Social Institutions

By: Anesha Sadhoo and Karissa Lacaille

WHAT IS A SOCIAL INSTITUTION?
❖ Social institutions have evolved so as to meet the needs of individuals in society. They
embody all of the ideas and beliefs of the members in a society about how they believe
their lives should be organized.
❖ Hence, any social institution should analyse both the dominant and marginal ideas and
beliefs.
❖ The dominant beliefs are those held by the upper class or the rich and powerful ie the
bourgeoisie. These beliefs are said to be the ones that others find legitimate.
❖ Whereas the ideas and beliefs of the minorities/poor/ working classes are somewhat
against those that are mainstream and are not said to be legitimate by the majority of the
people in a society. Thus, their ideas may be suppressed or only associated with
communities that are marginalized.
❖ Therefore, social institutions are the building blocks of society. They are based on the
most valued ideas and beliefs about how life should be organized. However, with the
passing of one dominant group, the social institutions change over time and
consequently, the social organizations to which they give rise also change.
❖ There are four main social institutions: the family, education, religion and the justice
system.
FUNCTIONS OF
INSTITUTIONS:
1. Embodies the norms, values and belief systems of the
wider culture which constraints human behvaiour.
2. Provides patterns for dealing with predictable elements
of social life.
3. In accordance to the consensus of the wider society,
institutions represents the value system off of which
human behaviour is structured.
THE FAMILY
❖ The family, as a social institution, is found in all societies and represents the ideas
and beliefs that people have about child rearing and socialization especially as it
pertains to the norms and values of society.

❖ It encapsulates courtship, marriage, mating, child rearing and family life. The social
institutions of religion and education are closely related to the family since they all
involve instilling values in members who are then expected to carry on the
traditions of the society.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE
FAMILY
When dissecting the evolution of the family, it is imperative to note the dominant and
subordinate ideas about families over time. To illustrate:

❖ During slavery, Africans preserved family life via a network of support. However,
this was not based on marriage, rather, family life was centred around the
mother. This led to the increase in matrifocal families.

❖ The Indians brought the extended family during indentureship. This is because
they brought the concept of the joint household to the Caribbean. In that,
multiple generations occupy the same family compound. This family type is
strongly patriarchal in nature and places emphasis on early marriage.
❖ The Europeans brought the dominant idea of the nuclear family to the
Caribbean. This is where two parents are legally married and live with the
children of their union together in one household. This concept became
established in society during colonial rule however, matrifocality remained the
prominent family type.

❖ Other smaller groups (Maya, Amerindian people of Guyana, the Javenese,

Chinese, Syrians, etc) all have their own family forms and ways of organizing
the family which differ from the mainstream ideas about the family.
THE HISTORY OF CARIBBEAN
FAMILY FORMS
Many theories have been proposed so as to explain why the Caribbean’s diverse
family forms still exist
❖ African Retention- matrifocal households are a typical feature of West Africa
where polygamy is practised. This is where a husband has multiple wives in
separate households. This view states that slavery must have impacted on the
traditional African family forms and altered them in some way.

❖ Slavery- the unions and practises that the enslaved were forced to adopt on
the plantations influenced the family forms in today’s society. Marriage was
rare, co-habitation was regular and life itself was unpredictable which meant
that stable families could not develop. Children remained with their mothers
and European laws and sanctions dissuaded marriage among the races or
between enslaved persons
Economic Thesis- research states that poor, unemployed or under-employed
women are willing to get involved in sexual relationships for reasons such as
financial help, especially if they are single mothers.
Critics of this thesis highlight that there are extra-marital affairs, single
parenthood, premarital maternity, visiting relationships, common-law relationships
and illegitimate children at all levels of society
IS THE NUCLEAR FAMILY THE
SUPERIOR FAMILY FORM?
❖ The institutional ideas about the family in the contemporary Caribbean
reflect a bias towards accepting what is known as the co-residential nuclear
family.

❖ During colonial rule, ethnocentric scholars interpreted the diversity of

Caribbean family forms as ‘inferior’ and the nuclear is the ideal to which
individuals should aspire.

❖ Accepting the nuclear unit as the norm also meant that there was
acceptance of the gender stereotypes where men were perceived as
‘breadwinners’ and ‘figures of authority’ whereas women were
‘homemakers’ and ‘caregivers’.

