Signs and structural components of social institutions. Test
The typology of social institutions can be built on various grounds.
Depending on the scope and them functions institutions are divided into:
Relational, defining the role structure of society according to a variety of criteria from gender and age to individual lessons and abilities;
Regulatory, defining the permissible framework for actions and sanctions that punish exit from them (this includes all mechanisms of social control);
Cultural, associated with ideology, religion, art, etc.;
Integrative, associated with social roles responsible for ensuring the interests of the social community as a whole.
Based meaningful tasks institutions can be divided:
Economic, which include all those institutions that are engaged in the production of goods and services, the regulation of monetary circulation, the organization and division of labor, etc.;
Political, or institutions associated with the establishment, implementation and maintenance of power (governments, parliament, political parties, police - police, etc.);
Cultural, or all those institutions that are created for the development of culture, for the socialization of the younger generation, the transfer of the cultural values of society as a whole to it (family as an educational institution, school, university, cultural institutions, etc.);
Institutions are social or public in the narrow sense of the word;
Political institutions (states, parties, army);
Economic institutions (division of labor, property, taxes);
Institutions of kinship, marriage and family;
Institutions operating in the spiritual sphere (education, culture, mass communications, etc.).
Sociologists further subdivide social institutions into formal(created officially, usually within the state, have strictly defined boundaries) and informal(do not have strict regulations). An example of the first is the social institution of healthcare, the second is religion as a social institution.
Development social system essentially reducible to the evolution of social institutions. Different institutions may dominate in different eras and in different societies. In a primitive society, of course, it was a family, now science and education are among the priorities.
4.4. Functions of social institutions
The main function of any social institution, as well as social institutions in general, is the satisfaction of basic social needs. Thus, for example, the institution of marriage and the family, by sanctioning the form of sexual relations, satisfies the social need for the reproduction of the population and the socialization of the younger generation. The institution of religion allows people to satisfy the need for understanding the meaning of life, understanding moral values (good, evil, etc.).
In the event that the changed social needs are not adequately reflected in the structure and functions of the relevant institutions, dysfunction arises.
Such a discrepancy leads either to a decrease in the role of such an institution, and hence to the degeneration of functions (bureaucracy), or its use for selfish abuse (corruption).
When there is a discrepancy between the proclaimed (officially recognized) goals and objective consequences, a latent, hidden function begins to operate. It should be noted that if the recognized function of a social institution is arbitrary ("managed") in nature, then the latent function is unintentional, unconscious. For example, if the explicit function of the prohibition of alcohol or gambling is their termination, suppression, then the latent function of the corresponding actions is the creation of an underground network (moonshine, the operation of slot machines under the guise of training apparatus, etc.).
Questions for self-control and discussion
What does the term "society" mean in sociology?
Community and society: the same thing?
What areas does it cover public life?
What concept is the most capacious and important in sociology: public or social?
What are social institutions?
What is the typology of social institutions?
What are the functions of social institutions?
Give examples of the main social institutions in modern society. Give them a brief description.
Firstly, relationship institutions, which establish mutual role expectations, regardless of the content of the interests and needs of people. These can be family, university, money, etc.
Secondly, regulatory institutions which define the boundaries of the legitimate realization of private interests, taking into account the goals and means. These are legal (laws) and moral (public opinion) institutions.
Thirdly, cultural (spiritual) institutions, establishing mandatory cultural patterns behavior motivation: a) cognitive beliefs (Newton's laws, social equality etc.); b) expressive (necessary) symbols (jeans, Cell Phones etc.); c) private moral obligations (friendship, fidelity to sons, patriotism, etc.).
Social institutions are elements of various systems (spheres) of society: demosocial, economic, political, spiritual, within which they acquire their own specifics. The systems of society differ: 1) in the social needs they satisfy; 2) the nature of statuses and roles; 3) regulators of these statuses and roles; 4) the nature of social activity (communication), in which social needs, statuses and roles, subjective and objective regulators are realized.
