7 Institution, Association, Group, Status and Role, Norms and Values

Dr. Deepak Kumar Ojha

epgp books

Contents of this Unit

 

Learning Outcomes

 

Objectives

  1. Institution
  1. Association
  1. Social groups
  1. Status
  1. Roles
  1. Values

 

Learning Outcomes

 

After studying this module:

  • You shall be able to get an informative background about the basic concepts of social anthropology, such as institution, association, groups, status, roles, norms and values.
  • You will also learn the conceptual meaning, definition, nature and characteristic features of the institution, association, norms and values.
  • The module also provides knowledge about the entire descriptive understanding of institution, association, norms and values.
  • Within this module the distinction between the concepts has also been made.

Objectives

 

The primary objectives of this module are:

  • To give a basic understanding to the students about the basic concepts being used in social anthropology, such as, institution, association, group, status, role, norms, and values.
  • It also attempts to provide an informative background about the conceptual meaning, definitions, nature and characteristic features of these terms.

1. Institution

 

The concept of institution is one of the most important in the entire field of sociology. Patterns of activity reproduced across time and space. Institutions often concern basic living arrangements that human beings work out in the interactions with one another and by means of which continuity is achieved across generations. Institutions are also known as the basic building blocks of societies. Social institutions are like buildings that are at every moment constantly being reconstructed by the very bricks that compose them. Unfortunately, it is a concept that has not been consistently used by sociologists. The importance of understanding the concept of institution in order to understand society is at the same time recognized by all the sociologists. In fact, Durkheim has gone to the extent of defining sociology as the science of social institutions. Sumner and Keller have said, “Folkways are to society what cells are to the biological organism; institutions are its bones and tissues”. F. H, Giddings regards institution as “the organs that conserve what is best in the past of human race”.

 

1.1. Definitions

 

1. According to Ginsberg “Institutions may be described as recognized and established usages governing the relations between individuals and groups”.

2. MacIver and Page have defined Institutions as the established forms or conditions of procedure characteristic of group activity”.

3. According to Kingsley Davis “Institutions can be defined as a set of interwoven folkways, mores and laws built around one or more functions”.

4. H.E.Barnes defined “Institutions as the social structure and the machinery through which human society organizes, directs and executes the multifarious activities required to satisfy human needs”.

5. According to C. A. Ellwood “Institutions are the habitual ways of living together which have been sanctioned, systematized and established by the authority of communities”.

 

1.2. Characteristics of Institutions

 

The main characteristics of social institutions may be described here.

 

  • (i) Social in Nature: Institutions come into being due to the collective activities of the people. They are essentially social in nature. After all, institutions are the products of the secular a repetitive forms of social relationships of the individuals.
  • (ii) Universality: Social institutions are ubiquitous. They exist in all the societies and existed at all the stages of social development. The basic institutions like family, religion, property and some kind of political institutions are observed even in the tribal or primitive societies.
  • (iii) Institutions are Standardized Norms: An institution must be understood as standardized procedures and norms. They prescribe the way of doing things. They also prescribe rules and regulations that are to be followed. Marriage as an institution, for example, governs the relations between the husband and wife. Similarly, the school or college has its own rules and procedures.
  • (iv) Institutions as means of satisfying needs: Institutions are established by men themselves. They cater to the satisfaction of some basic and vital needs of man. These basic needs are, (a) the need for self-preservation (b) the need for self-perpetuation, and (c) the need for self-expression.
  • (v) Institutions are the controlling mechanisms: Institutions are like religion, morality, state, government, law, legislation etc., control the behaviour of men. These mechanisms preserve the social order and give stability to it. Institutions are like wheels on which human society marches on towards the desired destination.
  • (vi) Relatively permanent: Institutions do not undergo sudden or rapid changes. Changes take place slowly and gradually in them. Many institutions are rigid and enduring. They, in course of time, become the conservative elements in society.
  • (vii) Abstract in nature: Institutions are not external, visible or tangible things. They are abstract. Thus marriage cannot be kept in a museum; religion cannot be rated or quantified.
  • (viii) Oral and written traditions: Institutions may persist in the form of oral and/or written traditions. For the primitive societies they may be largely oral. But in modern complex societies they may be observed in written as well as unwritten forms. There may be written institutional forms like constitutions, sacred text books, syllabus, governmental orders, business contracts, examination system etc., relating to political, religious, educational and economic institutions and so on.
  • (ix) Synthesising symbols: Institutions may have their own symbols, material or non-material. For example, the state has flag emblem, national anthem as its symbols, religion may have its own symbols like crucifix, crescent moon, star, swastika; the school may have its own flag or school prayer, marriage may have its own wedding ring or mangala-sutra and so on.
  • (x) Institutions are interrelated: Institutions, though diverse, are interrelated. Understanding of one institution requires the understanding of the other related institutions. The religious, moral, educational, political, economic and other types of institutions are essentially interlinked.

