20 марта 2016г.
Contemporary sociologists use the term ―institution‖ to refer to complex social forms that reproduce themselves such as governments, family, human languages, universities, organizations, corporations, and legal systems. A typical definition is that offered by Jonathan Turner: ―a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organizing relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, reproducing individuals, and sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment.‖ [6] According to Ravigull a social institution represents groups of people bonded together for common purposes, having rights, privileges, liabilities, goals, or objectives distinct and independent from those of individual members. [8] According to Arlene S. Skolnick and Jerome H. Skolnick, institutions are the building blocks of a particular society. Key social institutions in modern society include the family, marriage, religion, education, the government, politics, and the economy. Some sociologists also add the military, health care, and varying forms of mass media to the list. According to William J.Goode, the family is key element in social structure of modern society, he says and I quote ―… specifically linking individuals with other social institutions, such as the church, the state, or the economy. [5] Arlene S. Skolnick and Jerome H. Skolnick claim that families appear to be intimate and private, we often forget that families also serve much larger functions within society as a whole. Sociologists talk about family as a social institution: established and organized systems of social behavior with a particular and recognized purpose. According to Arlene S. Skolnick and Jerome H. Skolnick, institutions are the building blocks of a particular society. Key social institutions in modern society include family, marriage, religion, education, government, politics, and economy. Some sociologists also add military forces, health care, and various forms of mass media to the list. [3] Sociologists talk about family as a social institution: established and organized systems of social behavior with a particular and recognized purpose [1, 2] According to Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary, Institution of family is a fundamental social group consisting especially of a man and woman and their offspring; a domestic establishment including members of the family and others who live under the same roof. [4] Studying family as an institution simply recognizes that families are organized in socially patterned ways. Institutions are ―there‖-we do not reinvent them every day. Although individuals and families do adapt in ways that allow institutions to evolve, they still exist in ways that make it appear as though they are the only options available to us. [7] Family as a social institution has a structure, statuses and roles, norms and values, rules and symbols. The institutional structure of family in a society includes all family members (people who identify themselves with this group) and often depends on the family form (nuclear or extended family; kinship family): nuclear family: habitation of two generations in one dwelling (husband, wife and their children); extended family: habitation of more than two generations in one dwelling (husband, wife, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.).
In general, structure of family includes all family members and roles which they perform. As for status it can be determined in two ways. One can earn their social status by their own achievements, which is known as an achieved status (depends the choice of a person, for example husband, wife). Alternatively, one can be placed in the stratification system by their inherited position, which is called ascribed status (doesn‘t depend on the choice of a person, for example a mother-in-law, an uncle - these statuses are given by society). The status that is the most important for an individual at a given time is called master status. Statuses and roles within a social institution of family regulate behavior of family members. Also statuses and roles are defined by the expected behavior of family members. Family has the following statuses: husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, adopted children, father-in- law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, etc.
Every status is predetermined by social roles, for example husband confers with wife, children obey parents, parents bring up their children.
As for the rules and law of family they are described in the Family Code. Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related matters and domestic relations, including: marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; adoption and surrogacy; child abuse and child abduction; the termination of relationships and ancillary matters, including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, child custody and visitation, child support and alimony awards; juvenile adjudication; paternity testing and paternity fraud. [9] The Law of family regulates relationships, including marriage and divorce, treatment of children, and related economic matters. As for family norms and values they are very different in each family, but we can describe someone of them in general. Family has essential values and norms:
1) Marital loyalty. It is important within a traditional family. Marital loyalty makes family strong, but they say that certain spouses‘ breach of faith makes family strong, and it can be a point for discussion.
2) Children. The main values of family–are children, without who family is not a whole and traditionally people get married to have children.
3) Belonging. It is important that each member of family feel that they are loved, that they belong and that they matter.
4) Respect. This is a slightly more difficult to define. For each family to respect each other is to take feelings, thoughts, needs, and preferences into account when making decisions. It also means acknowledging and valuing everyone‘s thoughts, feelings and contributions to the family as a whole.
5) Honesty. This is a foundation of any relationships that are meant to last (Mother-daughter, husband-wife, sister-brother). Without honesty a deeper connection will not form and, certainly, won‘t last.
6) Responsibility. Responsibility is something that is learned. As a child may have been shown how to put his toys away after playing, how to tidy room or how and when to feed the dog.
Being a member of a family group also means having certain legal and cultural rights and responsibilities, spelled out in formal laws, as well as informal traditions. For example, parents have legal obligations to provide basic necessities (e.g., food, shelter, clothing, nurturing) for their children. Should they fail to do so, parents may face legal charges of neglect or abuse. As another example, consider contemporary debates surrounding gay marriage. As for symbols of family they are traditional - a church or a wedding ring (symbol of infinity), a jemstone (such as a diamond), doves, a heart, a swan, and a chamomile. We considered general elements of family as a social institution. In conclusion we can say that family as a social institution is the key element within every social structure. One of the important social institutions is a social institution of kinship which links people during their life together and imposes mutual moral responsibility on them. Social institution of family shows stability of society.
Literature
1. Andersen and Taylor; Newman. Institutions are the building blocks of a particular society. 2009
2. Anderson, Elizabeth, ―What is the Point of Equality?‖ Ethics, 109/2: 287–337. 1999
3. Cassidy, J., Kirsh, S., and Scolton, K. Attachment and representations of peer relationships. Developmental Psychology (1996) 32(5):892–904, 1996 4. Definition Source: Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/iwgsdi/Social_Institutions.html
5. Goode William. J. The theoretical importance of the Family Reprinted by permission of Prectice Hall Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1964
6. Turner, Jonathan, The institutional order : economy, kinship, religion, polity, law, and education in evolutionary and comparative perspective, New York: Longman. 1997
7.
https://services.online.missouri.edu/exec/data/courses/ 8.
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Social-Institutions-1032179.html
9.
http://www.mbnattorneys.com/Legal-Services/Family/