Demosocial institutions (family, settlement, ethnos) serve for the reproduction and socialization of members of society. The leading statuses in them are parents, children, grandparents, relatives, the material and cultural features are the apartment, furniture, cottage, etc., the symbols are the marriage ritual, wedding ring etc.; and the institutional regulator is family morality. Family ideology as part of the ideology of this type of society reveals the importance of the family for the life of people and society.
Production institutions (farm, factory, firm, etc.) are engaged in production social benefits: food, clothing, shelter, transport, etc. The main thing for them is one or another production activity: agricultural, industrial, etc. Within the framework of agricultural activity, one can distinguish the statuses and roles of an agronomist, tractor driver, milkmaid, etc. The material and cultural signs here are factories, transport enterprises, etc., the symbols are company logo, print, etc. n. The production code of conduct includes licenses, contracts, work ethics, etc. The main regulators of production activity are money, power, self-expression, etc. The ideology of production can be market, monopolistic, expansionist, etc.
Economic institutions cover forms of ownership, banks, money, and so on. They ensure the distribution and exchange of produced social benefits. Economic activity includes the calculation of costs and profits, accounting and control over ownership of the means of production and manufactured goods, the distribution of workers and money by type of activity, etc. n. In this area of social activity, bank presidents, dealers, accountants, cashiers, etc. can be distinguished. The main regulators of economic activity are profit, stocks, money, currency, etc., corporate morality, frugality, client secrecy, etc., as well as legal and administrative norms.
Political institutions (branches of state power, parties, trade unions, etc.) serve to manage the affairs of society. Such management includes the determination of national interests, the organization of their satisfaction, the maintenance of order, the defense of the country, etc. The main form of activity here is political: the capture, retention and use of state power. Political institutions are a hierarchy of positions-statuses (legislative, executive, judicial, etc.), as well as their corresponding roles. The regulators of these institutions are values and norms: political (for example, promotion), moral (“we will not stand up for the price”), material (apartment), economic (market conditions), etc.
Spiritual institutions (church, school, university, newspaper, etc.) serve to develop and promote various ideologies that unite their supporters to solve various problems. The main form of activity in this area is the production, exchange and consumption of spiritual values: ideological (scientific, mythological, religious, etc.), artistic (musical, pictorial, literary, etc.), scientific (mathematical, sociological, etc.). .P.). Spiritual institutions (church, art, science) represent a hierarchy of respective positions; for example, in the church, these are the patriarch, metropolitans, archimandrites, etc.
The social institutions of society form a system. Within its framework, social institutions should complement each other. Thus, the development of the economy is impossible without the development of technology, and the development of the latter is impossible without the corresponding development of education. The corresponding social systems form the same hierarchical and horizontal structure. If a country adopts a law obliging students to serve in the army, then it dooms itself to scientific, technical, and economic backwardness. There is a conflict of social roles: son, student, defender of the motherland, etc. As a result of this, often artificial, conflict of social statuses and roles, some roles are evaded in favor of others.
Social institutions come into conflict with each other for the leading role in the structure of society (country). For example, the conflict between military and civilian institutions over the spending of budget items is typical. The multiplication of such social conflicts causes the disorganization of societies. Violation of the normal interaction between different social institutions is called dysfunction. Such dysfunction also arises as a result of changes in social needs that this social institution satisfies. For example, now in Russia there is a contradiction between the increased needs for education and its current state; and the institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not cope with organized crime.
Each society - for example, American and Russian - has a certain set of social institutions and relations of coordination and subordination between them. Modern society (country) - for example, the United States - has a differentiated system of social institutions and a high degree of coordination and subordination of their activities. Russia is trying to catch up
11 backlog in this area that has arisen over the years Soviet power, but this process is accompanied in our country by the uneven development of institutions of different social systems: authoritarian-political institutions are developing again faster. Many social institutions are ineffective, for example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, higher education, science, etc.
Due to the duration of the emergence and growth of social institutions, it is necessary to protect them from social revolutions, for which they need to be reformed in time. If reforms are delayed due to self-interest, stupidity, irresponsibility of the ruling class and its political elite, then there is a revolutionary replacement of old social institutions with new ones. This happens regularly, in particular, in Russia, which has experienced several social revolutions over the 20th century. As a result, instead of the social institutions grown by history, new ones are hastily created - most of all, out of ideological motives. Such institutions are temporary and disappear with the revolutionary order.
