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Institutionalization of public life. The concept of "social institution"

Social institutions (from lat. tzShisht - establishment, institution) are historically established stable forms of organizing the joint activities of people. The term "social institution" is used in a wide variety of meanings. They talk about the institution of the family, the institution of education, health care, the institution of the state, etc. The first, most often used meaning of the term “social institution” is associated with the characteristic of any kind of ordering, formalization and standardization of social ties and relations. And the process of streamlining, formalization and standardization is called institutionalization.
The process of institutionalization includes a number of points. One of the necessary conditions for the emergence of social institutions is the corresponding social need. Institutes are called upon to organize joint activities people in order to meet certain social needs. Thus, the institution of the family satisfies the need for the reproduction of the human race and the upbringing of children, implements relations between the sexes, generations, etc. The Institute higher education provides training work force, enables a person to develop his abilities in order to realize them in subsequent activities and ensure his existence, etc. The emergence of certain social needs, as well as the conditions for their satisfaction, are the first necessary moments of institutionalization. A social institution is formed on the basis of social ties, interactions and relationships of specific individuals, individuals, social groups and other communities. But it, like other social systems, cannot be reduced to the sum of these individuals and their interactions. Social institutions are supra-individual in nature, have their own systemic quality. Consequently, a social institution is an independent public entity that has its own logic of development. From this point of view, social institutions can be considered as organized social systems characterized by the stability of the structure, the integration of their elements and a certain variability of their functions.
What are these systems? What are their main elements? First of all, it is a system of values, norms, ideals, as well as patterns of activity and behavior of people and other elements of the sociocultural process. This system guarantees similar behavior of people, coordinates and directs their certain aspirations, establishes ways to satisfy their needs, resolves conflicts that arise in the process of everyday life, provides a state of balance and stability within a particular social community and society as a whole. In itself, the presence of these socio-cultural elements does not yet ensure the functioning of a social institution. In order for it to work, it is necessary that they become the property of the inner world of the individual, be internalized by them in the process of socialization, embodied in the form social roles and statuses. The internalization by individuals of all sociocultural elements, the formation on their basis of a system of personality needs, value orientations and expectations is the second essential element institutionalization. The third most important element of institutionalization is the organizational design of a social institution. Outwardly, a social institution is a collection of individuals, institutions, equipped with certain material resources and performing a certain social function. Thus, an institution of higher education consists of a certain set of persons: teachers, attendants, officials who operate within institutions such as universities, the ministry or the State Committee for high school etc., who have certain material assets (buildings, finances, etc.) for their activities.
So, each social institution is characterized by the presence of a goal of its activity, specific functions that ensure the achievement of such a goal, a set of social positions and roles typical for this institution. Based on all of the above, we can give the following definition of a social institution. Social institutions are organized associations of people performing certain socially significant functions, ensuring the joint achievement of goals based on the social roles performed by members, set by social values, norms and patterns of behavior.
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The concepts of society and system, social ties, social interaction, social relations. System analysis of social life

1. The concept of "social institution".

institutionalization of public life.

Social institutions (from the Latin institutum - establishment, institution) are historically established stable forms of organizing the joint activities of people. The term "social institution" is used in a wide variety of meanings. They talk about the institution of the family, the institution of education, health care, the institution of the state, etc. The first, most often used meaning of the term "social institution" is associated with the characteristics of any kind of ordering, formalization and standardization of social relations and relations. And the process of streamlining, formalization and standardization is called institutionalization.

The process of institutionalization includes a number of points: 1) One of the necessary conditions for the emergence of social institutions is the corresponding social need. Institutions are designed to organize the joint activities of people in order to meet certain social needs. Thus, the institution of the family satisfies the need for the reproduction of the human race and the upbringing of children, implements relations between the sexes, generations, etc. The institution of higher education provides training for the workforce, enables a person to develop his abilities in order to realize them in subsequent activities and ensure his own existence, etc. The emergence of certain social needs, as well as the conditions for their satisfaction, are the first necessary moments of institutionalization. 2) A social institution is formed on the basis of social ties, interactions and relationships of specific individuals, individuals, social groups and other communities. But it, like other social systems, cannot be reduced to the sum of these individuals and their interactions. Social institutions are supra-individual in nature, have their own systemic quality. Consequently, a social institution is an independent public entity that has its own logic of development. From this point of view, social institutions can be considered as organized social systems characterized by the stability of the structure, the integration of their elements and a certain variability of their functions.

What are these systems? What are their main elements? First of all, it is a system of values, norms, ideals, as well as patterns of activity and behavior of people and other elements of the sociocultural process. This system guarantees similar behavior of people, coordinates and directs certain aspirations into the mainstream, establishes ways to satisfy their needs, resolves conflicts,

arising in the process of everyday life, provides a state of balance and stability within a particular social community and society as a whole. In itself, the presence of these socio-cultural elements does not yet ensure the functioning of a social institution. In order for it to work, it is necessary that they become the property of the inner world of the individual, be internalized by them in the process of socialization, embodied in the form of social roles and statuses. The internalization by individuals of all sociocultural elements, the formation on their basis of a system of personality needs, value orientations and expectations is the second most important element of institutionalization. 3) The third most important element of institutionalization is the organizational design of a social institution. Outwardly, a social institution is a collection of individuals, institutions, equipped with certain material resources and performing a certain social function. Thus, an institution of higher education consists of a certain set of persons: teachers, attendants, officials who operate within institutions such as universities, the ministry or the State Committee for Higher Education, etc., who for their activities have certain material assets (buildings , finance, etc.).

