What an institution is
A social institution is a lasting set of norms, roles and organisations that meets a basic social need. The major ones include family, education, religion, the economy, government and health care. Each can be analysed through the three theories: functionalists ask what needs they meet, conflict theorists ask who benefits, and interactionists ask how people act within them.
Family
The family is the first agent of socialisation. Families vary: nuclear (parents and children) and extended (including other relatives) are two forms, and kinship can be traced through the father's side, mother's side or both. Marriage patterns include monogamy (one spouse) and polygamy (more than one), found in different societies. Functionalists point to socialisation, emotional support and economic cooperation. Conflict theorists look at how families pass on wealth and power, and at inequalities within them.
Education
Education teaches skills and values (manifest functions) and also keeps children occupied and builds social networks (latent functions). Conflict theorists highlight tracking and unequal school funding as ways in which inequality is reproduced.
Religion
Durkheim defined religion as a system of beliefs and practices about the sacred, things set apart as holy, as opposed to the profane, the ordinary. He thought that worship expresses and strengthens a community's bonds. Weber's Protestant Ethic linked certain religious beliefs, such as hard work and thrift, with the rise of modern capitalism. Marx called religion the "opium of the people", meaning that it could soothe people and distract them from earthly inequality. Sociologists study religion without judging whether any belief is true.
Economy and government
The economy produces and distributes goods and services; the government holds the legitimate use of force in a territory. Weber described three types of authority: traditional (based on custom), charismatic (based on a leader's personal qualities) and legal-rational (based on rules and offices). Most modern states rest mainly on legal-rational authority.
Bureaucracy and rationalisation
Weber described bureaucracy as an organisation with a clear hierarchy, written rules, a division of labour and impersonal hiring based on qualifications. It is efficient but can be rigid and impersonal ("red tape"). Rationalisation is the shift toward efficiency, calculation and predictability. George Ritzer's McDonaldization applies the idea to fast-food-style efficiency, predictability, calculability and control across modern life.
Worked example
A city has a rule that a permit needs three signatures in a fixed order, with every request logged on a standard form.
- The clear steps and written forms are signs of bureaucracy.
- Because anyone applying is treated by the same rules, outcomes are predictable and impersonal. A benefit is fairness and a cost is rigidity.
- The authority of the clerk rests on the office, not on personality or custom, so it is legal-rational.
- The same system can be called efficient by functionalists and a source of alienation by critics.
Always name both the benefit and the cost when evaluating an institution.