A country that does not take care of its social institutions is doomed to constant instability, permanent backwardness and catch-up modernization, as well as huge material and human costs. Russia is a vivid example of such institutional development. Its spasmodic (revolutionary) development is also due to the fact that modern, normal social institutions for advanced countries cannot be easily and simply transplanted onto the former institutional soil. Introduce modern institutional regulators (ideals, values, norms) into former social ties, social action with the former needs, abilities, mentality of the people is very difficult, it requires a long time and patience of both the population and the reformers.
Yuri Levacha notes the institutional deficit of post-Soviet Russia, which is being overcome very slowly and remains a threat to further stability: “Weaknesses, contradictions, unresolved problems are inevitable, especially in unstable conditions. Another question - in stock institutional funds for the civilized, the most rational decision problems. The "opportunistic" primitiveness of the current social structure encourages the simplest, knurled options - state monopoly, prohibitive, simply forceful. This can be added to the lack of an adequate understanding of the situation. It is from here that a real, in the future - growing, threat to the stability of the state and society arises.
A social institution is divided into main (basic, fundamental) and non-main (non-main, frequent). The latter hide inside the former, being part of them as smaller formations.
In addition to dividing institutions into main and non-main ones, they can be classified according to other criteria. For example, institutions may differ in the time of their emergence and duration of existence (permanent and short-term institutions), the severity of sanctions applied for violations of the rules, the conditions of existence, the presence or absence of a bureaucratic management system, the presence or absence of formal rules and procedures.
Ch. Mills counted five institutional orders in modern society, in fact, meaning by this the main institutions:
- - economic - institutions that organize economic activity;
- - political - institutions of power;
- - family - institutions that regulate sexual relations, the birth and socialization of children;
- - military - institutions that protect members of society from physical danger;
- - religious - institutions that organize the collective worship of the gods.
The purpose of social institutions is to satisfy the most important vital needs of society as a whole.
Five such basic needs are known, they correspond to five basic social institutions:
- - the need for the reproduction of the genus (the institution of family and marriage).
- - the need for security and social order (the institution of the state and other political institutions).
- - the need for obtaining and producing means of subsistence (Economic institutions).
- - the need for the transfer of knowledge, the socialization of the younger generation, the training of personnel (institute of education).
- - the need for solving spiritual problems, the meaning of life (the Institute of Religion).
Non-core institutions are also called social practices. Each major institution has its own systems of established practices, methods, techniques, procedures. Thus, economic institutions cannot do without such mechanisms and practices as currency conversion, protection of private property, professional selection, placement and evaluation of workers, marketing, the market, etc. Within the institution of family and marriage are the institutions of fatherhood and motherhood, the name of the dialect, tribal revenge, inheritance of the social status of parents, etc.
Non-principal political institutions include, for example, institutions forensic examination, passport registration, legal proceedings, advocacy, jury, judicial control of arrests, judiciary, presidency, etc.
Daily practices that help organize concerted action large groups people, bring certainty and predictability into social reality, thanks to which they support the existence of social institutions.
All conceivable and real diversity of societies that existed before and exist now, sociologists divide into certain types. Several types of society, united by similar features, make up typology.
The literature provides a variety of typologies of societies. They are divided into open and 13 closed, pre-literate and written, primitive, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and socialist, pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial, stable and unstable, transitional and stable, reversing and dynamically developing, wild barbaric and civilized.
If writing is chosen as the main feature, then the whole society is divided into pre-literate, i.e. those who can speak but cannot write, and the written ones, who know the alphabet and fix sounds in material media: cuneiform tablets, birch bark, books and newspapers or computers.
According to the second typology, societies are also divided into two classes - simple and complex. The criterion is the number of management levels and the degree of social stratification. In simple societies there are no leaders and subordinates, rich and poor. These are the primitive tribes. In complex societies, there are several levels of government, several social strata of the population, arranged from top to bottom as income decreases.
So we can conclude: simple societies match the pre-written ones. They have no written language, complex administration and social stratification. Complex societies coincide with written ones. This is where writing, branched government and social inequality appear.