❖ Any other family type was thus portrayed as disorganized, loose, unstable
and irregular since the conventional stereotypes were not applicable.
FUNCTIONALISTS ON THE
FAMILY
Functionalist, George Peter Murdock (1949) defined the daily as ‘a social
group’ characterized by common residents, economic cooperation and
reproduction. The family includes adults of both gender who maintain a
relationship and have one or more children either own or adopted by the
aforementioned sexually cohabiting adults. He noted four major functions of
the family:
1. Socialization/Education
2. Reproductive Function
3. Sexual Gratification
4. Economic Function
MARXISTS ON THE FAMILY
Marxist theorists state that the family is a social institution that reproduces
inequalities. The family is presented as the main unit that transmits the norms
and values of the ruling class to the next generation. There are three major
theorists who support this theory:
1. Karl Marx
2. Friedrich Engels
3. Eli Zaretsky
KEY FAMILY CONCEPTS
Monogamy- marriage of one man to one woman (U.S., Britain, Canada)
Polygamy- where one person has more than one spouse at a time
Polygyny- the custom of one man having two or more wives (Egypt)
Polyandry- the custom of one woman having two or more husbands (St. Lucia)
Matriarchal- female headed household
Patriarchal- male headed household
Conjugal Relationship- where the members involved share a sexual relationship
Consanguine- where there is a blood relationship among members of the family eg
parent/child, et
EDUCATION
❖ Education involves socialising members of society into the norms, values,
knowledge and skills that a society considers necessary. Education can be
informal where an individual learns from the family such as living and
surviving in the society in which they were born into .

❖ Education can also be formal where it refers to the communication of

knowledge and skills in social organisations such as schools and this is
known as secondary socialisation.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF
EDUCATION
❖ Amerindian education involved the passing on of life and survival skills
from one generation to another based on gender for example
Amerindian women introduced girls into the domestic lifestyle while
men taught their sons to hunt, fish and build material structures.

❖ Under slavery, formal education was for the children of the Europeans.
After emancipation, elites felt that education would help the ex-slaves
make a transition into a free society. Reading, writing, arithmetic and a
little geography were offered and the Bible was the main text.
DOMINANT IDEAS ABOUT EDUCATION
❖ A few of the institutional ideas about education that are dominant today
arose from the ideas that were prevalent from the nineteenth to the
twentieth centuries in Caribbean society and culture.

❖ Education was a way to social mobility for the labourers with parents
seeking to get education for their children in order to be eligible for
respectable jobs.

❖ The elites blocked the farmer enslaved and their descendants from
accessing secondary education.
❖ Only children who were considered ‘bright’ and showed aptitude
for academic work were considered suitable for education at
secondary level and beyond.

❖ With more schools being built, the main issue became accessing a
‘good’ school which was perceived to provide better quality of
education.

❖ These dominant ideas in education frame our education system for

instance examinations. These customary practices and traditions
are derived from institutional ideas and beliefs about education.
THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION
❖ After slavery, the purpose of education was to instill European customs and
values in order to govern the newly freed people.

❖ For the former enslaved, education meant a form of social mobility as

without wealth, their only means of ensuring the independence of their
children was education.

❖ It can contribute to social cohesion, social stability, integration and harmony

hence enabling people to come together.

❖ Education contributes to economic development by introducing skills and

knowledge therefore enhancing the production due to uneducated
workforce.
THE IMPACT OF EDUCATION ON
CARIBBEAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE
❖ Individual- Education is expected to give social mobility to individuals. The extreme
status and importance placed on education and having a suitable job have
engendered feelings of low self esteem in those who fail to acquire such.

❖ Groups- Education can impact the various socioeconomic groups differently. The
ability to switch between patios or dialect and Standard English is attributed to
varied experiences such as travel, involvement in extracurricular activities where
they interact with different groups. Lower income students are usually more
competent in non standard forms of language.

❖ Institutions- A well developed historic feature of the social institution of education

is its interaction with the social institution of religion. Thus this led to most schools
to become high demand establishments where only the very talented are accepted.
❖ Gender bias- It is seen that many people think that schools and the
education system suffers from gender bias due to gender stereotypes
for example boys prefer sporting activities whilst girls prefer reading
and writing. This is evident in the career choices as nursing, teaching or
even secretarial work are classified as ‘female type’ occupations as
opposed to doctors or scientists. Hence, it is believed that social
conditioning is mainly to blame.
THE FUNCTIONALIST
PERSPECTIVE ON EDUCATION
❖ The Functionalist Perspective analyses the contributions that education will
make with regards to the maintenance of social order in society.