1.3. Primary and Secondary Institutions

Institutions are often classified into (i) Primary institutions and (ii) Secondary institutions. The most basic institutions which are found even in primitive societies like religion, family, marriage, property, some kind of political system, are primary in character. As societies grew in size and complexity, institutions became progressive and more differentiated. Accordingly, a large number of institutions

are evolved to cater to the secondary needs of people. They may be called secondary institutions. For example, education, examination, law, legislation, constitution, parliamentary procedure, business, etc.

 

1.4. Functions of Social Institutions

 

Institutions have great functional importance. Their main functions are as follows:

  • (i) Institutions cater to the satisfaction of needs: Institutions contribute to the fulfillment of the fundamental human needs such as (a) the need for self perpetuation, (b) perpetuation, and (c) self-expression. They provide and prescribe the ways and means of fulfilling them.
  • (ii) Institutions Control Human Behaviour: Institutions organize and regulate the system of social Through the institutions the unexpected, spontaneous and irregular behaviour of people is replaced by expected, patterned, systematic, regular and predictable behaviour. Thus the interpersonal relationships of the individuals are regulated by institutions. They make clear for the members what is allowed and what is not; what is desirable and what is undesirable. This is particularly true of the governmental institutions.
  • (iii) Institutions simplify actions for the individual: Since the institutions prescribe a particular way of behaviour for the fulfillment of our basic needs, they save much of our energy and also time. They avoid confusion and uncertainties and contribute to a system and order in society.
  • (iv) Institutions assign roles and statuses to the individual: Institutionalisation of the social behaviour consists of the establishment of definite norms. These norms assign status positions and role-functions in connection with such behaviour. Institutions such as family, marriage, education, property, division of labour, caste, religion, etc. provide some social standing for the individuals concerned.
  • (v) Institutions contribute to unity and uniformity: institutions which regulate the relations between individuals have largely been responsible for unity and uniformity that are found in a society.
  • (vi) Manifest functions of Institutions: Every institution has two types of manifest functions – (a) the pursuit of its objective or interests, and (b) the preservation of its own internal cohesion so that it may survive. For example, the state must serve its citizens and protect its boundaries. At the same time, the state must escape the danger of internal revolution and external conquests.
  • (vii) The negative functions of institutions: Institutions may cause harmful effects also. They do not undergo changes easily and quickly even if the circumstances demand change. When they become too conservative they retard progress. They even hamper the growth of personalities of the people. Religion and caste can be mentioned here as examples to show how they often discourage people to do achievements or adventures.
  1. Association

Men try to fulfill their ends through co-operation and mutual assistance. On the basis of this co-operative effort each individual will be contributing to the ends of his fellow men. This co-operative pursuit has a reference to association. When a group or collection of individuals organizes itself expressly for the purpose of pursuing certain of its interests together on a co-operative pursuit, an association is said to be born.

 

2.1. Definitions

  • (i) An association is “an organization deliberately formed for the collective pursuit of some interest, or a set of interests, which its members share” – R. M. MacIver
  • (ii) An association is “a group of social beings related to one another by the fact that they possess or have instituted in common an organization with a view to securing a specific end or ends”. – Morris Ginsberg.

An association is a group of people organized for the achievement of a particular interest or interests. Men have several interests. Hence they establish different associations to fulfil them. They have a number of associations of different kinds.

