3.5.4 Functioning of Social Institutions
The very flexibility of a social institution makes it a creature of social stress and strain. In a stable or a slowly-changing society, an institution fits rather neatly into the cultural pattern of the society. On the other hand, if social changes bring disorder, the structure of a social institution may be compromised. A social institution may even fall into the hands of "enemies" and be used to defeat its proclaimed/ to announce officially purpose. Thus a community of ascetics/ a person who rigidly abstains from ordinary bodily gratifications for conscience's sake often develops into a wealthy religious establishment, a political party dedicated to personal freedom becomes the champion of vested wealth and a philosophy contrived to liberate thought remains to enslave it. Those who contrive rules and formulae cannot control the uses to which they are put. In the course of time, therefore, the function of a social institution may be compromised or even lost in its establishment. The spirit may become the letter and the vision may be lost in a ritual of conformity. If a social institution becomes formal, a greater hazard to its integrity is found in its organisation and its personnel. Thus, a need for law and order finds an expression in a government, the demand for justice in a legal system and the desire for worship in a church. When the government, legal system and church are formally established, various groups become interested in their structure and offices, their procedures and emoluments/ advantage and their ceremonials and traditions. A host of officials come into being, who are mainly interested in the maintenance of the establishment to which they are committed. These officials have their own preferences and prejudices and they are not immune/ free from obligation to consideration of their own prestige and position. As an institution becomes more formal and more rigid, the good of theinstitution rather than its proclaimed purpose tends to become dominant. When this happens, the lines of activity of the formalised institution may be frozen into rigidity. As long as a social institution remains vital, men accommodate their actions to its detailed arrangements with little worry about its inherent nature or its cosmic purpose. When it begins to give way or it is seriously challenged, compelling arguments are set forth to justify the existence of an institution. For example, the institution of capitalism was never created by design; but now that it is already there, contemporary/ belonging to the same time (with) scholars have intellectualised it into a purposive and self-regulating instrument of general welfare. So long as people are able to do as their fathers and grandfathers did, they manifest little curiosity about the arrangements under which they live and work. So long as the procedure of institution is unquestioned, people are little aware of the conventions and values which give rise even to outstanding achievements of an institution.
3.5.5 Organic Nature of Social Institutions
Institutional development always drives a fault line between current fact and prevailing opinion. Men meet new events with the wisdom they already possess. That wisdom usually belongs to the past since it is a product of the experience of a by-gone era. As new social institutions emerge from the old, men persist dealing with the unfamiliar in their old and familiar ways. Thus a social institution, like a living thing that it is, has a tangled/ involve in i dentity. It cannot be shown in perspective or revealed in detail by the logical method of exclusion and inclusion. Each institution holds within itself elements drawn from the modern era of information technology, the rational universe of the eighteenth century and the folkways of some far offcenturies. It holds many unknown possibilities, which a suitable occasion may bring to life. It may be concluded that a social institution is an imperfect agent of an order and purpose in a developing culture. It is created by both intent and chance. A social institution imposes its pattern of conduct upon the activities of men and its compulsion upon the course of unanticipated events. A social institution may, like any other creation of man, be taken into bondage by the power that it was designed to control. An institution is a
folkway, always new and yet ever old, directive and yet responsive, a creature of means and also a master of ends.
MODEL QUESTIONS
(Essay/Long Type)
3.1 Define and explain "social mobility". 3.2 Explain in detail the vertical mobility.
3.3 Write in brief the consequences of mobility. 3.4 What is understood by "income"? Explain in brief.
3.5 Define and explain "national income". 3.6 Write a note on income distribution.
3.7 What are the causes of inequality of income? Explain in brief.
3.8 What are the consequences of inequality of income? Explain.
3.9 Explain the causes behind social tensions. 3.10 "Class struggle creates social tensions"-Justify the statement.
3.11 Explain "political corruption". 3.12 Define crime. Give reasons behind crime. Suggest steps to control
crime.
3.13 Write a note on "Competition". 3.14 What are the major causes behind unemployment ? Suggest some
measures to reduce the rate of unemployment.
3.15 List the societal responsibilities and explain each in very brief.
3.16 "Public health services. Public education. Welfare of backward
classes and Family and child welfare are the major societal
responsibilities" - Explain to justify the statement.
3.17 What is understood by "social institutions"? Explain. 3.18 Writeinbriefthefunctiorlsofsocialinstitutions.
(Objective/Short iype) 3.19 What is a horizontal mobility ?
3.20 Give an example of a vertical mobility. 3.21 Define real income.
3.22 Listthepossiblemeasurestoreduceinequalityofincome. 3.23 Write the Pareto's law mathematically.
3.24 Draw the Lorenz Curve for equal distribution of income. 3.25 The strategies to combat crime are:
• Punitive (c) Preventive
• 3.26 Match the following: (A) Communist Manifesto (B) NCC
(b) Therapeutic (d) All the three. (a) Nigeria (b) KarIMarx (0 Corrupt country (c) Mahatma Gandhi (D) Tertiary sector (d) India
3.27 Write true or false:
The mobility is said to be mtergenerational when an individual movesvertically upward or downward within his own lifetime.
3.28 Write true or false:
Opportunities for mobility are greatly enhanced during a recession or a depression.
3.29 Write true or false:
The total income of an individual is the total money value of the services received by him from all sources, including his own activity.
3.30 Write true or false:
Social institutions are never the organized ways to meet the basic needs of society.
3.31 Name the odd ones:
(a) Health promotion (b) Family welfare (c) Class conflict (d) Rehabilitation.
3.32 Fill up the blanks:
The five main causes of social tensions are __________, __________, |
