UNIT 7 INSTITUTIONS II: ECONOMIC POLITICALAND RELIGIOUS

 Introduction to Social Institutions 

1. Definition and Purpose:

• Social Institution: Refers to various functions necessary for humans living as society members.
  • Functions:
    • Social identity
    • Material needs: food, shelter, security
    • Meaningful life
  • Control Mechanisms: Ensuring conformity to societal norms and rules.
  • Interaction with Other Societies: Handling relations with other groups.

2. Esoteric Needs:

• Unique human distinction requiring higher-order needs.
• Societies conceptualize these needs as otherworldly concerns.

3. Overlapping Functions:

• Institutions often overlap as societies are systemic.
• Example: Kinship institutions cover family and relatives, fulfilling various functions.

4. Simple vs. Complex Societies:

• Simple Societies:
  • Less differentiation between institutions.
  • Example: Family as both economic and political unit.
• Complex Societies:
  • Specialized institutions for different functions (e.g., education).
  • Differentiation does not imply quality of life or cultural complexity, but rather the scale and demography.

5. Kinship as a Primary Institution:

• Identity: Derived from family, social group, ethnic group.
• Simple societies: Limited differentiation.
• Complex societies: Specialized institutions for education, politics, etc.

6. Understanding Differentiation:

• Criteria for Designating Societies:
• Degree of differentiation between institutions.
• Does not refer to quality of life or cultural complexity.

Economic Institutions 

1. Definition and Importance:

• Basic Human Institution: Essential for physical survival (food, shelter).
• Beyond Survival: Regulates social relations, hierarchies, and inequalities based on resource distribution and control.

2. Types of Economic Institutions:

• Production: Transforming natural resources for human use.
• Consumption: Using the produced goods and services.
• Exchange: Trading goods and services.
• Social Distribution: (In complex societies) Allocation of resources within society.

3. Production:

• Definition: Transformation of natural resources into usable forms.
  • Example: Food production, shelter provision, manufacturing (cars, computers).
• Technology: Knowledge and tools used in production.
  • Division of Labour: Systematic aspect of social relationships, establishing rank and prestige.
  • Social Identity: Determines "Who does what?" and affects social hierarchy and privileges.

4. Division of Labour:

• Fundamental Level: Family-based tasks (men vs. women).
• Cultural Variation: Division of labour changes with societal and cultural shifts.
  • Example: Women's roles in aviation and policing today vs. 50 years ago.
• Complex Systems: Indian jati (caste) system – hereditary occupations and ranked tasks.
• Cultural Interpretation: Value assigned to tasks based on societal norms, not objective qualities.
  • Example: Office hierarchy (peon vs. manager), gender roles in hunting-food gathering societies.

5. Technology and Knowledge:

• Misconceptions: "Higher" vs. "Lesser" technologies are misleading.
  • Even simple technologies involve high levels of knowledge (e.g., boomerang, stone hand axe).
• Complexity: Difference lies in the number of steps and organizational complexity.
• Example: Bow and arrow (simple technology) vs. motor car manufacturing (complex technology).

Consumption 

1. Definition and Importance:

• Consumption: Involves the social distribution of resources and notions of entitlement.
  • Key Question: "Who gets what?"

2. Types of Consumption:

• Subsistence Consumption: For basic needs like food, shelter, medicine, tools, and equipment.
  • Characteristics: Resources are often 'free goods' in the simplest societies (forests, deserts, mountains).
  • Modern Context: Resources are mostly controlled by states or centralized powers.
  • Distribution within Households: Often unequal, based on social prestige and relationships.
• Conspicuous Consumption: Activities performed for prestige and status enhancement, not basic needs.
  • Examples: Extravagant spending on weddings, rituals.

3. Subsistence Consumption Details:

• Free Goods: Resources available to everyone without procurement or payment.
  • Example: Basic requirements met by environmental resources.
• Direct Consumption or Exchange: Produced goods (food, animal products, clothes) are either consumed directly or exchanged.
• Resource Needs:
  • Building houses
  • Renting fields/pastures
  • Replacing worn-out items
  • Performing daily rituals
  • Feeding dependents

4. Inequality in Distribution:

• Household Level: Unequal portions of food and resources based on social prestige.
  • Example: In hunting societies, animal parts are divided based on social rank.

5. Conspicuous Consumption Details:

• Prestige Activities: Spending on non-essential items and events for social status.
• Example: Large amounts spent on weddings and rituals.

 Exchange

1. Definition and Importance:

• Exchange: Fundamental principle for society formation, enabling relationships through the transfer of goods and services.
  • Key Question: "How are resources exchanged?"

2. Types of Exchange:

• Reciprocal Exchange: Direct exchanges between parties in a relationship.
  • Generalized Reciprocity: Between close, emotional relationships (e.g., family, friends). No calculations involved. Example: Gift giving.
  • Balanced Reciprocity: Careful comparison of exchanged items' value. Example: Barter, using cowries, pigs, bananas as mediums of exchange.
  • Negative Reciprocity: Balancing power against goods (e.g., tribute to a chief, offerings to a shaman/deity). Example: Gifts to a boss.
• Ceremonial Exchange: Specific, formal exchanges with cultural significance.
  • Example: Kula ring in Trobriand Islands (bracelets and necklaces exchange).
• Redistributive Exchange: Goods collected centrally and then redistributed.
  • Example: Traditional Jajmani system in India, where grain is collected and distributed to non-cultivating households.
  • Example: Tribal chiefs giving feasts from collected tribute.
• Market Exchange: Goods evaluated against a common medium (money) and exchanged.
  • Historical Context: Marketplaces in pre-industrial societies.
  • Modern Context: Capitalist society with money as the medium of exchange, commodifying objects.