❖ It also suggests that education contributes to social solidarity (a common

belief or value system).

❖ It looks at the role of education in achieving value consensus and cohesion

❖ This perspective seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the functions of education in society?
2. What is the relationship between education and other parts of society?
THE FUNCTIONALIST
PERSPECTIVE ON EDUCATION
CONTINUED
❖ Functionalist, Emile Durkheim, noted that the major function of education was the
transmission of the norms and values of society. He postulated that education was
the methodical socialization of the young.
❖ To Durkheim, the school is a miniature version of society where the child learns to
interact with other members of society and thus, learns the norms and values of
the wider society.
❖ In schools, teachers provide students with knowledge that is necessary for future
jobs. When individuals go to school for the first time, Durkheim proposes that they
do not have knowledge and the child is referred to as a clean slate (tabular rassa)
and must be socialized.
❖ The two major functions of education in an Industrial society are:
1. Education and socialization
2. Education and division of labour
THE MARXIST PERSPECTIVE ON
EDUCATION
❖ Schools perpetuate class, race and ethnic inequalities- children from the
middle and upper classes possess cultural traits that reflect the bourgeoisie
ideology which are passed on to children through the education system

❖ Schools socialize students through the curriculum- children of the working

classes are kept in a state of false class consciousness due to the teachings
of the dominant upper class ideology and belief system

❖ Sometimes access to schools is not always based on academics but rather,

by the ability to pay- education exploits the proletariats in order to maintain
capitalism.
RELIGION
DEFINITION OF RELIGION:
Religion is a social institution which embodies the valued ideas and beliefs that
society has about our relationship to a divine or sacred entity and the afterlife.
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT OF
RELIGION:
Religion has been used by the Europeans as a tool of conquest and colonization
o, mainly, the Amerindians and Africans. “Through syncretism and hybridization
the subjugated Caribbean peoples, mainly Amerindians and Africans, re-created
the social institution of religion. The act of conversion is intrusive and subjects
people, whilst adopting the religion of the Europeans, hybridized many of its
forms and practices with their own traditions ad creations.”

In the Caribbean, all religious systems had been subjected to some degree of
variation with respect to the creolization process. The degree of transformation
depends on the circumstance under which each different group came to contact
with each other in the New World.
POSITIVE
FUNCTIONS:
1. Brings together members of society by their religious practices.
2. Strengthens norms and values.
3. Gives meaning and practices to one’s existence.
4. Helps in the development of sense of identity
5. Helps persons to deal with transitional phases of their lives.
NEGATIVE
FUNCTIONS:
1. Acts as a mechanism of social control and oppression by producing false
consciousness.
2. Used by ruling classes to justify their positions.
3. Reinforces existing systems of exploitation and class inequalities.
HOW RELIGION
WORKS AS A
SOCIAL
INSTITUTION
Religion is a social institution because it includes beliefs and practices that serve the
needs of society. Religion is also an example of a cultural universal because it is found in
all societies in one form or another.
IMPACT OF
RELIGION ON AN
INDIVIDUAL LEVEL:
Religion offs comfort and helps one to cope with life’s troubles. It helps one to
make sense of their world and society which they live and provides answers to
one’s questions on life.

In a negative light, it can impact women in subservient positions negatively. As

in many religions, women are to assume “silent” positions and prescribe roles
and behaviours deemed righteous to men and women.
IMPACT OF
RELIGION A
GROUP LEVEL:
With respect to where globalization is concerned, groups maintain solidarity in
the face of increasing westernization as a precaution to keep its traditions alive
and to preserve the culture as well.
IMPACTS OF
RELIGION ON
INSTITUTIONS
● Personal belief between fair and just is based of one’s religious beliefs. When
personal and religious beliefs are met with the societal beliefs, the ideology of what
is fair and just becomes blurred, mainly because societal beliefs will dominate over
the religious beliefs and what true believers think is best.
● The potential to generate conflict between religions with dominant groups
constantly threaten the peaceful co-existence of all religions. Hence religious
institutions were pushed to look for common ground on which all denominations can
communicate, for example some religious organizations are pushing towards
ecumenism to mediate conflict.
FUNCTIONALIST
PERSPECTIVE
functionalism sees religion as helping members to feel a sense of belonging, to provide
support and guidance, and to create a community of Believers through ritual and
practices. it is an optimistic view that sees participation in religious activities and
submerging oneself in the values, attitudes and beliefs of a particular religion.
MARXIST
PERSPECTIVE
On the other hand, Marxism shows the Dark Side of religious commitment. Marxists feel
that religion prevents people from really experiencing the inequities, discrimination and
oppression that are inherent in how Society treats disadvantaged groups. This works
effectively to entrench the elite class and perpetuate their dominance in the society.
THE JUSTICE
SYSTEM:
Social justice refers to the ideal that all groups in the society should be treated
fairly. The justice system is manifested in the political, legal and judicial
framework in a country.
THE POLITICAL
FRAMEWORK

