Sociology Notes !!!

Unit IV
Reviewed, analyzed and developed by
Udbodh Bhandari


Social Institution

What is social institution?
The sociological concept of institution is different from the common usage. An institution is not building; it is not a group of people; it is not an organization. Horton and Hunt defines institution as, “an institution is a system of norms to achieve some goal or activity that people feel is important, or , more formally, an organized cluster of folkways and mores centered around a major human activity”. More specifically speaking, institutions are structured processes through which people carry out their activities.

Institutions do not have members, they have followers. For example, a religion is not a group of people; it is a system of ideas, beliefs, practices and relationships. In this context, a church is an association of people who accept the beliefs and follow the practices of particular religion. In a very much broader way, Horton and Hunt explain institution as, “an organized system of social relation relationship which embodies certain common values and procedure and meets certain basic needs of the society.” Here, ‘common values’ refers to shared ideas and goals, the ‘common procedures’ are the standardized behavior patterns followed, and the ‘system of relationships’ is the network of roles and statuses through which people carry out this behavior.

Five important basic institutions in complex societies are: familial, religious, governmental, economic, and educational. In modern societies, the values and procedures are so highly standardized behavior which is called ‘scientific institutions’.

Important of Institutions:
Social institutions are such that they help create and develop common values which the people must conform to. This conformity avoids the possible conflict among the group of the people living at the particular society and such that the institutionalization process in the modern society with modern organization system is very much obvious with division of labor more specific. Bureaucratic system, business organizations, and commercial banks are attributed with institutionalization process



Marriage and family
Define marriage. Discuss its functions and types.

Marriage is one of the universal social institutions. The emergence of marriage was to regulate and control the sex life of man, especially, with the end of sex communism in the early stage of human social evolution. Horton and Hunt define and argue that marriage is the approved social pattern whereby two or more persons establish a family. They, again, argue that the real meaning of marriage is the acceptance of a new status, privileges and obligations, and recognition of this new status by others. Wedding ceremonies and rituals are merely ways of publicizing and dramatizing this change of status. With an exception, ‘a homosexual marriage’ creates no status which others are not obliged to recognize, nor they any legally enforceable rights and duties created.

In an anthropological perspective, marriage merely means a socially approved sexual and economic union, usually between a woman and man. It is presumed, by both couples and others, to be more or less permanent, and it includes reciprocal rights and obligations between the two spouses and between spouses and their future children, argue Ember and Ember in their book, ‘Anthropology’

B. Malinowski says that marriage is a “contract for the production and maintenance of marriage.”


Functions of Marriage
The important functions of marriage are as follows:
1. Marriage maintains the regulation of sex life. It controls and regulates the sex life to avoid chaos and confusion in society. It avoids incest, that is, it prohibits sexual relations between closest relatives.
2. Marriage leads to the establishment of family. Sexual satisfaction offered by marriage results in self perpetuation. The fact is that the children are here born and brought up.
3. It provides a place for economic cooperation. In most of the societies, marriage makes division of labor on the basis of sex which ensures economic cooperation between them.
4. Marriage contributes to emotional attachment of the partners. Marriage deepens the emotions and strengthens the companionship between the partners.
5. Marriage functions to maintain social solidarity. Marriage not only brings two opposite sexes together but also maintains a companionship and establishes a new social relationship between two groups.

Types of Marriage
Marriage types are divided on various bases:
A. On the basis of number of spouses: How many spouses a man or woman possesses is a marriage category. This category is further divided into: monogamy and polygamy.
Monogamy marriage Type
It is the form of marriage in which one man marries one woman. This is the most widespread form of marriage among primitive as well as among civilized group of people. It is also practiced among many tribal people too. It is argued that monogamy is as old as humanity. Ancient or orthodox Hindus regarded monogamy as the most ideal form of marriage.


Polygamy marriage Type
Some of the world’s societies have practiced polygamy, allowing plurality of mates. It is further divided into: polygyny, polyandry and group marriage.

olygyny
Polygyny is the form of marriage in which one man marries more than one woman at a given time. It prevailed among ancient Hebrews, Assyrians, Babylonians and it is still widespread among primitive tribes like Eskimo tribes, Crow Indians, the Nagas of India.