So, each social institution is characterized by the presence of a goal of its activity, specific functions that ensure the achievement of such a goal, a set of social positions and roles typical for this institution. Based on the foregoing, we can give the following definition of a social institution. Social institutions are organized associations of people performing certain socially significant functions, ensuring the joint achievement of goals based on the social roles performed by members, set by social values, norms and patterns of behavior.

2 Types and functions of social institutions.

Each institution performs its own characteristic social function. The totality of these social functions is formed into general social functions social institutions as certain types social system. These features are very versatile. Sociologists of different trends tried to somehow classify them, to present them in the form of a certain ordered system. The most complete and interesting classification was presented by the so-called "institutional school". Representatives of the institutional school in sociology (Slipset; D. Landberg and others) identified four main functions of social institutions:

1) Reproduction of members of society. The main institution that performs this function is the family, but other social institutions, such as the state, are also involved in it.

2) Socialization - the transfer to individuals of the patterns of behavior and methods of activity established in a given society - the institutions of the family, education, religion, etc.

3) Production and distribution. Provided by the economic and social institutions of management and control - the authorities.

4) The functions of management and control are carried out through the system social norms and prescriptions that implement the corresponding types of behavior: moral and legal norms, customs, administrative decisions, etc. Social institutions control the individual's behavior through a system of rewards and sanctions.

Social institutions differ from each other in their functional qualities:

1) Economic and social institutions - property, exchange, money, banks, business associations different type- provide the entire set of production and distribution of social wealth, at the same time connecting economic life with other areas social life.

2) Political institutions - the state, parties, trade unions and other kinds public organizations pursuing political goals aimed at establishing and maintaining a certain form of political power. Their totality is political system of this society. Political institutions ensure the reproduction and sustainable preservation of ideological values, stabilize the social class structures that dominate in society.

3) Sociocultural and educational institutions aim at the development and subsequent reproduction of cultural and social values, the inclusion of individuals in a certain subculture, as well as the socialization of individuals through the assimilation of stable sociocultural standards of behavior and, finally, the protection of certain values and norms.

4) Normative-orienting - mechanisms of moral and ethical orientation and regulation of the behavior of individuals. Their goal is to give behavior and motivation a moral argument, an ethical basis. These institutions assert imperative universal human values, special codes and ethics of behavior in the community.

5) Normative-sanctioning - social and social regulation of behavior on the basis of norms, rules and regulations enshrined in legal and administrative acts. The binding nature of the norms is ensured by the coercive power of the state and the system of appropriate sanctions.

6) Ceremonial-symbolic and situational-conventional institutions. These institutions are based on the more or less long-term adoption of conventional (by agreement) norms, their official and unofficial consolidation. These norms regulate everyday contacts, various acts of group and intergroup behavior. They determine the order and method of mutual behavior, regulate the methods of transmission and exchange of information, greetings, addresses, etc., the rules of meetings, meetings, the activities of some associations.

Violation of the normative interaction with the social environment, which is the society or community, is called the dysfunction of a social institution. As noted earlier, the basis for the formation and functioning of a particular social institution is the satisfaction of a particular social need. Under the conditions of intensive social processes, the acceleration of the pace of social change, a situation may arise when the changed social needs are not adequately reflected in the structure and functions of the relevant social institutions. As a result, dysfunction may occur in their activities. From a substantive point of view, dysfunction is expressed in the ambiguity of the goals of the institution, the uncertainty of functions, in the fall of its social prestige and authority, the degeneration of its individual functions into "symbolic", ritual activity, that is, activity not aimed at achieving a rational goal.

One of the clear expressions of the dysfunction of a social institution is the personalization of its activities. A social institution, as you know, functions according to its own, objectively operating mechanisms, where each person, on the basis of norms and patterns of behavior, in accordance with his status, plays certain roles. The personalization of a social institution means that it ceases to act in accordance with objective needs and objectively established goals, changing its functions depending on the interests of individuals, their personal qualities and properties.

An unsatisfied social need can bring to life the spontaneous emergence of normatively unregulated activities that seek to make up for the dysfunction of the institution, but at the cost of violating existing norms and rules. In its extreme forms, activity of this kind can be expressed in illegal activities. So, the dysfunction of some economic institutions is the reason for the existence of the so-called "shadow economy", results in speculation, bribery, theft, etc. Correction of dysfunction can be achieved by changing the social institution itself or by creating a new social institution that satisfies a given social need.

Researchers distinguish two forms of the existence of social institutions: simple and complex. Simple social institutions are organized associations of people who perform certain socially significant functions that ensure the joint achievement of goals based on the fulfillment by the members of the institution of their social roles, due to social values, ideals, norms. At this level, the control system did not stand out as an independent system. Social values, ideals, norms themselves ensure the sustainability of the existence and functioning of a social institution.

3. Family as the most important social institution.

A classic example of a simple social institution is the institution of the family. A.G. Kharchev defines the family as an association of people based on marriage and consanguinity, connected by common life and mutual responsibility. Marriage is the foundation of family relationships. Marriage is a historically changing social form relations between a woman and a man, through which society regulates and sanctions their sexual life and establishes their marital and family rights and obligations. But the family, as a rule, is a more complex system of relations than marriage, since it can unite not only spouses, but also their children, as well as other relatives. Therefore, the family should be considered not just as a marriage group, but as a social institution, that is, a system of connections, interactions and relationships of individuals that perform the functions of reproduction of the human race and regulate all connections, interactions and relationships on the basis of certain values and norms, subject to extensive social control through system of positive and negative sanctions.