The basis of the third is the method of obtaining means of subsistence. The oldest is hunting and gathering. Primitive being, consisted of local related groups (trip). In terms of time, it was the longest - there were hundreds of thousands of years. Early period called the sports society, or the period of the human herd. He was replaced by cattle breeding (shepherding) and gardening. Cattle breeding is based on the domestication (domestication) of wild animals. Cattle breeders led a nomadic lifestyle, while hunters and gatherers led a vagrant lifestyle. Cattle breeding gradually grew out of hunting, when people became convinced that it was more economical to tame animals than to kill them. Horticulture grew out of gathering, and agriculture grew out of it. Thus, horticulture is a transitional form from obtaining finished products (wild plants) to the systematic and intensive cultivation of cultivated cereals. Small gardens eventually gave way to vast fields, primitive wooden hoes to a wooden, and later an iron plow.
Let us draw conclusions: the development of human society consistently passes through three stages corresponding to the three main types of society: pre-industrial, industrial, post-industrial. The transition from the primitive phase to the pre-industrial, or traditional society called the non-logical revolution, and from it to the industrial - the industrial revolution.
The concept of a social institution
The stability of the social system is based on the stability of social ties and relationships. The most stable social relations are the so-called institutionalized relations, that is, relations fixed within the framework of certain social institutions. It is the system of social institutions that ensures the reproduction of the social structure in modern society. It has always been vital for human society to consolidate certain types of social relations, to make them mandatory for all its members or a certain social group. First of all, relations that are significant for ensuring the functioning of the social system, for example, the supply of resources (food, raw materials), and the reproduction of the population, need such consolidation.
The process of consolidating relations aimed at meeting urgent needs is to create a rigidly fixed system of roles and statuses. These roles and statuses prescribe to individuals the rules of behavior within certain social relations. A system of sanctions is also being developed in order to ensure compliance with established regulatory requirements on its basis. In the process of creating such systems, there are social institutions.
The modern term "institute" comes from the Latin institutum - establishment, institution. Over time, it has taken on several meanings. In sociology, it is primarily used to refer to complex social formations designed to ensure stability and meet the needs of the social system.
social institution- this is a set of statuses and roles, necessary material, cultural and other means and resources aimed at performing a certain socially significant function. In terms of content, a social institution is a certain set of expediently oriented standards of behavior in a certain situation. In the process of its functioning, a social institution, on the basis of the rules, norms of behavior and activities developed by it, stimulates the types of behavior that meet the standards, while suppressing and correcting any deviations from the accepted norms. Thus, any social institution carries out social control, that is, it streamlines the behavior of members of a social institution in order to most effectively fulfill the tasks assigned to this institution.
Typology of social institutions
Fundamental, that is, fundamentally important for the existence of the whole society, social needs
not so much. Different researchers give different numbers. But each of these needs necessarily corresponds to one of the main social institutions designed to satisfy this need. We indicate here the following social institutions and their corresponding socially significant needs:
1. Institute of Family and Marriage satisfies the social need for reproduction and primary socialization of the population.
2. Political institutions satisfies the social need for management, coordination public processes, social order and maintaining social stability.
3. Economic institutions satisfies the social need for material support for the existence of society.
4. Institute of Culture satisfies the social need for the accumulation and transfer of knowledge, the structuring of individual experience, the preservation of universal worldview attitudes; in modern society, secondary socialization, most often associated with education, becomes an important task.
5. Institute of Religion (church) satisfies the social need for provision, structuring of spiritual life.
Structure of social institutions
Each of the above institutions is a complex system consisting of many subsystems, which are also called institutions, but these are not the main or subordinate institutions, for example, the institution of the legislature within the framework of a political institution.
Social institutions These are constantly evolving systems. Moreover, the process of formation of new social institutions is constantly going on in society, when certain social relations require giving them a clearer structure and fixation. Such a process is called institutionalization. This process consists of several successive steps:
- the emergence of social significant need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized action by a certain number of individuals;
- awareness of common goals, the achievement of which should lead to the satisfaction of the basic need;
- development in the course of spontaneous social interaction, often carried out by trial and error, social norms and rules;
- the emergence and consolidation of procedures related to the rules and regulations;
- establishment of a system of sanctions to support the implementation of norms and rules, regulation joint activities;
- creation and improvement of the system of statuses and roles, covering all members of the institute without exception.