Polyandry
It is the very rare form of marriage in which one woman marries several men at a given time. It is practiced among some group of people at Humla in Nepal, Marquesan Islanders of Polynesia, the Toda, and the Khasa of India. Polyandry is further divided into: fraternal polyandry and non- fraternal polyandry. When several brothers share the same wife, the practice can be called fraternal polyandry. It is prevalent among Todas. Non- fraternal polyandry is the category in which the husbands need not have any close relationships prior to the marriage. That is, the husbands need not be the brothers of the same family. Tibetans practice this category of polyandry marriage.

Group Marriage
It is a type of marriage in which several men and several women are all in a marriage relationships with one another. It is argued that this type of marriage is theoretically possible. However, some of the tribal in Australia, India, Tibet, India and Ceylon are believed to have practiced group marriage.

B. On the basis of mate selection: Sororal marriage, Levirate marriage and cross-cousin marriage.

Sororal Marriage: It is a type of marriage in which the wives are invariably the sisters. It is often called ‘sororate’. The Latin word ‘Soror’ stands for sister. When several sisters are simultaneously or potentially the spouses of the same man, the practice is called ‘sororate’.

Levirate Marriage
The practice of being mate, actual or potential, to one’s husband’s brothers is called “levirate”.

Cross- cousin marriage:
Cross- cousins are children of siblings of the opposite sex, that is, a person’s cross cousins are father’s sister’s children and mother’s brother’s children. The Chippewa Indians used to practice cross- cousin marriage; the Magar and some other ethnic group also practice this form of marriage.


Changing pattern of Marriage in Nepalese Society

Pattern of marriage in Nepalese society is undergoing, especially in urban areas and where people are employed in various types of jobs and the society which is attributed with the relative freedom of woman. The following changing patterns of marriage can be experienced in many Nepalese societies:
1. Decreased control of the marriage contract: The marriage contract today is entered into the decision of man and woman, away from the direct control of their parents.
2. Changing Economic role of women: An important factor in bringing about the new character of the marriage contract is the increasing degree of economic independence attained by women. In the more prosperous classes they have become property owners, and in general population they are actual or potential wage earners or professional workers. This changing pattern of marriage can be witnessed in the various urban areas of Nepalese societies.
3. Decline of religious control: Marriage has become today essentially a civil contract, though it is often attended by religious rites. With a very brief period - rites, the marriage of various societies are performed. The concern of ‘purity’ and ‘impurity’ within Hindu marriage system is being undermined.
4. Increasing Divorce: One evidence of the freer or less authoritarian character of marriage is found in the increasing frequency of divorce, especially in urban areas.


Define family. Discuss its types and function.
The family is the most important primary group in society. It is the simplest and the most elementary form of society. The family, as an institution is universal. It is the most pervasive and the most permanent of all social institutions. The family, in general, is a small group consisting ordinarily of father, mother, one or more children and sometimes near or distant relatives.

Many sociologists have regarded the family as the cornerstone of society and it forms the basic unit of social organization. In the most primitive societies the family is the only social institution. Among the Polar Eskimos, there were no other institutions – no chiefs or formal laws, no priests or medicine men, no specialized occupations. More clearly, most primitive societies experienced no physical or social needs of any other social institution beyond the family. That is, in those societies, order is maintained with no formal laws, police, or courts. The only authority known in many simple societies is family authority. With increasing tribal size and growing cultural complexity, more formal political organization is needed. Family heads are joined intro tribal councils, tribes combine into confederation and bureaucracies begin to develop. The family, therefore, is the basic social institution from which other institutions have grown as increasing cultural complexity made them necessary.


Definition and Meaning:
M Haralambos in his book, ‘sociology’ describes the finding of George Peter Murdock on the universality of family: In a study entitled Social Structure, George Peter Murdock examined the institution of the family in a wide range of societies. He took a sample of 250 societies ranging from small hunting and gathering bands to large scale industrial societies. He claimed that some form of family existed in every society and concluded, on the evidence of his sample, that the family is universal. With this study, he defines family as follows, “the family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the co-habiting adults.”