 

2.2. Main characteristics of Association

 

The main characteristics of association are as follows:

  • (i) Association – a human group: An association is formed or created by people. It is basically a social Without people there can be no association. However, all groups are not associations, because, an association is basically an organized group. An unorganized group like crowd or mob cannot be an association.
  • (ii) Common interest or interests: An association is not merely a collection of individuals. It consists of those individuals who have more or less the same interests. Accordingly, those who have political interests may join political associations, and those who have religious interests may join religious associations, and so on.
  • (iii) Co-operative Spirit: An association is based on the co-operative spirit of its members. People work together to achieve some definite purposes. For example, a political party has to work together as a united group on the basis of co-operation in order to fulfill its objective of coming to power.
  • (iv) Organization: Association denotes some kind of organization. An association is known essentially as an organized group. Organization gives stability and proper shape to an association. Organization refers to the way in which the statuses and roles are distributed among the members.
  • (v) Regulation of relations: Every association has its own ways and means of regulating the relations of its members. Organization depends on this element of regulation. They may assume written or unwritten forms.
  • (vi) Association as agencies: Association are means or agencies through which their members seek to realize their similar or shared interests. Such social organizations necessarily act not merely through leaders, but through officials or representatives, as agencies. Associations normally act through agents who are responsible for and to the association. This fact gives association a distinctive character and its peculiar legal status. Further, association may have its own methods of operation peculiar to it as an association.
  • (vii) Durability of Association: An association may be permanent or temporary. There are some long-standing associations like the state, family, religious associations etc. some associations may purely be temporary in nature. Eg.: associations that are established to felicitate some great writers, scientists, and religious leaders and associations created for performing some social, religious or other ceremony or fair on a grand scale.

It is clear from the above, that an association is not merely a group, it is something more than that. It is a group expressly organized around a particular interest. The qualification “expressly organized”, helps us to distinguish between associations and other social groups. Social groups like class, crowd, mob, public, etc., in this way, are not associations.

 

In modern society, the number of associations is on the increase. Not only their number is increasing, but their varieties are also increasing. In almost all the fields of our social life we have associations. The rapid changes that are taking place in different fields of our social life have necessitated the birth of a large number of associations. In modern democratic countries associations have a distinct role to play. Their role in strengthening the democratic set-up can hardly be esaggerated. The modern age today, is really an age of organizations or associations. Man’s life is, today, to a very great extent, lived and controlled by the larger associations.

 

2.3. Differences between Association and Institution

3. Social Groups

 

A social group is any number of people who share common goals and norms. A true group exhibits some degree of social cohesion and is more than a simple collection or aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop. In other words, a group refers to two or more people regularly interacting on the basis of shared expectations of others’ behavior, interrelated statuses and roles. The characteristics shared by members of a group may include interests, values, representations, ethnic or social background, and kinship ties. Paul Hare regards the defining characteristic of a group as social interaction.

 

Society starts with an aggregate of people. But the mere congregation of people in a physical area does not make them a social group. A social group exists when two or more people are in direct or indirect contact and communication. The members of the group stimulate and respond to one another in some meaningful way.

 

3.1. Definitions of Social Groups

 

  1.  Harry M. Johnson says that, “a social group is a system of interaction”. 
  2.  Marshal Jones is of the opinion that a social group is “two or more people between whom there is an established pattern of interaction”. 
  3.  R.M. MacIver and Page define social group as “any collection of human beings who are brought into human relationships with one another”. 
  4. According to Ogburn and Nimkoff, “whenever two or more individuals come together and influence one another, they may be said to constitute a social group”.
  5. Emory S. Bogardus defines social group as “number of persons, two or more, who have common objects of attention, who are stimulating to each other, who have common loyality and participate in similar activities.”