The family as a social institution goes through a series of stages, the sequence of which develops into a family cycle or life cycle families. Researchers distinguish a different number of phases of this cycle, but the main ones are the following: 1) entering into a first marriage - the formation of a family; 2) the beginning of childbearing - the birth of the first child; 3) the end of childbearing - the birth of the last child; 4) "empty nest" - marriage and separation of the last child from the family; 5) termination of the existence of the family - the death of one of the spouses. At each stage, the family has specific social and economic characteristics.

In the sociology of the family, such general principles type selection family organization. Depending on the form of marriage, monogamous and polygamous families are distinguished. A monogamous family provides for the existence of a married couple - husband and wife, polygamous - as a rule, flies have the right to have several wives. Depending on the structure of family ties, a simple, nuclear, or complex, extended type of family is distinguished. A nuclear family is a married couple with unmarried children. If some of the children in the family are married, then an extended, or complex, family is formed, including two or more generations.

The family as a social institution arose with the formation of society. The process of formation and functioning of the family is determined by value-normative regulators. Such, for example, as courtship, the choice of a marriage partner, sexual standards of behavior, the norms that guide the wife and husband, parents and children, etc., as well as sanctions for their non-compliance. These values, norms and sanctions are the historically changing form of relations between a man and a woman accepted in a given society, through which they streamline and sanction their sexual life and establish their marital, parental and other related rights and obligations.

At the first stages of the development of society, relations between a man and a woman, older and younger generations were regulated by tribal and tribal customs, which were syncretic norms and patterns of behavior based on religious and moral ideas. With the advent of the state, regulation family life acquired a legal character. Legal registration marriage imposed certain obligations not only on the spouses, but also on the state that sanctioned their union. From now on, social control and sanctions were carried out not only public opinion but also government agencies.

The main, first function of the family, as follows from the definition of A.G. Kharchev, is reproductive, that is, the biological reproduction of the population in social terms and the satisfaction of the need for children - in personal terms. Along with this main function, the family performs a number of other important social functions:

a) educational - socialization of the younger generation, maintaining the cultural reproduction of society;

b) household - maintaining the physical health of members of society, caring for children and elderly family members;

c) economic - obtaining material resources of some family members for others, economic support for minors and disabled members of society;

d) the scope of primary social control - the moral regulation of the behavior of family members in various spheres of life, as well as the regulation of responsibility and obligations in relations between spouses, parents and children, representatives of the older and middle generations;

e) spiritual communication - personal development of family members, spiritual mutual enrichment;

f) social status - providing a certain social status family members, reproduction of the social structure;

g) leisure - organization of rational leisure, mutual enrichment of interests;

h) emotional - obtaining psychological protection, emotional support, emotional stabilization of individuals and their psychological therapy.

To understand the family as a social institution great importance has an analysis of role relationships in the family. The family role is one of the types of social roles of a person in society. Family roles are determined by the place and functions of the individual in the family group and are subdivided primarily into marital (wife, husband), parental (mother, father), children (son, daughter, brother, sister), intergenerational and intragenerational (grandfather, grandmother, elder , junior), etc. The fulfillment of a family role depends on the fulfillment of a number of conditions, primarily on the correct formation of a role image. An individual must clearly understand what it means to be a husband or wife, the eldest or the youngest in the family, what behavior is expected from him, what rules, norms this or that behavior dictates to him. In order to formulate the image of his behavior, the individual must accurately determine his place and the place of others in the role structure of the family. For example, can he play the role of head of the family, in general

Marriage and family as social institutions. The role of the family in personality development. The trend of development of family and marriage relations. Social functions of the family. Forms of marriage, family roles, formal and informal norms and sanctions in the field of marriage and family relations.

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Characteristics of a social institution and the purpose of its activities. A set of social positions and functions. Definition and analysis of religion as a social institution. Value-normative level of religion. Church as a form of modern religious organization.

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Marriage and family as social institutions and their functions. Social, psychological and economic motives of marriage and family relations. Prospects for the development of family and marriage. Group quality of family life. Style of performance of intra-family roles.

Topic 1. Society

Test 1. What is a society

Part 1

Separated from nature, but closely connected with it, a part of the world, which includes ways of interacting people and forms of their unification, is called

state
society

civilization

tribe

Relationships between people that are established in the process of their joint practical and spiritual activities are called

public
civilizational

economic

political

Which of the following positions not related to public relations?

interaction between two people

relationship between countries

relationship between citizens Russian Federation and district court

Christmas tree decoration

Which of the following statements refers to nature and not to society?

the center of this concept is a person

exists and develops according to its own, independent of the will of man, laws

based on a specific production method

includes ways people interact

Which of the namednot refers to the concept of "social institution"

Part 2

The totality of material and spiritual values, as well as the ways of their creation, application and transfer, created by mankind in the process community development, is called .

Karl Marx wrote: "The concept of society obviously makes sense only if it is in one way or another opposed to the simple sum of people." What mandatory constituent part concepts of society thereby he emphasizes?

Answer: .

A set of interconnected elements, representing a certain holistic formation, is called .

Mark the features related to the concept of "social group". Write down the numbers under which they are indicated.

stable group of people

performs specific social functions

is built on the basis of certain ideal norms and rules of behavior

does not have certain standards of behavior

Answer: .

Note the signs that are characteristic of all types of social norms. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated.

are general rules of conduct

has some degree of obligation.

their execution is ensured and protected by the state

aimed at streamlining public relations

Answer: .

