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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Since I left out word earlier,RTing What if Americans shifted a fraction of their deposits N2 smaller institutions? www.moveyourmoney.info
bsonder (Bonnie Sonder) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:42:43 -0000
Since I left out word earlier,RTing What if Americans shifted a fraction of their deposits N2 smaller institutions? www.moveyourmoney.info
The need for special resolution regimes for financial institutions: Martin Cihák, Erlend W Nier, 7 January 2010The... http://bit.ly/4yEAVG
voxeu (VoxEU.org) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:35:29 -0000
The need for special resolution regimes for financial institutions: Martin Cihák, Erlend W Nier, 7 January 2010The... http://bit.ly/4yEAVG
RE: @CGBlog The Royal Navy is one of the world's proudest, historical institutions with an increasingly sad modern his… http://disq.us/88ka0
andrewdwelch (Andrew Welch) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:26:56 -0000
RE: @CGBlog The Royal Navy is one of the world's proudest, historical institutions with an increasingly sad modern his… http://disq.us/88ka0
scheduling software Automate your Process with Event Management …: The institutions that plan the event managem.. http://bit.ly/52v2CX
emdyard (Edmunda Yardton) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:12:51 -0000
scheduling software Automate your Process with Event Management …: The institutions that plan the event managem.. http://bit.ly/52v2CX
But thru investment, we seek to break cycle of dependence aid can create by helping countries build their own institutions and capacity...
rarenaud (Ruth-Anne Renaud) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:11:32 -0000
But thru investment, we seek to break cycle of dependence aid can create by helping countries build their own institutions and capacity...
RT @DustinRivers: @Wolowic End 'compulsory' schooling and transform them as institutions similar to libraries. I support the 'unschooli ...
SchoolSurvival (School Survival) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:05:24 -0000
RT @DustinRivers: @Wolowic End 'compulsory' schooling and transform them as institutions similar to libraries. I support the 'unschooli ...

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