Formal Institutions

Examples of Formal Institutions in the following topics:

• Social Institutions

  • Institutions can be either formal or informal.
  • Formal institutions are those that are created with the intention of governing human behavior.
  • However, formal institutions do not have to have the force of the law at their disposal.
  • The United States Congress, housed in the Capitol Building, is one example of a formal institution.
  • Discuss how the development of social institutions, both formal and informal, acts a guide for the rules and expectation of people within society

• Individuals and Community

  • Social institutions (embedded patterns of behavior within a society) represent these shared values.
  • Social institutions both arise from human behavior and influence their behavior.
  • Traditions, mores, customs and more formal institutions (such as laws), define the range of choices.
  • Markets are also a social institution.
  • Participants in markets may also use formal institutions (law, regulations) to benefit themselves:

• Institutions

  • "Institutions are the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction.
  • Are institutions formal or informal?
  • "Institutions are a creation of human beings.
  • If implicit social institutions are weakened, force of law (formal explicit institutions) may be used to encourage some behavioral patterns and discourage others.
  • Both approaches provide formal rules of the game and may be considered as an explicit, formal institution.

• Institutions and Costs

  • Social institutions also facilitate and enforce reciprocity.
  • Should the elements of the problem change (the actors, agents, technology, information, other institutions), the institutions may need to adapt.
  • Those who benefit from a particular institutional structure have a vested interest in preventing changes in the institutions.
  • These vested interests may use their positions and power to prevent institutional change and to work to alter institutions (particularly explicit institutions such as law) in their interests.
  • The vested interests have an incentive to shape the formal and informal institutions that relate to their activities.

• Social Control

  • formal social control refers to components of society that are designed for the resocialization of individuals who break formal rules; examples would include prisons and mental health institutions
  • Some researchers have outlined some of the motivations underlying the formal social control system.
  • rehabilitation - some argue that formal social controls should work to rehabilitate criminals, eventually turning them into productive members of society
  • societal protection - finally, some argue that the motivation for formal social controls is nothing more than removing the deviant members of society from the non-deviant members

• Introduction to the Rules of the Game

  • This set of rules includes informal institutions and values held by individuals as well as formal law.

• Resocialization and Total Institutions

  • A total institution is a place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, lead an enclosed, formally administered life together.
  • Within a total institution, the basic needs of a entire bloc of people are under bureaucratic control.
  • Institutions established to care for harmless or incapable people, including orphanages, poor houses and nursing homes
  • First, the staff of the institution tries to erode the residents' identities and independence.
  • Review Goffman's five types of social institutions and their functions, including their processes of resocialization

• Bureaucracies and Formal Groups

  • A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials who implements the rules, laws, and functions of their institution.
  • A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a government or organization who implements the rules, laws, and functions of their institution.
  • A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government.
  • Red tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making.
  • As opposed to bureaucrats carrying out "desk jobs," street-level bureaucracy is the subset of a public agency or government institution containing the individuals who carry out and enforce the actions required by laws and public policies.

• Formal Means of Control

  • Formal means of social control are generally state-determined, through the creation of laws and their enforcement.
  • By the "monopoly on violence," Weber means the state is the only institution within a society who can legitimately exercise violence on society's members.
  • Our understanding of formal control is enhanced by social theorist Max Weber's work on the state's use of violence.
  • By this, Weber means that the state is the only institution within a society who can legitimately exercise violence on society's members.
  • Explain the relationship between formal means of social control and state authority

• Banking Crises and Centralized Reserve Enforcements

  • One of the Federal Reserve's duties is to regulate financial institutions, such as bank-holding companies and state member banks.
  • Generally, the Federal Reserve takes formal enforcement actions against the above entities for violations of laws, rules, or regulations, unsafe or unsound practices, breaches of fiduciary duty, and violations of final orders.
  • Formal enforcement actions include cease and desist orders, written agreements, removal and prohibition orders, and orders assessing civil money penalties.
  • If necessary, the Federal Reserve may take formal enforcement actions to compel the management and directors of a troubled banking organization, or persons associated with it, to address the organization's problems.
  • For example, if an institution has significant deficiencies or fails to comply with an informal action, the Federal Reserve may enter into a written agreement with the troubled institution or may issue a cease-and-desist order against the institution or against an individual associated with the institution, such as an officer or director.