Part 1

The ability of a social system to include new parts, new social formations, phenomena and processes into a single whole is the ability to

socialization
integration

exploitation

diversification

The process of adapting the body to environment called

adaptation
cooperation

integration

determinism

Elements of social and cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation and preserved in certain societies, classes and social groups for a long time, are called

civilization
formation

tradition

The process of streamlining, formalization and standardization is called

institutionalization
cooperation

consolidation

denomination

The main element of society is

state

social group

politic system

Part 2

Below are a number of terms. All of them, with the exception of one, characterize the concept of "social norms".

Permission, morality, society, prohibition, traditions, law.

Find and indicate a term that refers to another concept.

Answer: .

Insert the missing concept: “Historically established forms of organization of joint activities, regulated by norms, traditions, customs and aimed at meeting the fundamental needs of society, are called .

Find in the list below the concepts that characterize the main types human activity. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated.

the game

upbringing

thinking

Answer: .

Find in the list below the concepts related to the political institutions of society. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated.

a family

state

trade unions

Answer: .

Test 9. Science. Education

Part 1

Which of the following concepts was given such a definition: “Observation, classification, description, experimental research and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena”?

practice

art

Which of the definitions not belongs to the definition of science

area of human activity that develops objective knowledge about the world

observation, classification, description, experimental research and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena

system of views, concepts and ideas about the world around

a form of social consciousness representing a historically established system of ordered knowledge, the truth of which is checked and constantly refined in the course of social practice.

The level of knowledge that deals primarily with the facts that form the basis of any science, as well as with the laws that are established as a result of generalizations and systematization of the results of observations, is called

theoretical knowledge

empirical knowledge

intellectual knowledge

experimental knowledge

Experimental natural science arose

in the X century.
in the 15th century

in the 17th century

in the 19th century

Empirical knowledge cannot be obtained through

observations

experiment

mathematical modeling

Part 2

Fill in the missing words: "Observations of a pure, devoid component simply does not exist. All observations, especially experimental ones, are made in the light of one or another » ( K. Popper)

Fill in the missing word: "Under I mean the scientific achievements recognized by all, which throughout the whole time give the scientific community a model of setting and their solutions" ( T. Kuhn).

Establish a correspondence between scientific paradigms and their authors: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.

BUT) geocentric model of the world

1) A. Einstein

B) Mechanics

2) C. Linnaeus

AT) plant classification

3) C. Darwin

G) evolutionary theory

4) I. Newton

D) theory of relativity

5) Claudia Ptolemy

Insert the phrase: “The development of science is a consistent transition from one paradigm to another through "(T. Kuhn).

What word is missing? “The strength of science is in its generalizations, in the fact that behind the random, chaotic, it finds and explores objective , without the knowledge of which a conscious, purposeful practical activity is impossible.

Test 10. Morality. Religion

Part 1

Are the following statements about morality correct?

A. Morality, like law, is a social regulator.

B. Violation of moral standards is subject to state sanctions.

1) only A is true

2) only B is true

3) both statements are correct

4) both statements are wrong

Morality not performs a social function

regulatory
law enforcement

value orientation

socializing

What type of worldview are the sources of the Bible, Talmud and Koran?

scientific outlook

religious outlook

ordinary worldview

official doctrine

The conscious need of a person to act in accordance with their value orientations is called

persuasion
conscience

Choose the correct statement.

beliefs are inherent in a person with any type of worldview

beliefs are inherent only to a person with a scientific type of worldview

beliefs are inherent only to a person with an ordinary type of worldview

beliefs are inherent in a person only with a religious type of worldview

Part 2

Insert the missing word: " - practical philosophy, applied science. One studies not in order to know what virtue (morality) is, but in order to become virtuous (moral).”

Insert the missing word: “The spiritual and practical situation of self-determination of the individual in relation to any principles, decisions and actions is called moral ».

Establish a correspondence between concepts and their definitions: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position from the second column.

CONCEPTS

DEFINITIONS

BUT) axiology

1) the view that moral criteria are relative and depend on the circumstances, time, or people who apply them

B) eudemonism

2) doctrine of values

AT) nihilism

3) one of the directions in ethics that arose in ancient philosophy and is represented by the names of Democritus, Socrates and Aristotle. The main motive in human behavior is the pursuit of happiness.

G) relativism

4) negation of all positive ideals and of any command of morality in general

Write in the table the selected numbers under the corresponding letters.

The ethical theory of Epicurus, where good is defined as that which brings people pleasure or deliverance from suffering, and evil as that which leads to suffering, is called .

Fill in the missing word: “Friedrich Nietzsche believed that - energetic, purposeful, aristocratic, but good and respectable only because of vital weakness.

Topic 1. Society

Test 1. What is a society

Part 1

№ tasks

Answer

Part 2

№ tasks

Answer

culture< или>culture

Public relations

system< или>system

Test 2. Society as a complex dynamic system

Part 1

№ tasks

Answer

Part 2

№ tasks

Answer

social institutions

Test 9. Science. Education

Part 1

№ tasks

Answer

Part 2

№ tasks

Answer

Theoretical/ Theory

Paradigms

scientific revolution

Test 10. Morality. Religion

Part 1

№ tasks

Answer

Part 2

№ tasks

Answer

Ethics / Ethics

Introduction

1. The concept of "social institution" and "social organization".

2. Types of social institutions.

3. Functions and structure of social institutions.

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

The term "social institution" is used in a wide variety of meanings. They talk about the institution of the family, the institution of education, health care, the institution of the state, etc. The first, most often used meaning of the term "social institution" is associated with the characteristics of any kind of ordering, formalization and standardization of social relations and relations. And the process of streamlining, formalization and standardization is called institutionalization.

