Social Institutions: Characteristics and Functions

1 Health inequalities among society definitions (Hechter Class/Course/Code Professor’s Name University/School City, State Date Table of contents Health inequalities 3 Ethnicity 3 Social institutions: 3 Characteristics of Social Institutions 4 Types and functions of social institutions in society 4 The Family Institution 4 The Religious Institution 6 Economic Institution 6 Hunting Societies 6 Horticulture Societies 7 Agrarian Societies 7 Capitalism 7 Socialism 7 Mixed Economy 8 Functions of Economic Institutions 8 Political Institutions 8 The Educational Institution 8 Impact of social inequality towards individuals

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Health inequalities among ethnicity
by Student’s Name
Class/Course/Code
Professor’s Name
University/School
City, State
Date

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Table of contents
Health inequalities............................................................................................................3
Ethnicity...........................................................................................................................3
Social institutions:............................................................................................................3
Characteristics of Social Institutions................................................................................4
Types and functions of social institutions in society.......................................................4
The Family Institution..................................................................................................4
The Religious Institution..............................................................................................6
Economic Institution............................................................................................................6
Hunting Societies.............................................................................................................6
Horticulture Societies.......................................................................................................7
Agrarian Societies............................................................................................................7
Capitalism........................................................................................................................7
Socialism..........................................................................................................................7
Mixed Economy...............................................................................................................8
Functions of Economic Institutions.....................................................................................8
Political Institutions.........................................................................................................8
The Educational Institution..............................................................................................8
Impact of social inequality towards individuals, groups.....................................................8
Economic.........................................................................................................................9
Crime................................................................................................................................9
Health...............................................................................................................................9
Happiness and trust..........................................................................................................9
Theory perspectives impact of social problems...................................................................9
Functionalist theory...........................................................................................................10
References:........................................................................................................................11

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Health inequalities
Health inequalities are differences between population and groups within societies. Health
condition occurs due to conditions in which people live, flourish and died. Mental health,
physical health and wellbeing are influenced by how we think, feel and react. These
condition impact individual positively and negatively it depends on individual
(Matthews,2015).
Ethnicity
Ethnicity can be defined as the person belonging to social group which include factors
like culture, religion, language, nationality and physical features. Ethnicity may result from many
aspects such as demographic factors, scarce resources, social political, cultural and historical
factors (Matthews,2015).
Social institutions:
Social institutions can be defined as a system or pattern of social roles, social norms and
social order, such as family, religion, culture, education and health. It has been observed that
society needs food, shelter, education, clothing, power and maintenance. To provide such needs
society creates institutions of family, education, economy and religion. Social definition can also
be defined as the beliefs and behavior of individual or society.
It has been examined that social institutions are create on the basis of groups with in
population, their values, culture, roles and statuses to fulfill their basic human needs. Social
institutions are necessary for survival of society. It could be concluded that social institutions
represent both groups or pattern of beliefs (Hechterand Wippler, 2018).
Characteristics of Social Institutions

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We can summarize the characteristics of social institutions from definition discussed
above, they are (Matthews, 2015):
a. Each social institution performs its function but as a whole they all are related to fulfill
basic needs.
b. Social institutions differentiate patterns of human behavior and beliefs.
c. Social institutions run society with stability.
d. Social institutions are universal.
e. Concept of social institutions changes from time to time in terms of functioning,
complexity and scope. But the basic purpose of institutions remains same.
f. Social institutions perform two types of functions:
1. Primary functions, which are basic objectives of any social institution.
2. Secondary functions, which fulfill basic needs of society.
Types and functions of social institutions in society
Every human society has five basic institutions. They are family, educational, religious,
political and economic. The family functions are carried out in home, the educational group are
located at schools, colleges and universities, the religious functions are carried out in place of
worship, the economic functions are carried out in offices, factories and shops, the political
functions in police stations, court and parliament houses (Hechter and Wippler, 2018).
The Family Institution
It has been observed that family institutions are primary institution of any society. Family
institution may differ from one culture to other culture, as there are different cultures within one
culture. It is a social group bound by blood relations, marriage, and responsibilities. The family

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unit has a great impact on the daily lives of individuals and new generations. A family is not
burden over someone but it is a medium by which individuals fulfills their basic needs. Fulfilling
the needs of life is the basic task of family. As family is a basic medium of socializing
individual, society and people.
Generally, family have mother, father and their children. Different societies have
different meaning of family. Different authors have used the word of family with different
meanings. Following definitions would help us to find out real meaning of family. For Murdock,
family is a social group of two adults having one or more children and sharing residence and
resources. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, Family includes two or more persons
bounded by blood or marriage and are resident in same home (The Australian Bureau of
Statistics). A group of persons bounded by relation and sharing responsibility of caring children
(Giddens, 2012).
Functions of the Family
Every family group has following functions in society:
a. Reproduction
The family has function to contributes in reproduction.
b. Socialization
Older members of family act as a role for young members. They inherit behavior,
attitudes, values and languages.
c. Social Control
A family is responsible to social control. It helps individuals to participate and understand
responsibilities and goals towards society.
d. Security
A family is responsible for the protection of children and other members. They provide
them security in difficult situations.
e. Love
A family provide love and attention to family members so they feel satisfied in life.
f. Caring of Young and aged members
The family protect and take care of children and also has responsibility to take care of
aged members until their death.