Maciver and Page defines family as, “a group defined by sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for procreation and upbringing of children.”


Functions of family
C.N. Shankar Rao in his book ‘Sociology’ has described the various functions argued by various sociologists:


Ogburn and Nimkoff has described six functions of family:
1. Affect ional
2. Economic
3. Recreational
4. Protective
5. Religious
6. Educational
Similarly Maciver and Page have classified family into two types: Essential and Non-essential or Primary and Secondary.

Primary functions:
1. Stable satisfaction of sex need
2. Reproduction or procreation
3. Production and Rearing of child
4. Provision of home
5. Family functions as an instrument of Cultural Transmission and an Agent of Socialization.
6. Status ascribing function: status ascription for individual
7. Affect ional Function.

Secondary Functions:
1. Economic Functions
2. Educational functions
3. Religious Functions
4. The recreational functions



Types of Family:
Sociologists have discussed about the various types of family, important of which have described or mentioned as below:
A. On the basis of marriage family can be divided into: Polygynous, Polyandrous, and Monogamous.
B. On the basis of nature of residence marriage can be divided into three types: Matrilocal, Patrilocal and Changing residence
C. On the basis of ancestry or descent family can be divided into two main types: Matrilineal, Patrilineal
D. On the basis of size or structure: The Nuclear family, The Joint family.

We, mainly, focus on the type of family based on the size or structure.
a. The joint or extended family: This form of family is institutionalized in many small scales, non- literate, pre-industrial, and traditional peasant societies. In this form of family, kinship ties dominate life. But in this case, the basic unit is extended family rather than the wider kinship grouping. The joint family, on the other hand, consists of members who at least belong to three generations: husband and wife, their married and unmarried children; and their married as well as unmarried grand children. Joint family when extended beyond this composition becomes extended family. For example, the traditional Irish farming family is a patriarchal extended family and in Nepal, the extended Tharu farming family can resemble the Irish family.
b. Nuclear Family: The individual nuclear family is the typical family in modern industrial society. According to Talcott Parsons, it is ‘structurally isolated’ family because it does not form an integral part of a wider system of kinship relationships. It can be defined as “a small group composed of husband and wife and immature children who constitute a unit from the rest of the community.”


Changing Pattern of Family

The changing pattern of family in Nepalese society is pointed as follows:
a. The sexual regulation function: In most of the urban societies of Nepal the pre- marital and extra marital sex relations are on increase.
b.
c. The formation of nuclear family is on rise. Because of the increasing urbanization process and rise on foreign employment, a part of the rural population is deviating from their old traditional agriculture occupation resulting in holding a non agriculture profession.



What is religion?
Man is not only a social being it is also religious being. Religion is universal, permanent, pervasive and perennial interest of man. Here, the Biblical saying is more mentionable that man can not live by bread only. Religion is not a phenomenon of recent origin and its beginning is unknown or it is dateless. Religious institutions are society’s a society’s important system of religious beliefs and practices which are standardized and formulated whereas religious religious associations are the organized groups of the people who share the beliefs and follow the practices of a religion.

Definition
Horton and Hunt define religion as, “a system of beliefs and practices by which a group people interprets and responds to what they feel is supernatural and sacred.”

Maciver and Page defines religion, “religion, as we understand the term, implies a relationship not merely between man and man but also between man and some higher power.”


Functions of Religion

C.N. Shankar Rao, an Indian sociologist, has described the functions of religion as below.
1. Religion promotes social solidarity, unity and and identity.
2. Religion provides the peace of the mind. The fact is that religion provides for the individual the most desired peace of the mind. at every crisis, personal or collective, religion is called in for consolation and peace of mind.
3. Religion conserves the value of life. Religion defines and redefines the values. Moral, spiritual and social values are greatly supported by religion.
4. Religion functions as an agent of social control.
5. Religion is one of the forms of informal means of social control. It regulates the activities of people in its own way. It prescribes rules of conduct for people to follow.
6. Priestly function of religion is possible within the specific religious setup and it helps contribute to the stability and order of the society.
7. Religion provides recreation and religion promotes recreation through religious lectures, kirtans, dramas, dance, music, etc.