Consequently, a social institution is an independent public entity that has its own logic of development. From this point of view, social institutions can be considered as organized social systems characterized by the stability of the structure, the integration of their elements and a certain variability of their functions.

3) The third essential element of institutionalization

is the organizational design of a social institution. Outwardly, a social institution is a collection of individuals, institutions, equipped with certain material resources and performing a certain social function.

It is necessary to distinguish between such concepts as “social institution” and “organization”.

1. The concept of "social institution" and "social organization"

Social institutions (from Latin institutum - establishment, establishment) are historically established stable forms of organizing joint activities of people.

Social institutions govern the behavior of community members through a system of sanctions and rewards. In social management and control, institutions play a very important role. Their task is not only to coercion. In every society there are institutions that guarantee freedom in certain activities - freedom of creativity and innovation, freedom of speech, the right to receive a certain form and amount of income, housing and free medical service etc. For example, writers and artists have guaranteed freedom of creativity, the search for new artistic forms; scientists and specialists are obliged to investigate new problems and search for new technical solutions, etc. Social institutions can be characterized in terms of both their external, formal (“material”) structure, and their internal, content.

Outwardly, a social institution looks like a collection of individuals, institutions, equipped with certain material resources and performing a specific social function. From the content side, it is a certain system of expediently oriented standards of behavior of certain individuals in specific situations. So, if there is justice as a social institution, it can outwardly be characterized as a set of persons, institutions and material means administering justice, then from a substantive point of view, it is a set of standardized patterns of behavior of eligible persons providing this social function. These standards of conduct are embodied in certain roles characteristic of the justice system (the role of a judge, prosecutor, lawyer, investigator, etc.).

The social institution thus determines the orientation social activities and social relations through a mutually agreed system of expediently oriented standards of behavior. Their emergence and grouping into a system depend on the content of the tasks solved by the social institution. Each such institution is characterized by the presence of an activity goal, specific functions that ensure its achievement, a set of social positions and roles, as well as a system of sanctions that encourage the desired and suppress deviant behavior.

Consequently, social institutions perform functions in society social management and social control as one of the elements of management. Social control enables society and its systems to enforce normative conditions, the violation of which is detrimental to the social system. The main objects of such control are legal and moral norms, customs, administrative decisions, etc. The effect of social control is reduced, on the one hand, to the application of sanctions against behavior that violates social restrictions, on the other hand, to the approval of desirable behavior. The behavior of individuals is conditioned by their needs. These needs can be met different ways, and the choice of means to satisfy them depends on the value system adopted by a given social community or society as a whole. The adoption of a certain system of values contributes to the identity of the behavior of members of the community. Education and socialization are aimed at conveying to individuals the patterns of behavior and methods of activity established in a given community.

Scientists understand a social institution as a complex, covering, on the one hand, a set of normatively value-conditioned roles and statuses designed to meet certain social needs, and on the other hand, a social entity created to use society's resources in the form of interaction to meet this need.

Social institutions and social organizations are closely linked. There is no consensus among sociologists about how they relate to each other. Some believe that there is no need to distinguish between these two concepts at all, they use them as synonyms, since many social phenomena, such as the social security system, education, the army, the court, the bank, can be simultaneously considered both as a social institution and as social organization, while others give a more or less clear distinction between them. The difficulty of drawing a clear “watershed” between these two concepts is due to the fact that social institutions in the process of their activity act as social organizations - they are structurally designed, institutionalized, have their own goals, functions, norms and rules. The difficulty lies in the fact that when trying to single out a social organization as an independent structural component or a social phenomenon, one has to repeat those properties and features that are also characteristic of a social institution.

It should also be noted that, as a rule, there are much more organizations than institutions. For the practical implementation of the functions, goals and objectives of one social institution, several specialized institutions are often formed. social organizations. For example, on the basis of the institute of religion, various church and religious organizations, churches and confessions (Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Islam, etc.)

2. Types of social institutions

Social institutions differ from each other in their functional qualities: 1) Economic and social institutions - property, exchange, money, banks, economic associations of various types - provide the entire set of production and distribution of social wealth, at the same time connecting economic life with other areas of social life.

2) Political institutions - the state, parties, trade unions and other kinds of public organizations pursuing political goals aimed at establishing and maintaining a certain form of political power. Their totality constitutes the political system of a given society. Political institutions ensure the reproduction and sustainable preservation of ideological values, stabilize the social class structures that dominate in society. 3) Sociocultural and educational institutions aim at the development and subsequent reproduction of cultural and social values, the inclusion of individuals in a certain subculture, as well as the socialization of individuals through the assimilation of stable sociocultural standards of behavior and, finally, the protection of certain values and norms. 4) Normative-orienting - mechanisms of moral and ethical orientation and regulation of the behavior of individuals. Their goal is to give behavior and motivation a moral argument, an ethical basis. These institutions assert imperative universal human values, special codes and ethics of behavior in the community. 5) Normative-sanctioning - social and social regulation of behavior on the basis of norms, rules and regulations enshrined in legal and administrative acts. The binding nature of the norms is ensured by the coercive power of the state and the system of appropriate sanctions. 6) Ceremonial-symbolic and situational-conventional institutions. These institutions are based on the more or less long-term adoption of conventional (by agreement) norms, their official and unofficial consolidation. These norms regulate everyday contacts, various acts of group and intergroup behavior. They determine the order and method of mutual behavior, regulate the methods of transmission and exchange of information, greetings, addresses, etc., the rules of meetings, meetings, the activities of some associations.

History of the term

Basic information

The peculiarities of its word usage are further complicated by the fact that in the English language, traditionally, an institution is understood as any well-established practice of people that has the sign of self-reproducibility. In such a broad, not highly specialized, sense, an institution can be an ordinary human queue or English language as a centuries-old social practice.