3.2. Characteristics of Social Group

The main characteristics of social group are as follows:

  • (i) Collection of Individuals: Social group consists of people. Without individuals there can be no Just as we cannot have a college or university without students and teachers we cannot have a group in the absence of people.
  • (ii) Interaction among members: Social interaction is the very basis of group life. Hence mere collection of individuals does not make a group. The members must have interaction. A social group, is in fact a system of social interaction. The limits of social groups are marked by the limits of social interaction.
  • (iii) Mutual Awareness: Group life involves mutual awareness. Group members are aware of one another and their behavior is determined by this mutual recognition. This may be due to what Giddings call ‘the consciousness of kind’.
  • (iv) Group Unity and Solidarity: Group members are tied by a sense of unity. The solidarity or integration of a group is largely dependent upon the frequency, the variety and the emotional quality of the interaction of its members. A family or a friend’s group, or a religious group is highly united and integrated, because its members are related by several common interests and have frequent social contacts with one another.
  • (v) Common Interests: The interests and ideals of groups are common. Groups are mostly formed or established for the fulfillment of certain interests. In fact, men not only join groups but also form group for the realization of their objectives or interests. Forms of the groups differ depending upon the common interests of the group. Hence, there are political groups, religious groups, economic groups, educational groups, national groups and so on.
  • (vi) Similar Behaviour: The members of a group behave in more or less similar way for the pursuit of common interests. Social groups represent collective behavior.
  • (vii) Group Norms: Every group has its own rules or norms which the members are supposed to These norms may be in the form of customs, folkways, mores, traditions, conventions, laws, etc. They may be written or unwritten norms or standards. Every group has its own ways and means of punishing or correcting those who go against the rules.
  • (viii) Groups are Dynamic: Social groups are not static but dynamic. They are subject to changes whether slow or rapid. Old members die and new members are born. Whether due to internal or external pressures or forces, groups undergo changes.

3.3. Classification of Groups

1.   Primary Groups and Secondary Groups: On the basis of nature and quality of social interaction, groups have been classified into primary and secondary groups. The name of C.H Cooley is very much associated with this classification. Cooley has introduced the term ‘primary group’ in his book ‘Social Organisation’. Primary groups refer to the most fundamental and basic social groups which are based on direct relation and face-to-face interaction, for instance, family. Secondary Groups on the other hand, are not fundamental groups and do not possess direct interaction among the group members, but have relevant role in maintaining social interrelationship. The group of friends, classmates and neighbours are examples of secondary group.

 

2.    In-Groups and Out-Groups: W.G. Sumner in his book, ‘Folkways’ differentiates between in-groups and out-groups. An ‘In-group’ is simply the ‘We-group’ and an ‘Out-group’ is ‘they-group’. This classification is more subjective, in the sense; it depends on the tendency on the part of an individual to identify himself with a particular group in a particular situation for a particular reason.

 

3.    Horizontal and Vertical Groups: P.A. Sorokin has divided groups into two major types-the horizontal and the vertical. The former are large, inclusive groups; such as nations, religious organizations and political parties. The latter are smaller divisions, such as economic classes which give the individual his status in the society.

 

4.  Status

The concepts of role and status occupy a central place in the analysis of social structure. The interaction between individuals and groups very much depends upon the proper functioning according to role and status. The concepts of role and status were initially used by common men and women everywhere long before the anthropologists and sociologists started any discussion upon them. Every status carries a cluster of expected behaviors; how a person in that status is expected to think, feel, as well as expectations about how they should be treated by others. The cluster of expected duties and behaviors that has become fixed in a consistent and reiterated pattern of conduct. Each society must have some form of division of labour and most rudimentary form of division of labour includes a classification according to status and role.

 

4.1. Definitions

1.      According to Donald A. Hobbs and Stuart J. Blank, “status is a defined position in the social structure that is distinguished from and at the same time related to other positions. Each status is linked to a social role that is a pattern of behavior expected of one who occupies a status”.

2.      According to D. Popenoe, “status is a social position in a social system”. 

3.      Ralph Linton has defined that “the term status, like the term culture, has come to be used with a double significance”.

Social status consists of a ranked position in a social hierarchy or stratification system and an individual’s social standing in society. A status, as distinct from the individual who may occupy it, is simply a collection of rights and duties.

 

Status and roles are interdependent. Each status consists of many related roles. “The set of roles associated with a single status is called a role set”. There is no complete agreement throughout a society about expectations of each status. In fact, the social organization consists of status and roles. Most people are accustomed to talking in terms of ‘status’ while referring to various particular people and qualifying this term by the more common words such as higher and lower.

