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In this article we will discuss about the inter-relation among various social institutions with reference to an example.
An economic institution, for instance, is a system in which goods and services are produced and provided for the community.
The production and distribution of these goods and services are, ideally speaking, governed by rational economic motives, viz., the motive of maximising productivity and minimising cost. This implies that the factors of production are put to the best use at a minimum cost. This is the picture of an ideal economy.
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In actual practice, however, this is far from true. Since the economic institution is part of the social system, it should be deemed to be a sub-system that is tied to other subsystems of the society, such as, religious, familial, educational and political sub-systems. For obvious reasons, therefore, the economic sub-system is very much affected by the activities of other sub-systems.
In this context, two questions may be raised:
First, one of the important sociological questions about any economy is the degree to which economic rationality is limited by values nurtured in other sub-systems.
Second, another related question is: In what ways do other values limit economic rationality? An answer to these questions is to be found in the inter-connection between the economic sub-system and other functioning sub-systems of society. We may take up these inter-relationships one by one.
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Max Weber argued that practical ethics of a community emanating from its religious orientation plays a very important role in fostering among the people the appropriate work culture. Various research studies have conclusively established that all sections of people do not respond to economic incentives (a perfectly rational economic device) in the same manner and to the same extent.
There are numerous instances in which increased ‘take home salary’ tends to increase absenteeism and alcoholism among workers rather than to encourage them to work harder and better.
It is argued that if there is an ideological orientation among the members of a society that work is to be done for its own sake, that efforts are to be made to achieve a better standard of living, the society may expect a committed labour force.
According to Max Weber, “this-worldly” altitude fostered by Protestantism, contributed substantially to the rise and growth of capitalism in the initial stages in Western Europe. Some writers point out that the “other-worldly” attitude, fostered by Hinduism, hampers the growth of appropriate work culture among Hindus.
Religious orientation has, therefore, to be reckoned with as one of the important determinants of the output and quality of work. The nature of family structure affects the economic sub-system in a significant way. A close-knit family structure like the consanguineous or joint family tends to strengthen kinship ties.
As a result, the merit norms or achievement values are likely to be superseded, according to Talcott Parsons, by more dominant values of ascription, particularism and affectivity. In the circumstances, modernisation of the economy, based on rationalistic considerations, is adversely affected.
On the contrary, a nuclear family pattern is likely to produce universalistic-achievement values because relationships among kins tend to be relatively impersonal. In such a context, a greater degree of rationalisation to likely is pervade the entire society, including the economy.
Political sub-system affects the economy in various ways. In the first place, an environment conducive to hard and honest labour can be created and sustained only by the political authority.
Gunnar Myrdal characterised the governments of the Third World as “soft” governments, meaning thereby that these governments are unable or unwilling to take hard decisions affecting the society as a whole, and the economy in particular.
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Vices of corruption, nepotism, unwholesome industrial relations, unhealthy and inequitable distribution of wealth and income—which have a very close bearing on the efficient functioning of the economy—can be tackled by a government which has the political will to do so.
In most of the developing societies such political will is unfortunately missing, with the result that the economy stagnates. Secondly, the ideology which informs political institutions also affects the economy. For instance, some of the countries of the developing world uphold the ideal of socialism as the guiding principle for moulding the economic system.
The result is that the pitfalls of socialistic economy in terms of diminished productivity and efficiency are overlooked. Pragmatic considerations are superseded by ideological commitment to socialism, even when socialistic patterning of the economy proves to be economically wasteful. Economic sub-system is, therefore, very much affected by the nature of political institution prevalent in a society.
The importance of the educational institution vis-a-vis the economy cannot be overemphasized, particularly in the modern world. History of industrial advance since the eighteenth century is marked by use of various kinds of energy one after the other, vis.,, steam power, electrical power and electronic power.
The latest innovation is the use of robots in industrial production. Obviously, educational system has a very important role to play in producing skilled man-power to run industrial establishments on modern line.
Further, various management strategies have been developed in order to achieve optimum utilisation of the factors of production. The prospective managers have to be taught the necessary skills in this field also.
As Daniel Bell has argued, we are gradually moving towards a new knowledge society. Knowledge has, of course, been necessary in the functioning of any society. What is distinctive of the present-day society is the change in the character of knowledge itself.
There is greater emphasis now-a-days on theoretical knowledge as opposed to empirical knowledge. Every modern society has to carry on continuous research on various experiments and innovation in the field of production and management. Those who will fail to do so ran the risk of being thrown out of the race for economic advance. The educational system has, therefore, to be geared to meet these challenges.
It is clear that no institution can be isolated from other institutions and treated as an exclusive category. That is why the five great social institutions are referred to as a ‘cluster’ of institutions.