Therefore, a social institution is often given a different name - “institution” (from Latin institutio - custom, instruction, instruction, order), understanding by it the totality of social customs, the embodiment of certain habits of behavior, way of thinking and life, transmitted from generation to generation, changing depending on the circumstances and serving as an instrument of adaptation to them, and under the "institution" - the consolidation of customs and procedures in the form of a law or institution. The term "social institution" has absorbed both "institution" (customs) and the "institution" itself (institutions, laws), as it combines both formal and informal "rules of the game".

A social institution is a mechanism that provides a set of constantly repeating and reproducing social relations and social practices people (for example: the institution of marriage, the institution of the family). E. Durkheim figuratively called social institutions "factories for the reproduction of social relations." These mechanisms are based both on codified codes of laws and on non-thematized rules (non-formalized “hidden” ones that are revealed when they are violated), social norms, values and ideals that are historically inherent in a particular society. According to the authors Russian textbook for universities, "these are the strongest, most powerful ropes that decisively determine the viability [of the social system]"

Spheres of life of society

There are 4 spheres of the life of society, each of which includes various social institutions and various social relations arise:

Economic- relations in the production process (production, distribution, consumption of material goods). Institutions related to the economic sphere: private property, material production, market, etc.
Social- relations between different social and age groups; activities to ensure social guarantees. Institutes related to social sphere: education, family, health care, social security, leisure, etc.
Political- relations between civil society and the state, between the state and political parties, as well as between states. Institutes related to political sphere: state, law, parliament, government, judiciary, political parties, army, etc.
Spiritual- relations that arise in the process of creating and preserving spiritual values, creating the dissemination and consumption of information. Institutions related to the spiritual sphere: education, science, religion, art, media, etc.

institutionalization

The first, most commonly used meaning of the term "social institution" is associated with the characteristics of any kind of ordering, formalization and standardization of social ties and relations. And the process of streamlining, formalization and standardization is called institutionalization. The process of institutionalization, that is, the formation of a social institution, consists of several successive stages:

the emergence of a need, the satisfaction of which requires joint organized action;
formation of common goals;
the emergence of social norms and rules in the course of spontaneous social interaction carried out by trial and error;
the emergence of procedures related to rules and regulations;
institutionalization of norms and rules, procedures, that is, their adoption, practical application;
the establishment of a system of sanctions to maintain norms and rules, the differentiation of their application in individual cases;
creation of a system of statuses and roles covering all members of the institute without exception;

So, the end of the process of institutionalization can be considered the creation in accordance with the norms and rules of a clear status-role structure, socially approved by the majority of participants in this social process.

The process of institutionalization thus involves a number of points.

One of the necessary conditions for the emergence of social institutions is the corresponding social need. Institutions are designed to organize the joint activities of people in order to meet certain social needs. Thus, the institution of the family satisfies the need for the reproduction of the human race and the upbringing of children, implements relations between the sexes, generations, etc. The institution of higher education provides training for the workforce, enables a person to develop his abilities in order to realize them in subsequent activities and ensure his own existence, etc. The emergence of certain social needs, as well as the conditions for their satisfaction, are the first necessary moments of institutionalization.

A social institution is formed on the basis of social ties, interactions and relationships of specific individuals, social groups and communities. But it, like other social systems, cannot be reduced to the sum of these individuals and their interactions. Social institutions are supra-individual in nature, have their own systemic quality. Consequently, a social institution is an independent public entity that has its own logic of development. From this point of view, social institutions can be considered as organized social systems characterized by the stability of the structure, the integration of their elements and a certain variability of their functions.

First of all, we are talking about a system of values, norms, ideals, as well as patterns of activity and behavior of people and other elements of the sociocultural process. This system guarantees similar behavior of people, coordinates and directs their certain aspirations, establishes ways to satisfy their needs, resolves conflicts that arise in the process of everyday life, provides a state of balance and stability within a particular social community and society as a whole.

In itself, the presence of these socio-cultural elements does not yet ensure the functioning of a social institution. In order for it to work, it is necessary that they become the property of the inner world of the individual, be internalized by them in the process of socialization, embodied in the form of social roles and statuses. The internalization by individuals of all sociocultural elements, the formation on their basis of a system of personality needs, value orientations and expectations is the second most important element of institutionalization.

The third most important element of institutionalization is the organizational design of a social institution. Outwardly, a social institution is a set of organizations, institutions, individuals equipped with certain material resources and performing a certain social function. Thus, the institution of higher education is put into action by the social corps of teachers, service personnel, officials who operate within the framework of institutions such as universities, the ministry or the State Committee for Higher Education, etc., who for their activities have certain material values (buildings, finance, etc.).

Thus, social institutions are social mechanisms, stable value-normative complexes that regulate various areas of social life (marriage, family, property, religion), which are not very susceptible to changes in people's personal characteristics. But they are set in motion by people who carry out their activities, "play" by their rules. Thus, the concept of "the institution of a monogamous family" does not mean a separate family, but a set of norms that is realized in an innumerable set of families of a certain type.

Institutionalization, as shown by P. Berger and T. Luckman, is preceded by the process of habitualization, or “accustoming” of everyday actions, leading to the formation of patterns of activity that are later perceived as natural and normal for a given occupation or solving problems typical in these situations. Action patterns, in turn, serve as the basis for the formation of social institutions, which are described in the form of objective social facts and are perceived by the observer as a "social reality" (or social structure). These trends are accompanied by signification procedures (the process of creating, using signs and fixing meanings and meanings in them) and form a system social meanings, which, developing into semantic connections, are fixed in natural language. Signification serves the purposes of legitimation (recognition as legitimate, socially recognized, legal) social order, that is, justifications and justifications for habitual ways of overcoming the chaos of destructive forces that threaten to undermine the stable idealizations of everyday life.

