Institutions

An institution is a collection of purpose driven behaviours, norms (i.e. folkways, mores, taboos, and rules), and values aimed at controlling human behaviour with a view towards satisfying specific human needs.

The school system, for example, consists of specific rules (show up, sit in a chair, listen to the teacher), specific values (being smarter is better than being dumb), and specific behaviours all aimed at satisfying basic human needs. The school system serves the needs of parents by providing a place to house their children while they work. The school system also serves the needs of society by helping to train the each new generation of workers. Without the institution of education, the productive apparatus of society would quickly collapse.

Social institutions may serve needs in an overt or hidden fashion. Overtly, the school system serves the intersets of parents and society. However there is a Hidden Curriclum which teaches children to fit and conform with Social Class expectations (Anyon 1980). This hidden curriculum teachers working class children to follow procedures and be satisfied with rote tasks. Elite educations teaches chldren how to think, express, and problem solve in a creative fashion (Anyon 1980).

References

Anyon, Jean. 1980. "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work." Journal of Education 162 (1).