This article is about institutions as social mechanisms. Please see Organization for formal establishments.

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Institutions are social structures and social mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of two or more individuals. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human behavior. The term, institution, is commonly applied to customs and behavior patterns important to a society, as well as to particular formal organizations of government and public service. As structures and mechanisms of social order among humans, institutions are one of the principal objects of study in the social sciences, including sociology, political science and economics. Institutions are a central concern for law, the formal regime for political rule-making and enforcement. The creation and evolution of institutions is a primary topic for history.

Aspects of Institutions

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Although individual, formal organizations, commonly identified as "institutions," may be deliberately and intentionally created by people, the development and functioning of institutions in society in general may be regarded as an instance of emergence; that is, institutions arise, develop and function in a pattern of social self-organization, which goes beyond the conscious intentions of the individual humans involved.

As mechanisms of social cooperation, institutions are manifest in both objectively real, formal organizations, such as the U.S. Congress, the Roman Catholic Church or the Bank of England, and, also, in informal social order and organization, reflecting human psychology, culture, habits and customs. Most important institutions, considered abstractly, have both objective and subjective aspects: examples include money and marriage. The institution of money encompasses many formal organizations, including banks and government treasury departments and stock exchanges, which may be termed, "institutions," as well as subjective experiences, which guide people in their pursuit of personal economic well-being and wealth. Powerful institutions are able to imbue a paper currency with certain value, and to induce millions into cooperative production and trade in pursuit of economic ends abstractly denominated in that currency's units. The subjective experience of money is so pervasive and persuasive that economists talk of the "money illusion" and try to disabuse their students of it, in preparation for learning economic analysis.

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The public library: one of the few gov institutions that hasn't let us down.
aksnyderphoto (Aaron Snyder) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:41:58 -0000
The public library: one of the few gov institutions that hasn't let us down.
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government,....
Dfyant (Farrell Levitt) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:41:00 -0000
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government,....
'We are going to stay long enough to set up their own institutions... http://tinyurl.com/yd39jov
hilluqcj (Hillary Schroeder) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:39:27 -0000
'We are going to stay long enough to set up their own institutions... http://tinyurl.com/yd39jov
http://bit.ly/34faJs NWFP govt to ensure security to educational institutions http://bit.ly/3K5PQp
Positive_Proof (Positive_Proof) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:38:14 -0000
http://bit.ly/34faJs NWFP govt to ensure security to educational institutions http://bit.ly/3K5PQp
@AskAmex I've always wondered why other institutions don't accept American Express. Unfortunately I'm beginning to understand.
ChefScottB (Scott Boswell) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:33:35 -0000
@AskAmex I've always wondered why other institutions don't accept American Express. Unfortunately I'm beginning to understand.
Could the Web Run Out of Addresses By 2010?: If businesses, governments, and education institutions don’t.. http://bit.ly/4xXD5W
swoopzy (Frode Jorgensen) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:30:56 -0000
Could the Web Run Out of Addresses By 2010?: If businesses, governments, and education institutions don’t.. http://bit.ly/4xXD5W

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