With the emergence and existence of social institutions, the formation in each individual of a special set of sociocultural dispositions (habitus), practical schemes of action that have become for the individual his internal "natural" need is connected. Thanks to habitus, individuals are included in the activities of social institutions. Therefore, social institutions are not just mechanisms, but "a kind of" factory of meanings "that set not only patterns of human interactions, but also ways of comprehending, understanding social reality and the people themselves" .

Structure and functions of social institutions

Structure

concept social institution suggests:

the presence of a need in society and its satisfaction by the mechanism of reproduction of social practices and relations;
these mechanisms, being supra-individual formations, act in the form of value-normative complexes that regulate social life as a whole or its separate sphere, but for the benefit of the whole;

Their structure includes:

role models of behavior and statuses (prescriptions for their execution);
their justification (theoretical, ideological, religious, mythological) in the form of a categorical grid that defines a "natural" vision of the world;
means of transmitting social experience (material, ideal and symbolic), as well as measures that stimulate one behavior and repress another, tools to maintain institutional order;
social positions - the institutions themselves represent a social position (“empty” social positions do not exist, so the question of the subjects of social institutions disappears).

In addition, they assume the existence of a certain social position of "professionals" who are able to put this mechanism into action, playing by its rules, including a whole system of their training, reproduction and maintenance.

In order not to denote the same concepts by different terms and to avoid terminological confusion social institutions should be understood not as collective subjects, not social groups and not organizations, but special social mechanisms that ensure the reproduction of certain social practices and social relations. And collective subjects should still be called "social communities", "social groups" and "social organizations".

Functions

Each social institution has a main function that determines its "face", associated with its main social role in the consolidation and reproduction of certain social practices and relationships. If this army, then its role is to ensure the military-political security of the country by participating in hostilities and demonstrating its military power. In addition to it, there are other explicit functions, to some extent characteristic of all social institutions, ensuring the implementation of the main one.

Along with explicit, there are also implicit - latent (hidden) functions. So, the Soviet Army at one time carried out a number of hidden unusual for it state tasks- national economic, penitentiary, fraternal assistance to "third countries", pacification and suppression of riots, popular discontent and counter-revolutionary coups both within the country and in the countries of the socialist camp. The explicit functions of institutions are necessary. They are formed and declared in codes and fixed in the system of statuses and roles. Latent functions are expressed in unforeseen results of the activities of institutions or persons representing them. Thus, the democratic state that was established in Russia in the early 1990s, through the parliament, the government and the president, sought to improve the life of the people, create civilized relations in society and inspire citizens with respect for the law. Those were the clear goals and objectives. In fact, the crime rate has increased in the country, and the standard of living of the population has fallen. These are the results of the latent functions of the institutions of power. Explicit functions testify to what people wanted to achieve within the framework of this or that institution, and latent ones indicate what came of it.

The identification of the latent functions of social institutions allows not only to create an objective picture of social life, but also makes it possible to minimize their negative and enhance their positive impact in order to control and manage the processes taking place in it.

Social institutions in public life perform the following functions or tasks:

The totality of these social functions is formed into the general social functions of social institutions as certain types of social system. These features are very versatile. Sociologists of different directions tried to somehow classify them, to present them in the form of a certain ordered system. The most complete and interesting classification was presented by the so-called. "institutional school". Representatives of the institutional school in sociology (S. Lipset, D. Landberg and others) identified four main functions of social institutions:

Reproduction of members of society. The main institution that performs this function is the family, but other social institutions, such as the state, are also involved in it.
Socialization is the transfer to individuals of patterns of behavior and methods of activity established in a given society - the institutions of the family, education, religion, etc.
Production and distribution. Provided by the economic and social institutions of management and control - the authorities.
The functions of management and control are carried out through a system of social norms and regulations that implement the corresponding types of behavior: moral and legal norms, customs, administrative decisions, etc. Social institutions control the individual's behavior through a system of sanctions.

In addition to solving its specific tasks, each social institution performs universal functions inherent in all of them. The functions common to all social institutions include the following:

Functional qualities

Social institutions differ from each other in their functional qualities:

Political institutions - the state, parties, trade unions and other kinds of public organizations pursuing political goals, aimed at establishing and maintaining a certain form of political power. Their totality constitutes the political system of a given society. Political institutions ensure the reproduction and sustainable preservation of ideological values, stabilize the social class structures that dominate in society.
Sociocultural and educational institutions aim at the development and subsequent reproduction of cultural and social values, the inclusion of individuals in a particular subculture, as well as the socialization of individuals through the assimilation of sustainable sociocultural standards of behavior and, finally, the protection of certain values and norms.
Normative-orienting - mechanisms of moral and ethical orientation and regulation of the behavior of individuals. Their goal is to give behavior and motivation a moral argument, an ethical basis. These institutions assert imperative universal human values, special codes and ethics of behavior in the community.
Normative-sanctioning - social and social regulation of behavior on the basis of norms, rules and regulations, enshrined in legal and administrative acts. The binding nature of the norms is ensured by the coercive power of the state and the system of appropriate sanctions.
Ceremonial-symbolic and situational-conventional institutions. These institutions are based on the more or less long-term adoption of conventional (by agreement) norms, their official and unofficial consolidation. These norms regulate everyday contacts, various acts of group and intergroup behavior. They determine the order and method of mutual behavior, regulate the methods of transmission and exchange of information, greetings, addresses, etc., the rules of meetings, sessions, and the activities of associations.

