Social Institutions

Definition: Groups of persons banded together for common purposes having rights, privilages,
liabilities, goals, or objectives distinct and independent from those of individual members.

Social Institutions Categories:

Community: A group of people residing in the same locality and under the same government or
a group or class having common interests.

Community Service Organizations: Non-profit, charitable organizations dedicated to assisting

others meet basic needs, resolve personal or family problems, or improving their community.
This includes soup kitchens, rotary clubs, Boys and Girls Clubs, scouts, etc.

Educational Institutions: Social organizations dedicated to teaching skills and knowledge to

individuals.

Ethnic or Cultural Groups: A social organization consisting of many extended family groups
related by a distant, common ancestry.

Extended Family: A social organization consisting of several nuclear family groups related by
common ancestry.

Families and Households: A fundamental social group consisting especially of a man and a
women and their offspring; a domestic establishment including the members of a family and
other who live under the same roof.

Governments and Legal Institutions: The office, function, authority, or organization that sets
forth and administer public policy and the affairs. A government consists of a legislative branch
which writes law and policy, executive branch which executes law and policy, and judicial
branch which enforces law and policy. This includes local, state, and national governments. This
includes all branches of the military.

Health Care Institutions: Social institutions that specialize in monitoring public health,
providing health maintenance, and treating illness and injury.

Intellectual and Cultural Organizations: Social organizations dedicated to search for new
knowledge or the development and preservation of art.

Market Institutions: Social organizations dedicated to barter and trade. This includes all
corporations and businesses.

Political and Non Government Organizations: Social organizations dedicated to influencing

the processes of government; political parties. This includes non-governmental organizations and
groups of people with common goals, interests, or ideals formally bound together by a common
set of rules or by-laws that influence public policy.

Religious Organizations: Groups of people who share a common belief in a supernatural power
acepted as the creator and governor of the universe.