In the process of its formation, which can last for long periods of time, as it was, for example, with the institution of education, any social institution acquires a certain structure, which consists of the following main components:
- a set of social roles and statuses;
- social norms and sanctions regulating the functioning of this social structure;
- a set of organizations and institutions operating within the framework of a given social institution;
- the necessary material and cultural resources that ensure the functioning of this social institution.
In addition, the structure, to a certain extent, can be attributed to the specific function of the institution, which satisfies one of the basic needs of society.
Functions of social institutions
As already noted, each social institution performs its specific functions in society. Therefore, of course, these profiling socially significant functions, which have already been mentioned earlier, are decisive for any social institution. Meanwhile, there are a number of functions that are inherent in the social institution as such and which are aimed primarily at maintaining the functioning of the social institution itself. Among them are the following:
The function of consolidation and reproduction of social relations. Each institution has a system of rules and norms of behavior that fixes, standardizes the behavior of its members and makes this behavior predictable. Thus, the institution ensures the stability of both its own system and the social structure of society as a whole.
integrative function. This function includes the processes of cohesion, interconnection and interdependence of members social groups which are under the influence of the rules, norms, sanctions that exist in this institution. This leads to an increase in the stability and integrity of the elements of the social structure. Integrative processes carried out by social institutions are necessary for coordinating collective activity, solving complex problems.
Regulatory function . The functioning of a social institution ensures the regulation of relationships between members of society by developing patterns of behavior. Whatever type of activity an individual is engaged in, he very often encounters an institution designed to regulate activities in this area. As a result, the activity of the individual receives a predictable, desirable direction for the social system as a whole.
broadcasting function. Each institution for its normal functioning needs the arrival of new people both for expansion and replacement of personnel. In this regard, each institution provides a mechanism that allows for such recruitment, which implies a certain level of socialization in accordance with the interests and requirements of this institution.
It should be noted that in addition to explicit functions, a social institution may also have hidden or latent(hidden) features. The latent function may be unintentional, unconscious. The task of revealing, defining latent functions is very important, since they largely determine the final result of the functioning of a social institution, that is, the performance of its main, or explicit, functions. Moreover, often latent functions have negative consequences, lead to the occurrence of negative side effects.
Dysfunctions of social institutions
The activity of a social institution, as mentioned above, does not always lead to only desirable consequences. That is, a social institution, in addition to performing its basic functions, can also produce undesirable, and sometimes unambiguously negative, consequences. Such a functioning of a social institution, when, along with the benefit to society, it also harms it, is called dysfunction.
The discrepancy between the activity of a social institution and the nature of social needs, or the violation of the performance of its functions by other social institutions due to such a discrepancy, can have very serious negative consequences for the entire social system.
as the most good example here we can cite corruption as a dysfunction of political institutions. This dysfunction not only prevents the political institutions themselves from properly fulfilling their immediate tasks, in particular, to stop illegal actions, prosecute offenders, and control the activities of other social institutions. The paralysis of government bodies caused by corruption has a huge impact on all other social institutions. In the economic sphere, the shadow sector is growing, huge amounts of funds do not fall into the state treasury, direct violations of the current legislation are committed with impunity, and there is an outflow of investments. Similar processes are taking place in other social spheres. The life of society, the functioning of its main systems, including life support systems, which include the main social institutions, is paralyzed, development stops, and stagnation begins.
Thus, the fight against dysfunctions, the prevention of their occurrence is one of the main tasks of the social system, the positive solution of which can lead to a qualitative intensification of social development, optimization of social relations.
All social institutions are usually divided into main and non-main. The latter hide inside the former, representing smaller formations. In addition to dividing institutions into main and non-main, they are classified according to other criteria. For example, institutions differ in the time of their interaction and duration of existence (permanent and short-term institutions), the severity of sanctions applied for violation of the rules, the conditions of existence, the presence or absence of formal rules and procedures.
