Meaning Definitions of Institution BA 1st year Notes Study Material in English

Association and institution may be synonymous for a common man, but it is not so for a sociologist. Association and institution both indeed convey different meanings. When people form an organization in a cooperative manner for the fulfilment of some determined subjects, such an organization is known as an ‘association’ Meaning and Definitions of Institution BA 1st year Notes Study Material in English. The manners and methods adopted for the proper implementation of the objectives of the association are called institutions.

The wants of human beings are numerous out of which some wants are imperative for the existence of society. If these wants are fulfilled by them solely of their free will without the consideration of the will and convenience of the other members of society the entire social arrangements would become haphazard. Taken from this perspective, society frames some methodologies, approved and accepted by all, for the fulfilment of his needs

The members of society follow these manners and methods for the satisfaction of their needs. The manners and methodologies continue to operate from generation to generation. These approved and accepted manners and methodologies are known as ‘institutions’.

For instance, marriage is the accepted and approved way of satisfaction of sexual desires. Similarly, educational arrangements in the form of schools and colleges are widely approved and accepted means of gaining an education. Thus, marriage and schools and colleges are examples of institutions.

Different sociologists have defined the term ‘institution’ as below:

MacIver and Page

Institutions are established forms or conditions of procedure characteristic of group activity.”

Bogardus

“A social institution is a structure of society that is organized to meet the needs of people chiefly through well-established procedures.”

Cooley

“An institution is a complex organization of collective behaviour established in the social heritage and meeting some persistent need or war.

Merrill and Eldridge

“Social institutions are patterns of behaviour grouped about the central social needs of a human being.”

E.A. Ross

“Social institutions are sets of organized human relationships established or sanctioned by common will.”

Sumner

An institution consists of a concept (ideal notion, doctrine, interests) and a structure.”

Characteristics of Elements of Institutions

• An Idea: When an individual or a group of individuals thinks to find à solution to a problem, there occurs an idea in the mind, which when got: through different phases, takes, the form of an institution.
• A Unit of Cultural Arrangement: An institution is an important uni of cultural arrangements. Different ideals, beliefs, conventions, and customs play an active role in the formation of culture. They are also termed as different units of culture, which when properly arranged assume the form of an institution.
• Heritage: No institution can be created in a single day. When the procedure is cumulatively accepted and taken from generation to generation, the institution is born.
• Well-defined Objectives: The development of an institution is always related to the attainment of a well-defined objective. We just cannot imagine any institution if specific objectives behind the creation of an institution are missing. These objects are so clear that they can even assume a written form.

There are certain essential characteristics of institutions that can b discussed as under Meaning and Definitions of Institution

• Permanence: The other characteristic of the institution is its permanent character. Modes and procedures of an institution assume the form of an institution only when they have been accepted by the people in the long run. For example, marriage is a permanent institution that cannot be broken at one’s sweet will.
• Collective Approval: There cannot be an institution if the same does not enjoy the collective approval of the people.
• Symbol: Every institution has its symbol. The symbols help in the recognition of the institution. For example, the married Hindu female puts on a kind of necklace popularly known as a mangal sutra around her neck.
• Collective Efforts: The institution is not the formation of a single individual, but it needs collectively taken efforts by à group of individuals.
• Structure: Every institution has its structure for exposing its objectives and proper execution of its policies. The structurè denotes a body of rules and regulations based on which an institution has to regulate its working.

Difference Between Society and Association