This is the basis upon which the citizens entrust representatives with power to decide
and to uphold their rights, freedom and interests.
THE LEGAL
FRAMEWORK

The legal framework ks simply the development of a system of laws which are fair and
just to all parties involved.
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT OF THE
JUDICIAL SYSTEM:
● The justice system evolved through the history of colonialism, resistance
and independence. This was seen in the treatment of the indigenous and
africans by the europeans when the judicial system was discriminatory
towards these groups.
● When the multi-racial society was created at the end of the colonial rule,
the judicial framework represented the interest of the most powerful
groups, neglecting, or in any case, excluding lower socio-economic groups.
● The notion of basic human rights becoming international and national laws
as a necessity of protecting people’s rights and preventing atrocities
highlighted from World War from occuring in the future.
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
CONTINUED:
● Justice systems in the Caribbean are based of constitutions and political
regimes from a country.
● In capitalist societies, however, favours the wealthy and most powerful, in
turn discriminating against the poor and powerless in society.
SUMMARIZING
THE HISTORICAL
CONTEXT:
“The social institution of the justice system in the Caribbean evolved out of a history
of oppression, the rights of members of society being won through violence, legal
battles and the dismantling of colonialism. However, the development of fairness and
justice in the political, legal and judicial systems has been influenced by the socially
stratified nature of the society”
HOW THE JUSTICE
SYSTEM
OPERATES?
The purpose of the criminal justice system is to protect society, punish offenders and
rehabilitate criminals. It does this by following a process where the offender is arrested and
tried for what they did wrong. If found guilty, they are punished with jail time or other
punishments such as fines or community service.
THE JUSTICE
SYSTEM’S ROLE IN
THE CARIBBEAN?
Its primary function, in fact, is to resolve conflicts through the application of
pre-existing norms or, in some cases precedents, which have been issued through
legitimate procedures, as recognized by the political system.
IMPACT OF THE
JUSTICE SYSTEM ON
AN INDIVIDUAL
LEVEL:
Depending on one’s socioeconomic status in society, the governing laws affect people
differently. These laws also govern positions and conditions in a workplace based on
their socio-economic status in society.

The laws also protects one personal decisions, personal rights and for persons to
receive protection against discrimination when visiting public offices or social
organizations.
IMPACT OF THE
JUSTICE SYSTEM ON
A GROUP LEVEL:

● The law regulates the work organization into age groups.

● The children laws protect children under 18 from child labour and abuse, instead
keeping them in school to choose their career., though because of finances, some
young people are forced to help provide.
● The age of retirement affects persons financially as well was affecting their morale,
where they think they are no longer needed or useful increasing depression amongst
the retirees.
IIMPACT OF THE
JUSTICE SYSTEM
ON INSTITUTIONS
“Social institutions is enmeshed in international principles of what is right, fair and just
and this brings us closer to norms being observed across the world about the state’s
responsibilities to it's citizens. Whilst discriminatory practices and exclusion continue to
be strongly entrenched in Caribbean societies, there are competing ideas about what is
just, right and fair. The political, legal and judicial systems are increasingly being called
ipon to adjudicate in conflicts between these competing ideas about ‘rights’”.
FUNCTIONALISM AND THE
JUSTICE SYSTEM:

There are three main sociological perspectives on the justice system. Functionalism is the
sociological perspective that dominates social life. The justice system is important in
preserving social order or social order
MARXISM AND THE JUSTICE
SYSTEM:
Social relations of production are what Marxists refer to as the social relations between
rich and poor. In this view, the poor have rights equal to those of the rich for equity before
the justice system. But that seldom occurs because the poor are for the most part without
power in capitalist societies.