Social Institutions

Marriage, family, the economy, religion, the media, the political system — none of these were invented by a single lawmaker, yet every one of them is more binding on your daily life than most statutes. That is what a social institution is: a pattern of behaviour so established that society organises itself around it. This topic is the frame; the sub-topics that follow it — marriage, family, kinship, political institutions, the economy, religion and media — are the detail.

In two minutes

A social institution is an established, relatively stable and organised pattern of behaviour that a society builds around a recurring social need, such as marriage, family, education, religion, the economy, the political system and the media.

The rest of this chapter

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