  1. Roles

Historically speaking the concept of role was first introduced by Pareto in 1916. It was he who first recognized sociological significance of the labels such as, physicians, engineers, artists, etc. which indicate their roles. For Pareto, the recognition of labels was a step in the special analysis of social elites. In 1920, Max Weber more generally and explicitly analyzed the methodological issues involved in the classification of human beings. He pointed out that the understanding of the origin of a society must be preceded by a functionally oriented investigation. It is necessary to know as to what kind of typical action leads to such classification. From 1925 onwards the term role was more and more used by the American Sociologists such as, W. I. Thomas, W. E. Burgess and others.

 

5.1. Definitions of Role

  1. According to R.H. Roher and M. Sherif, “social roles are part and parcel of an individual’s behavior when interacting with other people in various situations”.
  2. According to Ralph Linton, “a set of expectations and behaviours associated with a specific position in a social system”.
  3. As mentioned by S. F. Nadel, “a role represents the dynamic aspect of a status-when he puts the rights and duties which constitute the status into effect”.

5.2. Role and Status

 

A role must have a halo effect, without which it is reduced to a label or category. An example of this halo effect in a role is the concept of bureaucrat. This is true about a role in the full sense of the term. However certain terms bearing the label of roles might be in fact what Nadel calls, “non-roles or near roles are quasi roles”. Status can be elaborated into roles and roles have a foundation in status. Most of the writers have accepted that roles and status are complimented concepts. Role behavior is something translated into action.

  1. Values

Values are life-style priorities. Since values lie behind all the choices we make, it follows the very core of the life we have created for ourselves through the choices we have made. Thus, through values we 

express what is important in our life and, when we are true to our values, the life-style we live is our expression of these values. There is a definite link between, values, morals, ethics and principles. If you know what values a person holds, you will have a general idea of what they want to do in their life. For example, if a person’s highest priority value is Achievement/Success you would expect them to be striving towards one or more goals and doing whatever they can to achieve them. Likewise, if a person’s highest priority value is Research/Knowledge, you would expect them to be in an occupation such as medical research, social research, etc. So there is a link between values and the general category of activities the person would be expected to be involved in because of the priority values they have.

 

6.1. The Relationships between Values, Norms, Behaviours, Ethics, Morals, Principles

 

From knowing the values alone, we cannot know how, specifically, the person is going to behave. Some people, driven by their high priority value i.e., Achievement/Success, will do anything it takes to achieve their goal – some athletes; for example, will take illegal drugs to boost their chances of success. On the other hand, we all know people driven by the same value, who do not cheat to win. Let’s now take the value, Research/Knowledge. If the person is a medical researcher, we cannot know from the value alone if they undertake their research by experimenting, or not experimenting, on animals. Both examples on the previous page illustrate there’s more to the picture than values. Because we live in a society, we cannot live our values any way we want. The impact of how we live our values on other people and the environment must be considered. This is where codes of behaviour (i.e. ethics, morals, norms of behaviour, laws, and the like) come in. It depicts codes of behaviour spelt out how we are expected to live our values. Thus, knowing a person’s values gives us a general idea of what they want to do in their life, knowing their ethical or moral stance, inform us as to how they will live their values. The difference between values and ethics may be summarised as:

Values motivate – ethics & morals constrain.

 

6.2. World-Views & Values

 

The model people have of the world (their world-view) is comprised of knowledge and beliefs. We hold the values we do, and believe in certain principles related to “the way things work in this world”, because of our model of the world. In turn, the principles in which we believe influence the way we believe people should behave. Different people have different world-views. Yet, many people have similar world-views, which is just another way of saying that many people share similar beliefs about what living in this world is all about. Similar world-views have associated with them similar sets of priority values. People live their values in particular ways because of beliefs they hold about how those values should be lived. People filter the consequences of their actions through their values. Therefore, people’s world-views, once established, are very stable. Some people will die to defend their world-view rather than entertain the thought that someone else’s world-view might be more of a mere accurate representation of actuality than their own. Even if they are not prepared to die for their world- 

view, people who believe their world-view is the truth gets rather upset when told, “Say not that you have found the truth, rather say I have found a truth.” Because of the above dynamic, people’s world-views are very difficult to change.

you can view video on Institution, Association, Group, Status and Role, Norms and Values