R. Mills counted five institutional approaches in modern society, implying the main institutions:
1. Economic - an institution that organizes economic activity;
2. Political - an institution of power;
3. Family - an institution that regulates sexual relations, the birth and socialization of children;
4. Military - an institution that organizes legal heritage;
5. Religious - an institution that organizes the collective worship of the gods.
Their purpose is to satisfy the most important vital needs of the collective or society as a whole.
Five basic needs and institutions:
1. The need for the reproduction of the genus (the institution of family and marriage);
2. The need for security and social order (political institutions, the state);
3. The need for means of subsistence (economic institutions, production);
4. The need for knowledge, for the socialization of the younger generation, training (educational institutions in broad sense, i.e. including science and culture);
5. The need to solve spiritual problems, the meaning of life (the institute of religion).
The function of a social institution can be defined as a set of tasks it solves, goals achieved, services provided.
The first and most important function of social institutions is to satisfy the most important vital needs of society, that is, without which society cannot exist as such. It cannot exist if it is not constantly replenished by new generations of people, acquire means of subsistence, live in peace and order, acquire new knowledge and pass it on to the next generations, deal with spiritual issues.
No less important is the function of socialization of people, carried out by almost all social institutions (the assimilation of cultural norms and the development of social roles). It can be called universal.
Along with the universal ones, there are also specific functions, i.e., functions that are inherent in one and not inherent in other institutions, for example, the reproduction of new generations (the institution of the family), obtaining a livelihood (production), establishing and maintaining order in society (the state) , the discovery and transfer of new knowledge (science and education), the administration of rituals (religion).
According to S. S. Frolov, it is more correct to speak not about the elements that make up the structure of an institution, but about institutional features, that is, features and properties common to all institutions. There are five of them:
1. Attitudes and patterns of behavior (attachment, loyalty, responsibility and respect in the family, obedience, loyalty and subordination in the state);
2. Symbolic cultural features (wedding ring, flag, coat of arms, cross, icons, etc.);
3. Unitary cultural traits (family home, public buildings for the state, shops and factories for production, classrooms and libraries for education, temples for religion);
4. Oral and written codes (prohibitions, legal guarantees, laws, rules);
5. Ideology (romantic love in the family, democracy in the state, freedom of trade in the economy, academic freedom in education, Orthodoxy or Catholicism in religion).
31. State and society.
In its natural essence, public administration, being a part of social administration, is a public institution closely related to man and his activities.
Public administration is included in the system of social relations, which are special relations in human life,
Public administration is carried out in the system of reciprocal relations "man - society - state - man". The system is designed to serve the purposes of providing with the most effective degree of satisfaction of its needs, interests and aspirations,
The democratic nature, goal orientation and other properties of society predetermine the involvement of wide civil circles in participation in the management. This participation begins with voting at the polling station, continues in decisions that are prepared and adopted by representative bodies of power, influencing public opinion on political leaders, etc. Participation of citizens in public administration It is also expressed in many other very diverse forms, for example, in the administration of justice as jurors (people's) assessors, as members of people's squads helping law enforcement agencies maintain public order, etc.
The motives for determining the goals of public administration are national interests - sustainable or newly emerging needs of all elements of society. If society were homogeneous, had the same needs for all its citizens, then there would be no particular problems in determining the goals of public administration (Fig. 1).
However, society is a heterogeneous environment. Every member of society in this moment time has its individual needs and desires,
social mechanism public administration involves the establishment of organized interaction between people, their communities, social groups, understanding the priority of universal interests and goals over mercantile ones and the need to comply with mutual obligations and responsibilities.
To meet various social needs, various social institutions are created that compete with each other and complement each other. Social institutions are stable forms of human relations, ways of expressing their purposeful aspirations in various types activities. They function as a regulator of human behavior in various fields social relations. Social institutions that influence the process of development and implementation of state decisions have diverse manifestations and reflect the level of social development, the degree of civilization of society.
The social mechanism for the implementation of public administration, accumulating the interests and needs of society in order to select the optimal means and methods for their implementation, can be expressed through the following single chain mediated by the state: needs - interests - contradictions - goals - will - motives (attitudes) - incentives - decisions - actions - results. It is in such a consistently interconnected and logically connected chain of social elements that the formation and implementation of state administration takes place.