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The Religious Institution
Religion is a social system of faith. A religion gives meaning of living to believers and
bound them into a community. Religion provide answers of many un answerable questions of
believers about life and death. Religious institutions are composed on basis of beliefs and rituals
of a community. Religion perform a special role in society by giving people purpose for their
lives. Religion is a source to control stress (Payne and Harrison, 2020).
Economic Institution
It is the social institution and the aim is to generate, distribute, exchange and consume
good and services in the society. Sometime it is referred as Economic System. The key role of
this system is to satisfy the basic necessities of the human life food, shelter and clothing with the
use of limited resources. Economic System has a strong relationship with other social institutions
and directly influences their behavior and nature. For the survival of society and its institutions
assets, goods and services are vital from the economic sector (Payne and Harrison, 2020).
Karl Marx describes the immense significance of the economic system as the foundation
(Infrastructure) on which other social institutions jointly term as “Superstructures” revolves.
Over a period of time diverse form of economic institutions are experienced by various societies
with the rational use of technology for production and distribution of goods and services.
The pre-industrial societies practiced the economic system are
Hunting Societies
The small group of nomadic people continuously travels for the food. They had
negligible technology and division of labor. In this society inequality and differentiation emerge
on the basis of gender, age, family background and material goods.

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Horticulture Societies
The people of this society are related to farming. This economic system achieved surplus
food to satisfy the needs of the people for those not related to horticulture. They had minimal
tools and specialization in other activities.
Agrarian Societies
This society had tools and technology with specialized labors for production and
distribution of food. This is the last period of pre-industrial societies. According to Dushkin the
industrial societies are mainly depend on machines for the production of goods and services
while the post-industrial societies are technologically advanced and worked on the processing
and control of information. According to Scheafer and Lamm industrial societies are classify on
the basis of competing economic systems (Matthews, 2015).
Capitalism
In capitalism the goods and services provided by the people are based on private
ownership and solely for the purpose of profit. In Laissez fairer model there is a least
government interference and in contemporary model the government regulation is the key factor.
In capitalism monopoly and private enterprise exist (Payne and Harrison, 2020).
Socialism
In socialism the production and distribution of goods and services are owned by the
government rather than by the individuals. The goal of this economic system is to satisfy the
basic necessities of the society to eradicate economic exploitation and profit. Government
performed the major job to plan and control the activities.

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Mixed Economy
This is the intermediate form of socialism and capitalism. In this model government
controls the economy and permit big organizations, insignificant businesses and social securities
with governments imposed laws.
Functions of Economic Institutions
a. To provide the basic needs of life food, shelter and clothing and ensure other economic
and bio-social needs.
b. To manage the limited available resources of the society in a rational manner.
c. To maintain a relationship with other social institutions for the proper function of the
society.
d. To distribute the goods and services in the society of people belongs to different cultural
and geography.
Political Institutions
a. It is responsible for the maintenance of rules and regulations in the society.
b. It formulates, understand and enforce the regulations in the area of influence.
c. It protects the lives and goods of the society from internal and external fear.
d. It maintains the relationship with other social societies for their common interest.
The Educational Institution
Education is a process in which some people adopt role of teacher while some adopt role
of learner. Education can also be defined as the transmission of new ideas, skills, knowledge and
values. Education is also observed as social institutions as it gives basic structure to society.
Education produce good leaders. Education institution act as a hub for society as they develop
new skills and ideas that benefits society (Matthews,2015).
Impact of social inequality towards individuals, groups
Social inequality can be defined as the unfair distribution of basic needs such as
employment, health, wealth and education. Difference in class, age, ethnicity and gender are all
sources of social in equality. Social inequality impact individual, groups and society. The factors
which are impacted by social inequality are as follow:

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Economic
It has been observed that income inequality cause damage and instability to economy.
Inequality in income can cause financial crises. Inequality may increase inflation rate.
Crime
It has been analysed that societies having inequalities have higher rate of crime.
Countries having higher inequality leads to higher murder rates. Such societies have higher
violence rate.
Health
Health inequality increase rate of infant and young mortality and mental illness. It has
been observed that in unequal countries, the higher percentage of people is suffering from mental
illness. In US states, the rate of depression is related to income inequality. The more unequal the
state, the higher the rate of depression.
Happiness and trust
Unequal countries of Europe have low level of trust. Inequalities increases the distance
between society members which makes people less likely to trust others and to form strong
relationships with them.
Theory perspectives impact of social problems
A social problem is pattern or behavior that impact large numbers of people negatively.
Three theoretical perspective on social problems are: Functionalism, Conflict theory and

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symbolic interactionist theory. These theories observed same social problems, but they function
in different ways (Wadhwani, 2018).
Functionalist theory
Functionalist theory is also known as Functionalism. Durkheim, observed that society is
more than the sum of its parts. Each part performs necessary role but function as a whole. When
one part experiences crises, other part must adapt to fill the gap. To fulfill different needs, each
society is composed of different institutions which are family, economy, education and religion.
According to functionalism theory, an institution only exists because it serves a vital role in the
functioning of society. If it no longer serves a role, an institution will die away. When new needs
evolve or emerge, new institutions will be created to meet them.

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Camarero, L. and Oliva, J., 2019. Thinking in rural gap: Mobility and social
inequalities. Palgrave Communications, 5(1), pp.1-7.
Gordon, S.L., 2017. The sociology of sentiments and emotion. In Social psychology (pp. 562-
592). Routledge.
Hechter, M., Opp, K.D. and Wippler, R., 2018. Social institutions: Their emergence,
maintenance and effects. Taylor and Francis.
Matthews, D., 2015. The impact of ethnicity on health inequalities. Nursing times, 111(44),
pp.18-20.
Payne, G. and Harrison, E. eds., 2020. Social Divisions: Inequality and Diversity in Britain.
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