In the last lecture, we examined the relationship between individual and society by reflecting upon the social contract theory and organismic theory of society.

In this lecture, we shall map the conceptual and theoretical contours of institution, community and association.

Institution

Institution refers to an established order comprising rule-bound and standardized behaviour patterns. The term “institution” is widely acknowledged to be used in a variety of ways, and hence often ambiguously.

Institution 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.
• Established patterns of behaviour – institutions are regarded as a higher-order, more general unit that incorporates a plurality of roles.

Let us discuss the above points by providing an example. A school as a social institution embraces pupil roles, teacher roles (which usually include different roles for juniors, seniors and head teachers) and, depending on the degree of autonomy a school has from outside agencies, parent roles and the managerial/inspectorial roles associated with the relevant educational authority. The school as an institution embraces these roles across all the schools that jointly constitute the school system in a given society.

Five major complexes of institutions are conveniently identified.

1. Economic institutions serve to produce and distribute goods and services.
2. Political institutions regulate the use of, and access to, power.
3. Stratification institutions determine the distribution of positions and resources.
4. Kinship institutions deal with marriage, the family and the socialization of the young.
5. Cultural institutions are concerned with religious, scientific and artistic activities.

What do we understand by the concept “role/s”?

Role/s

The concept “role/s” assumes that, when people occupy social positions, their behaviour is determined mainly by what is expected of that position rather than by their own individual characteristics.

According to Penguin Dictionary of Sociology (2010), ‘… roles are the bundles of socially defined attributes and expectations associated with social positions.’

For example, an individual school-teacher performs the role of ‘teacher’, which carries with it certain expected behaviours irrespective of her/his own personal feelings at any one time, and therefore it is possible to generalize about the professional role behaviour of teachers regardless of the individual characteristics of the people who occupy these positions.