Dysfunction of Religion

According to Thomas F. O’Dea, one of the noted functionalists, pin pointed the following dysfunctions of religion.
1. Religion inhibits protests and impedes social change. By inhibiting protests and preventing changes religion may stop reforms.
2. Religion increases conflict and makes the evolution of realistic solution more difficult.
3. It impedes the development of new identities.
4. Religion often makes its followers to become dependents on religious institutions and leaders instead of developing in them an ability to assume individual responsibility and self direction.
5. It promotes evil practices.
6. It contributes to inequality and exploitation.
7. It helps promote superstitious belief.
8. Religion undermines human potentiality.
9. Religion retards scientific achievement.


Education
The very existence of society depends upon the transmission of culture to young generation. Human society’s needs and essentiality is that every new generation must be given training in the way of the group of the particular society so that the same tradition will continue. The ways the society gives training to its members is different from society to society. Thus, education has been developed as one of the ways to fulfill the need to train the members of society.


How education emerged:
Primitive and very ancient societies had no educational institutions. Children of that period learned what they needed to know by observing or watching going on. It took no school to teach a tribal boy how to hunt. A boy’s father would give him instruction in hunting and these lessons were the nearest thing to “educational institutions” that could be found in a simple society. Such institution was not an educational institution; it was simply a part of a man’s family duties.

Schools appeared when cultures became too complex for all needed learning to be handled easily within the family. Furthermore, developing religions often required that legends, rituals, and chants be learned and memorized. Family members and their neighbors are needed to learn these instructions. At this point of human history, full- time specialists as teachers and formal classes of students were prerequisite for the development of educational institutions to teach the boys of the families of a particular society In this way education arrived, argues the historians and social scientists.


Meaning and Definition:
The term education is derived from the Latin educare which literally means to ‘bring up’. The idea of education is not merely to impart knowledge to the students in some areas of study but to develop in him those habits and attitudes with which he may successfully face the future. According to Aristotle, the aim of education is ‘to develop man’s faculties, especially, his mind, so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of the supreme truth, goodness and beauty in which perfect happiness essentially consists.’

E.Durkheim, ‘education can be conceived as the socialization of the younger generation. It is a continuous effort to impose on the child ways of seeing, feeling and acting which he could not arrived at spontaneously.’

Functions of Education
1. Education helps complete socialization process: Although the family gets child, modern family has the access to schools and other institutions which have come into the place of family to complete the socialization process.
2. It helps transmit culture of the society: With the publication of books and by teaching-learning process, it is possible to transmit the culture.
3. Social personality is possible: An individual’s social personality is possible with the providing of education.
4. It helps reform the attitudes: The old and outdated attitudes can be reformed and replaced by new ones with education.
5. It ensures or creates an environment to get job: Education is the most fundamental social institution which helps get job.
6. It confers the status: Education in the modern world confers the status to the individuals.
7. It fosters the democracy: With the proper education provided to the people democracy can be understood and brought into action for welfare the people and society.
8. Education imparts values: Education provides values to the life of the people and such that values are the moral.
9. It ensures the social changes: Innovation of various ideas and beliefs education ensures social changes.


Education in Nepal:
Means to impart the education in Nepal was Sanskrit in the past. Saint and sages, religious teachers, used to impart education as a moral lesson. These days education is featured with the ways to receive degree in order to get earning for survival. The Rana period provided the education with the opening of some schools to the limitation of its family members only and very few colleges were opened as a part of socio-political reform to avoid the possible revolt against Rana regime. Panchayat era was rather based on the modern education system with relatively mass enrollment in school and college. The post Jana Andolan I has been characterized by the mushrooming of colleges and schools in private sectors with a remarkable decline in illiteracy rate. Education in post 2046 period is being nurtured with advanced and modern education system providing large number of the younger population the modern education with the introduction of western values and needs to greater extension.