1. Social institutions are social structures and social mechanisms of social order and cooperation
that govern the behavior of its members.
2. Culture, society and social institutions are interlinked with each other. In a society, culture and
social institutions are present. They work hand in hand for the betterment of the people living in
the society.
3. The functions of social institutions are:
 To simplify social behavior for the individual person.
 To provide every child with all the needed social and cultural mechanisms through which
he can grow socially.
 To provide ready-made forms of social relations and social roles for the individual.
 To act as agencies of coordination and stability for total culture.
 To control behavior
4. The examples of social institutions are:
 FAMILY
The smallest social institution with the unique function. It is the basic unit of Philippine
society and the educational system where the child begins to learn his ABC. It is here
where the individual develops values, behaviors, and ways of life through interaction
with members of the family.
 EDUCATIONAL
Education is a system consisting of the roles and norms that ensure the transmission
of knowledge, values, and patterns of behavior from one generation to the next.
Schooling is formal education, which involves instruction by specially trained teachers
who follow officially recognized policies.
 RELIGION
Religion is a system of beliefs and rituals that serves to bind people together through
shared worship, thereby creating a social group. There are set of beliefs and practices
that pertain to a sacred or supernatural realm that guides human behavior and gives
meaning to life among a community of believers.
 ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
These institutions are concerned with the specific economic units that makes an
economic system and the relationship between those parts. Emphasis on this is placed
on understanding the behavior of individual firms, industries, households, and ways in
which such entities interact.
 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS/GOVERNMENT
The institution which solves conflicts that are public in nature and involve more than
a few people. It is an independent society that makes and carries out those rules of
action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state, or which are imposed
upon the people for that society by those who possess the power or authority of
prescribing them.
5. A social group is a collection of human beings who are brought into social relationship with one
another with a common goal under a common set of codes. It may be a pair, number of persons
or even a collection of millions of people.
6. The types of social groups are:
o Primary groups
Primary groups are characterized by high amounts of cohesiveness, member identification, faceto-face interaction, and solidarity. Such groups may act as the principal source of socialization for
individuals as primary groups may shape an individual’s attitudes, values, and social orientation.
o Social groups
Social group are also small groups but are of moderate duration. These groups are often formed
due to a common goal.
o Collectives
In contrast, spontaneous collectives, such as bystanders or audiences of various sizes, exist only
for a very brief period and it is very easy to become an ingroup member from an outgroup member
and vice versa. Collectives may display similar actions and outlooks.
o
Categories
Categories consist of individuals that are like one another in a certain way, and members of this
group can be permanent ingroup members or temporary ingroup members. Examples of
categories are individuals with the same ethnicity, gender, religion, or nationality. This group is
generally the largest type of group.
7. Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based
on socioeconomic factors
like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social
status,
or
derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of persons
within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit. In modern Western societies,
stratification is often broadly classified into three major divisions of social class: upper
class, middle class, and lower class.
8. Conflict theorists argue that stratification is dysfunctional and harmful in society. According to
conflict theory, social stratification benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor. Thus,
it creates a system of winners and losers that is maintained by those who are on the top. The
people who are losers do not get a fair chance to compete, and thus are stuck on the bottom. On
the other hand, the functional theory of stratification suggests that social inequalities are
functional for society because they provide an incentive for the most talented individuals to
occupy jobs that are essential to the orderly maintenance of a society.
9. The causes of social mobility are:
o There is a necessity to fill in emptied or vacant positions (related to labor/jobs)
o Obtaining eligibility by imitating the lifestyle in the upper class
o There are widespread changes in the social-cultural and political environment.
o Globalization and innovation