3. Detailed Examples and Concepts:

• Kula Ring: Studied by Malinowski in Trobriand Islands. Network of exchanges with social/political implications.
  • Reference: Argonauts of the Western Pacific.
• Jajmani System: Traditional Indian redistributive system where grain is collected and distributed to service providers.
• Modern Market Exchange: Capitalist principle where money is the common medium, commodifying objects.

4. Interconnectedness:

• Economic System: Not isolated; interconnected with political, religious, educational, and other social institutions.

Political Institutions Overview

• Societies require individuals to prioritize group norms over individual interests.
• Political institutions manage social relations internally and externally, dealing with power and coercion.

Types of Political Institutions

• Band Societies:
  • Very small, face-to-face groups (foraging societies).
  • Often lack identifiable political institutions.
• Lineage Societies:
  • Use kinship (lineages) for political purposes.
• Chiefdoms:
  • Intermediate between bands and states.
  • Centralized leadership under a chief.
• States:
  • Complex societies with formal political institutions.
  • Hierarchical governance, laws, and bureaucracy.

Authority and Regulation

• Authority:
  • Legitimate use of power recognized by society.
  • Maintains societal norms and values.
• Regulation:
  • Involves exertion of authority to manage societal functioning.
  • Covers internal management and external relations.

Acephalous Societies

• Definition:
  • Societies without recognizable state institutions.
  • Use kinship (lineages) for political purposes.

Complexity and Typology

• Typology of Political Institutions:
• Band, Lineage Societies, Chiefdoms, and States.
• Reflects societal complexity and organizational structures.

Band Societies

• Characteristics:
  • Small, face-to-face groups.
  • Decisions made collectively through consensus.
  • Lack formal hierarchy or authority figures.
  • Supernatural entities (spirits, deities) consulted through shamans but not invested with political power.

Lineage Societies

• Unilineal Descent Groups:
  • Legal and political units based on lineage.
  • Membership restricted to descendants of a single lineage.
  • Managed by elders who settle disputes, negotiate marriages, and handle external relations.
  • Segmentary lineage system maintains social equivalence among groups.

Chiefdoms

• Characteristics:
  • More organized with recognizable political institutions.
  • Chiefs have slightly higher rank, gain followers through feasts and rituals.
  • Goods accumulated by chiefs are dispersed or collectively consumed.
  • Potlatch rituals demonstrate power through redistribution of wealth.
  • Leadership status not based on wealth accumulation but on ability to gather followers.
  • Examples include North-West coast Native Indians' Potlatch ceremonies.

State Formation

• Hydraulic Civilizations:

  • Originated on riverbanks with irrigation systems (e.g., ancient Egypt).
  • Elite diverted labor for building palaces and monuments.

• Types of Authority (Weber):

  • Traditional: Inherited or culturally assigned (e.g., Dalai Lama).
  • Charismatic: Based on personal qualities and magnetism (e.g., prophets).
  • Rational-Legal: Found in modern bureaucracies and offices.

Reflections and Theories

• State Formation Theories:
• Conquest, ecological constraints, internal evolution.
• Formation of centralized political authority linked to surplus production.
• Use of force and coercive institutions essential for state functioning.

Religious Institutions

• Role in Society:

  • Essential aspect of human societies, tied to abstract thinking and imagination.
  • Provides cosmological basis, explaining life, death, existence, and relationships.
  • Offers psychological support and moral guidance (super-ego).

• Functions:

  • Regulatory Function:
    • Maintains social order and solidarity (Durkheim).
    • Rituals and beliefs protect societal interests and foster social cohesion.

• Beliefs and Practices:

  • Beliefs:

    • Include belief in superhuman beings, often a Supreme Being.
    • Attribute unexplained phenomena to religion, providing solace and meaning.

  • Practices:

    • Rituals and acts to please superhuman beings.
    • Mediators like shamans (in simpler societies) and priests (in organized religions).

• Types of Religious Specialists:

  • Shamans:

    • Part-time specialists, mediate with spirits through possession.
    • Also act as healers and possessors of specialized knowledge.

  • Priests:

    • Full-time specialists in organized religions.
    • Conduct rituals, uphold norms, and facilitate religious practices.
    • Paid servants of religious institutions.

• Church and Doctrine:

  • Church:

    • Community sharing same beliefs and practices.
    • Includes small groups in small-scale societies and large followers in universal religions.

  • Doctrinal Religions:

    • Beliefs and practices codified in texts (e.g., Bible, Quran).
    • Priests responsible for propagating and preserving doctrines.

• Myths:

  • Role:
    • Timeless narrations legitimizing beliefs.
    • Provide rationale and authenticity to religious values.