Dysfunction of a social institution

Violation of regulatory interaction with social environment, which is a society or community, is called a dysfunction of a social institution. As noted earlier, the basis for the formation and functioning of a particular social institution is the satisfaction of a particular social need. Under the conditions of intensive social processes, the acceleration of the pace of social change, a situation may arise when the changed social needs are not adequately reflected in the structure and functions of the relevant social institutions. As a result, dysfunction may occur in their activities. From a substantive point of view, dysfunction is expressed in the ambiguity of the goals of the institution, the uncertainty of functions, in the fall of its social prestige and authority, the degeneration of its individual functions into “symbolic”, ritual activity, that is, activity not aimed at achieving a rational goal.

An unsatisfied social need can bring to life the spontaneous emergence of normatively unregulated activities that seek to make up for the dysfunction of the institution, but at the expense of violating existing norms and rules. In its extreme forms, activity of this kind can be expressed in illegal activities. Thus, the dysfunction of some economic institutions is the reason for the existence of the so-called "shadow economy", resulting in speculation, bribery, theft, etc. The correction of dysfunction can be achieved by changing the social institution itself or by creating a new social institution that satisfies this social need.

Formal and informal social institutions

Social institutions, as well as the social relations they reproduce and regulate, can be formal and informal.

Role in the development of society

According to American researchers Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (English) Russian it is the nature of the social institutions that exist in a given country that determines the success or failure of the development of a given country.

Having considered examples of many countries of the world, scientists came to the conclusion that the defining and necessary condition development of any country is the presence of public institutions, which they called public (eng. Inclusive institutions). Examples of such countries are all developed democratic countries of the world. Conversely, countries where public institutions are closed are doomed to fall behind and decline. Public institutions in such countries, according to researchers, serve only to enrich the elites that control access to these institutions - this is the so-called. "privileged institutions" extractive institutions). According to the authors, economic development society is impossible without anticipatory political development, that is, without the formation public political institutions. .

Literature

Andreev Yu. P., Korzhevskaya N. M., Kostina N. B. Social institutions: content, functions, structure. - Sverdlovsk: Ural Publishing House. un-ta, 1989.
Anikevich A. G. Political power: Questions of research methodology, Krasnoyarsk. 1986.
Power: Essays on modern political philosophy of the West. M., 1989.
Vouchel E.F. Family and kinship // American Sociology. M., 1972. S. 163-173.
Zemsky M. Family and personality. M., 1986.
Cohen J. Structure of sociological theory. M., 1985.
Leiman II Science as a social institution. L., 1971.
Novikova S. S. Sociology: history, foundations, institutionalization in Russia, ch. 4. Types and forms of social connections in the system. M., 1983.
Titmonas A. On the issue of the prerequisites for the institutionalization of science // Sociological problems of science. M., 1974.
Trotz M. Sociology of Education // American Sociology. M., 1972. S. 174-187.
Kharchev G. G. Marriage and family in the USSR. M., 1974.
Kharchev A. G., Matskovsky M. S. Modern family and its problems. M., 1978.
Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson= Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. - First. - Crown Business; 1 edition (March 20, 2012), 2012. - 544 p. - ISBN 978-0-307-71921-8

Footnotes and notes

Social Institutions // Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
Spencer H. First principles. N.Y., 1898. S.46.
Marx K. P. V. Annenkov, December 28, 1846 // Marx K., Engels F. Works. Ed. 2nd. T. 27.S. 406.
Marx K. To the criticism of the Hegelian philosophy of law // Marx K., Engels F. Soch. Ed. 2nd. T.9. S. 263.
see: Durkheim E. Les forms elementaires de la vie religieuse. Le systeme totemique en Australie.Paris, 1960
Veblen T. Theory of an idle class. - M., 1984. S. 200-201.
Scott, Richard, 2001, Institutions and Organizations, London: Sage.
See ibid.
Fundamentals of Sociology: A Course of Lectures / [A. I. Antolov, V. Ya. Nechaev, L. V. Pikovsky et al.]: Ed. ed. \.G.Efendiev. - M, 1993. P.130
Acemoglu, Robinson
Theory of institutional matrices: in search of a new paradigm. // Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. No. 1, 2001.
Frolov S. S. Sociology. Textbook. For higher educational institutions. Section III. Social relationships. Chapter 3. Social institutions. Moscow: Nauka, 1994.
Gritsanov A. A. Encyclopedia of sociology. Publishing House "Book House", 2003. -.p. 125.
See more: Berger P., Lukman T. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge. M.: Medium, 1995.
Kozhevnikov S. B. Society in the structures of the life world: methodological research tools // Sociological journal. 2008. No. 2. S. 81-82.
Bourdieu P. Structure, habitus, practice // Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. - Volume I, 1998. - No. 2.
Collection "Knowledge in the connections of sociality. 2003": Internet source / Lektorsky V. A. Preface - http://filosof.historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000912/st000.shtml
See Shchepansky Ya. Elementary concepts of sociology / Per. from Polish. - Novosibirsk: Science. Sib. Department, 1967. S. 106].

Institutionalization of public life. The concept of "social institution"

More on the topic The concept of "social institution". Institutionalization of public life:

History of the term

Basic information

Spheres of life of society

institutionalization

Structure and functions of social institutions

Structure

Functions

Functional qualities

Dysfunction of a social institution

Formal and informal social institutions

Role in the development of society

see also

Literature

Footnotes and notes