule that is there is one person who is like ruling upon its people and there is nobody else who can interfere in his decision-making the second one is democratic type democratic type is where you elect people and those elected people they basically govern or they take up decisions that is democratic type where people have a little bit of say because they have a say in a decision-making they they get to cast their votes so it's the democratic type of government again under democratic type we have republican and limited monarchy and both republican and limited monarchy it can either be unitary or federal type so and both federal and unitary type both of them can together be either parliamentary or non-parliamentary so dear learners when we have talked about these different forms of government we see that there are some which again talks about leadership in one man's hand and there is another form which is like this democratic type which again talks about the leadership getting divided between individuals or where it is shared where the citizen also has a say in the decision-making so it is more inclusive that way in nature that a republican form of government what happens is they are elected by the citizens and in limited monarchy what happens is that there is a particular post for the head of the state and that is hereditary for example a particular individual belongs to a royal family he or she or their next generation they will be continuously running the particular state but it's a titular head that is it has a that state particular has a it has a particular prescribed constitution and although he is the royal like you know he may be the high highness or maybe the king of the particular state but he will also have to adhere or follow the particular rules and regulations prescribed in the constitution so that will be limited monarchy and both the systems may be either unitary type or federal type and both unitary and federal type can be further parliamentary or non-parliamentary type and the specific type of government they tend to vary over time for example the government in Germany before World War 2 was dictatorial that is autocratic after the war it became democratic so obviously because there was a war people had to fought people fought for their rights and although it was autocratic in the beginning after the war the result was that it became democratic it became people-friendly it became more inclusive in nature so depending on the situation the forms of government it changes in our today's discussion we have basically talked about that how we can term a particular institution as a social institution and what are the different characteristics of an institution or a social institution and what are the different forms of social institution say the family marriage then the kinship polity or political organization these are all different forms of social institution and each of them have their own different set of rules and different set of norms which they try to pass on to the members of the particular society so that there is a smooth functioning of the entire social structure because the social structure is over encompassing that is it is over and above the individual it tries to maintain so this entire elements within a social structure as important social institutions they try to maintain their specific roles within the society such that the members right from his birth he is in a family as he grows up he gets married so that's the marriage institution where it comes up and through marriage time and again he will be linked to his wife or maybe to his son he will be a father so that way the kinship relation comes in and again there's a particular government where he will be like placed or located so again the government as an important social institution or the state as an important social institution comes in to prescribed as to what to do or what not to do within the social structure so the social structure is very important in our entire discussion and so with this we have learned that the social structure is very much important social institution tries to build up or help in continuing or continuation of the social structure and there are different social institutions each of them having their own set of rules own set of norms through which they try to maintain the social structure and hope this discussion was useful and you could maybe take up examples from your surroundings or maybe taking you like you know dear learners you might just assume that you are like the ego and from your point of view you can say or maybe you can see try to assume who are your primary kins or who are your final kins or who are your relatives in what manner and then you can try to represent it diagrammatically which will become again more interesting and you can try to see the different social institutions which are present in society which try to regulate your behavior in the social structure thank you