Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship

Module 2: Definitions of Community

LESSON 2: INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Institutions are the core establishments that bind people toward a specific advocacy. or goal. When people are
left to their own devices, their inherent power is limited so they need to come together and form factions and
groups that share a common purpose.

The five core institutions are the pillars of society. While working as a unitary collective, these pillars, in one
way or the other, overlap. The citizens are bound by these institutions that have been significant in the
formation of norms, mores, and rules we abide by every day.

WHAT ARE INSTITUTIONS?

Institutions are grand social structures that are made up by individuals which, when viewed as a whole, exhibit
patterns of behavior that create conventions and norms in our society. These patterns of behavior then
establish the different facets of our daily lives. Such structures not only help mold our social behaviors as
people, but also guide us in our future choices. Institutions also set patterns of behavior by motivating and
restricting conduct by a set of rules and regulations. This simply means that our actions are continually being
subjected to this dynamic of restraint and motivation, thereby creating a semblance of order and control and
the formation of hierarchy and roles.

These social structures are considered as social creations whose meaning and importance depend on its
members. Structures may seem to be too robust for it to change, but this is not the case. The very institutions
that we have right now are in constant flux and changes occur every day. Our societies' transactions, from the
individuals to group collectives and even states, all contribute to this grand narrative of institutional structures.
Each institution has its own definitive attribute. Social institutions are, in itself, a developing network of systems
and functions.

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FAMILY INSTITUTIONS

Our own families are considered as the building blocks of our society. The origin of a family goes back to
prehistory and is the factor that bound early settlements. The formation of an organic union among kin
perpetuated the emergence of tribes and communities. The very definition of what constitutes a family varies or
depends on which epistemological tradition we are going to use. For Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the
foundations on which the family is created can be traced back to economic traditions whereby the structure
and roles of each member were derived from the resources available to the household. Later on, the family
and how it was structured is now understood as more of a social design that is due to the complex functions of
each member that come together to form the foundation of a relationship. This structural functionalist view is
now widely accepted in the study of communities. It is now used to draw patterns of behavior within institutions
and social groups. At the center of every society is the family, and it is where the community and our society
draw strength from.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Education takes up a quarter of our whole lives. Our whole development from infancy to adulthood incubates
within the ivory towers of the educational institution. Our initial impression of the community stems from our
experiences in our very own schools. It is where we learn respect for authority, the need for compliance, and
even the price we have to pay for complacency and deviance from set standards and rules. We spend more
time in schools than in our own homes. The school becomes our second home where we make our first
communal affiliations.

Basic education paves the way for individuals to be functional in our society. Generally, the task of the school
system is to arm us with the needed skills and knowledge in relation to the demand of our environment.
Students are expected to learn within the given system designed to simulate the conditions outside it. Think
about it, all your lives until this very point, you were expected to aim for that top spot and follow the rules.
However, did it ever occur to you that what the school organization deems as values and mores end up hollow
and alien because they lacked the connection to your communities? This dynamic, instead, has separated us
from the realities of life. We are misguided into believing that what is real is inside the school and we have no
obligation outside of it.

The bigger challenge than learning numbers and our ABCs is bridging the gap between what we learn in
school and what we need to learn outside of it. Citizens should not just be observers of what is happening
beyond the four walls of the school; instead, they should be craftsmen who can contribute to the community. As
students, you have to make use of what is provided and available to you. The knowledge, skills, and values
you acquire are tools you will need to chart your future.

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GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes is one of the earliest works that focuses on social contracts, the book
influenced how we see the social structures in the present under the guiding principles of state power.

A social contract is simply an agreement between a master and a subordinate under prescribed rules of
conduct and rights. It stems from the assumption that humans are born into a state of nature which is a
condition devoid of social or political links. A person is then considered under a state of anarchy until he or she
gains a grounded understanding of reality through reasoning and self-interest. A government is born from
this social agreement among the governed and by virtue of compliance and reinforcement, the state gains
legitimacy through its processes.

We are considered as "global citizens" in a world that is more connected than ever in human history. This may
have made our perspective on individual identity grander; yet, it has to be established that all the freedoms,
duties, and privileges are granted by the government.

The government, as an institution, grants its citizens with liberties and rights. In essence, the government has
the power to lead and govern its citizens within a confined territory. Guided by its laws and constitution, the
government can create sweeping policies and laws that can alter from the simplest factors such as changing
traffic routes, to all-encompassing decisions such as switching to clean energy. Given this power and authority,
people are often misguided by the assumption that the government does not need the support of the people
because of its vast resources and monopoly on power. If the government and its agencies have these
characteristics, it is just like other structures that are man-made, thus, it exists in a fragile state. State power
and its legitimacy come from the will of the people that it governs. Its contract to govern its population is
constantly being challenged, contested, and affirmed throughout its effective period to rule. This is where the
right of suffrage plays a huge role in transforming our political reality. True to other governments who have
embraced democracy, power is bestowed to the people in recalibrating the brand of politics they experience.

The citizens have the obligation to check the power of the government and counteract any misuse thereof. Our
duty to our country is to work toward improving its current state and our fellow men through active participation
and vigilance.

ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS

Economists see institutions as the mechanism in which goods, services, and money are distributed. In
economics, goods are scarce and considered to be finite. In a market system, these are transacted by actors
whose actions are dictated by the law of supply and demand. In order to simplify this, we have to look into
specific actors' needs and wants relative to the availability of that specific good or service being sought for. The
"invisible hand," coined by Adam Smith, guides each decision within a free-market economy thereby creating
an efficient system. Later on, the invisible hand argument was used by free-market advocates like Milton
Friedman and Friedrich Hayek to denounce restrictive trade rules and regulations.

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Looking into economics, it is certain for us to notice the unwavering power of the market to our social systems.
From the state down to communities and individuals, we are all part of this market system. Just as presented,
institutions are the result of our collective behavioral patterns in which we play roles that reinforce this pattern,
such as how we play our role in the economy.

Now, let us not look further than our own daily lives. How do you think you can be part of the free market?
Have you ever questioned how this system works or how even objects can create value? Why is there
inequality in an era of overwhelming abundance of food, medicine, and knowledge? All these can be answered
through a thorough study of how the economy as an institution behaves in the status quo. First, let us highlight
that there are two major branches in economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics. While these two may
sound overly technical, these are really two simple concepts. Microeconomics is concerned about the
behavior of individual actors and their patterns of consumption. It focuses on individual agents and patterns of
decision-making. Macroeconomics, on the other hand, deals with how individual agents' collective actions
correspond to the whole. There are various ways on how economists categorize consumers and producers
depending on various factors such as size, class, and sector.

The two branches of economics are not mutually exclusive to the other. We can see here that in economics,
the community is seen as a web of market dualities that are played through varying periods of scarcity and
surplus. Behavior of actors transacting in a market is affected by fluctuations that influence decisions. The
interaction of the consumer and the producer is the core of market transactions. This interlinked web of
decisions then dictates the value of goods and services in the bigger spectrum of the system.

Wealth distribution is said to be a natural occurrence in a case when an economy of a certain country is on the
rise, its citizens are also expected to feel an improvement in their quality of life. This happens with the
abundance of money that will propel the economy during times of rampant expansion. Once production rises
due to a rising demand, wages also rise, so as the buying power. In theory, this will be the case if we were to
follow the popular notion of trickle-down economic theory; yet in reality, it is not fair at all. Yes, the theory
may suggest otherwise, but in how our markets are structured at present, it simply does not have enough
safeguards in protecting the majority from greed and abuses of power or authority.

One may argue that if the invisible hand is true, then why is it that there is inequality and inability of people to
have access to the most basic of services? This can be answered by the idea of exploitation. Market forces
are motivated by the idea of profit, and this primary motive can take on an atrocious form when unchecked
and unmitigated by a higher authority. If we were to leave actors on their own, abuse will be inevitable; thus,
rules and regulations should be put in place to avoid such catastrophes that can jeopardize not only the fates
of communities and people but also the system as a whole.

Workers create unions to lobby for much-needed practices and to protect their welfare and rights. The
relationship of the actors within the market system is entirely built on fragile foundations due to the unforeseen
economic bubbles created by market abnormalities; and actors should be quick in aiding these market
disruptions to avoid class conflict or market crashes. The volatility caused by the lack of regulative systems
will open vulnerabilities that can be used to have a definite advantage over others, thus creating distribution

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inequalities across economic classes. This is what happened in the most recent credit crunch in the European
Union (EU) and the housing bubble in the United States in 2008. This presupposes that the invisible hand is
only as good as how it should be kept in check. The relationships that are intertwined by the laws of
consumption can be calibrated by the oversight of other institutions and this can be done if we try to look
further than our roles as consumers and producers.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
Upon birth, religion, aside from the family we have, plays a huge part on how we create our identities. Religion
is one of the pillars from which our civilization is built. In thousands upon thousands of years, men have sought
for meaning. We have looked upon the heavens and tried to understand the vastness of the skies and below
to understand the depth of the oceans. As we looked for these pursuits in our introspection of existence, we
have found faith. Religion has played a very critical part in advancing civilizations and has also been the
reason for the downfall of many.

Today's society emphasizes on the importance of religion as a communal experience.In many communities,
activities are still tied to the concepts and teachings of their faith.The Philippines is one good example to bring
this point home. Our culture is bridled with influences from the Roman Catholic Church. Our urban planning
during the Spanish occupation was a type of zoning rooted from the communal activities that happened around
the church. The heart of the community was primarily the church, while the state was the brain that managed
the community. This is no longer the case at present because of. the separation of church and state, but we
can still feel the impact of religious institutions in other forms, such as through foundations and
nongovernmental organizations. Though outside the sphere of the government, religious institutions have a
huge impact in filling in gaps where the reaches of the government fail to grasp. Many of their projects focus on
rural communities and the poor, where social services coming from the government stretch as far as it should.
These communities often hold feeding programs and medical missions to help citizens who are in need. As
one society, we follow codes of conduct that are intertwined with our core belief systems. Religious institutions
are here to be a constant reminder that values and mores are grounded on spirituality.

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