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institution

Also known as social institution, social institutions, system

An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and norms are all examples of institutions. Institutions vary in their level of formality and informality. Institutions embody a great deal of knowledge of how to do things in society and have been described as the social science equivalent of theories in the natural sciences.

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An institution is a system of rules, norms, and social conventions—ranging from formal laws to informal customs—that guides how people behave and interact in society. Institutions matter because they contain accumulated knowledge about how societies function, they provide stability and continuity over time, and they shape human behavior in ways that enable social coordination and order.

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equivalent class: pcp-on-web.de/ontology#Institution
Commons category: Institutions

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~44 min read

Article

12 sections

Contents

Definition
Examples
Social science perspectives
Theories of institutional emergence
Theories of institutional change
Institutions and economic development
Institutional persistence
Natural selection
Institutionalization
See also
References
Further reading

Institutions are a principal object of study in social sciences such as political science, anthropology, economics, and sociology (the latter described by Émile Durkheim as the "science of institutions, their genesis and their functioning"). Primary or meta-institutions are institutions such as the family or money that are broad enough to encompass sets of related institutions. Institutions are also a central concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule-making and enforcement. Historians study and document the founding, growth, decay and development of institutions as part of political, economic and cultural history.