2.5 Social Institution

Definition: an established, organised system of norms and roles meeting a basic societal need — stable solutions to humanity's permanent problems (reproducing, believing, knowing, producing, governing, adjudicating).The classical list (expand for the 21st century):Basic needInstitutionUnit 6 treatmentReproduction, socialisationFamily (and marriage)6.1, 6.2Meaning and ultimate orderReligion6.5 (education) & passimTransmission of knowledgeEducation6.5Production and distributionEconomy6.4Power and collective decisionsPolity/state6.6Order and conflict-resolutionLawUnit 3; 6.6Identity and mutual aidKinship, guthi, community6.3Characteristics: permanence beyond individuals; normative structure; organised roles; cultural embeddedness; (relative) adaptability — institutions change, but slowly (Unit 5).Institution vs organisation (a clean distinction examiners like): marriage and family are institutions (patterned norms); the particular guthi committee or the particular court is an organisation (concrete group running the pattern).