In the process of public administration, there is an agreement and resolution of social contradictions arising from the clash of various interests of various groups of many people. From the point of view of institutionalization, the representation of interests in public administration is a mechanism by which the state in practice pursues a policy of settling various kinds of conflicts (individual, national, territorial, class, etc.), convergence of interests of various groups of the population, thereby creating conditions for their normal coexistence.
In the interaction between the state and society, it is advisable to single out the following types social interests according to their scale:
* public;
* state;
* regional;
* national;
* professional;
* corporate;
* private (individual) .
Social institution - it is a set of norms, rules, symbols that regulate a certain area of public life, social relations and organize them into a system of roles and statuses.
These are relatively stable types and forms of social practice through which social life is organized, the stability of ties and relationships is ensured within the framework of the social organization of society.
Each social institution is characterized by the presence of its own signs:
1. Codes of conduct, their codes (written and oral). For example, in a state it will be a constitution, laws; in religion - church prohibitions; in education - the rules of student behavior.
2. Attitudes and patterns of behavior. For example, in the institution of the family - respect, love, affection; in the state - law-abiding; in religion, worship.
3. cultural symbols . For example, in the state - a flag, emblem, anthem; in the family - a ring; in religion - icons, crosses, shrines.
4. Utilitarian features of culture. In education, libraries, classrooms; in religion, temple buildings; in the family - an apartment, dishes, furniture.
5. The presence of an ideology. In the state - democracy, totalitarianism; in religion - Orthodoxy, Islam; in the family - family cooperation, solidarity.
The structure of the social institution:
1) Outwardly social institution looks like a set of persons, institutions equipped with certain material resources and carrying out a specific social function.
2) From the content side - this is a certain set of expediently oriented standards of behavior of certain persons in certain situations. Thus, justice as a social institution outwardly is a set of persons (prosecutors, judges, lawyers, etc.), institutions (prosecutors' offices, courts, places of detention, etc.), material means, and in content it is a set of standardized patterns of behavior of authorized persons performing a certain social function. These standards of behavior are embodied in the social roles characteristic of the justice system (roles of judges, prosecutors, lawyers, etc.).
Structural elements of a social institution:
1. A certain area of activity and social relations.
2. Institutions for the organization of joint activities of people and a group of persons in them authorized to perform social, organizational and managerial functions and roles.
3. Norms and principles of relations between officials, as well as between them and members of society included in the orbit of this social institution.
4. The system of sanctions for non-fulfillment of roles, norms and standards of behavior.
5. Material resources (public buildings, equipment, finance, etc.).
The process of forming an institution is called institutionalization. It needs the following terms:
· in society, a specific social need for this institution must exist and be recognized by the majority of individuals,
· society must have the necessary means to satisfy this need (resources, a system of functions, actions, norms, symbols).
In carrying out their functions, social institutions encourage the actions of their members that are consistent with the relevant standards of behavior, and suppress deviations in behavior from the requirements of these standards, i.e. control and regulate the behavior of individuals.
Functions of social institutions:
1) the function of consolidating and reproducing social relations- A social institution supports the stability of certain systems of society.
2) regulatory function- regulation of relations and behavior of people with the help of norms, rules of conduct, sanctions.
3) integrative function- rallying and strengthening ties between groups of people united by this social institution. It is realized through the strengthening of contacts and interactions between them.
4) communicative function- is aimed at ensuring connections, communication, interaction between people through a certain organization of their joint life and activities.
Typology of social institutions:
1. Depending on the need, which this institution satisfies:
· Institute of Family and Marriage
· Political institution, institution of the state
· Economic institutions
· Institutes of Education
· Institute of Religion
2. By nature, institutions are
· Formal – activities are based on strict guidelines. They exercise management and control functions on the basis of strictly established sanctions.
· informal – they do not have clearly defined and enshrined in special legislative acts and documents prescriptions regarding functions, means, methods of activity (for example, political movements, associations of interest, etc.). Here control is based on informal sanctions (for example, approval or condemnation).
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