SSW212 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 2021

RURAL SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Introduction
Sociologists have defined an institution as an organized system of social relationships which embodies
certain common values and procedures and meet certain basic needs of the society. Rural social institutions
are recognized forms of procedure governing the relations among the rural people. Commonly, experts
officially recognize five major social institutions that have been evident in some way in every civilization
in history: Family, Religion, Education, Politics/Government, and Rural Economy and Work

The Family
You come from a family set up and it is a basic institution that is common in all the societies. Different
authors have defined the term family from different perspectives. However, despite different definitions of
the term ‘family’, a family is a social group of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption who shares
the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society living together or not.

Types of families

i) Extended family
The extended family was and still is the most common traditional pattern of family organization in African
societies. In the extended family the whole kinship group is a social and economic unit, living in the same
house or adjacent dwellings, daily contact, sharing work duties, intergenerational authority (checks and
balances), economic interdependence (sharing fruits of production), and socialization or education through
kinships networks etc. Access to facilities is communal.

You will notice that in the extended family system, there is a joint production system whereby only enough
is produced for the group’s own needs, but sometimes with some leftovers for trade and special occasions.
Each member of the family from the oldest to youngest has the role to play in the family. You will notice
that in your family set up every member of the same household associate together more intimately than the
members of any other group-they live, eat, work and play together, consult and help one another in all
personal difficulties and share in one another’s good fortune-strong orientation to sharing. The family also
forms a distinct legal and administrative unit under their own head. These families are groups within which
children are born, reared and trained in conduct of work, and the families perform the ceremonies connected
with birth, marriage, death and other ritual occasions. In the political sphere, the head of the household in
the extended family holds a supreme position. S/he is the administrative head and arbitrates in all disputes
involving the members of the household.

Changes in the Extended Family

Despite these family member benefits/roles played, the extended family system has changed in recent days.
You will notice that in Africa the extended family has constantly been changing. There are several factors
responsible for these changes, e.g. Christianity, modernization and the impact of western influences have
had tremendous effect on the traditional culture of the people of Africa. Apart from the benefits of
Christianity and modernization, there are demerits that these have brought. Modernization has contributed
to the breakdown of the African extended family system in that children are copying western values and
parents no longer have control over their children. The loss of control of the child’s behavior has led to high
rates of juvenile delinquency.

ii) The Nuclear Family

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This is a family set up which consists of the husband, wife and their immediate unmarried children living
a separate existence. This type of family is small in size, geographical isolation, minimal kin contact,
autonomy, economic self-reliance and sufficiency, different non-kin socializing agent, and emotional
support and protection from non-kin models. This type of family is more pronounced in industrialized
communities or modernized people.

iii) Single Parent Family

In recent years, you will discover that there is another type of family that has emerged due to death of the
spouses and breakdown of the extended family systems comprising of only one parent to take care of the
children.

iv) Child headed Family

Just like the single parent family we equally have a Child headed family. You find a young child looking
after the siblings. All this is due to erosion of the extended family culture.

Marriage
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines ‘marriage’ as referring to “condition of man and woman legally
united for purpose of living together and usually procreating lawful off-springs, act, ceremony or procedure
establishing this condition.”

Types of Marriages

Monogamy
This is a marriage pattern in which a man is married to one woman at a time.

Serial Monogamy
This is the type of marriage where a woman/man is married to several spouses in his/her lifetime, but only
one spouse at a time.

Polygamy
It is the type of marriage where a man or woman is married to more than one woman or man at a time,
respectively.

Polygyny
This is the type of marriage where a man marries several wives at one time and is more common among
the Lozis and Tongas, Tumbuka & Mambwes etc.

Polyandry
This involves two or more men sharing a wife. The argument in support of this is that the woman will have
enough resources coming from more than one man to take care of her and her off-springs.

Residence Patterns
Matrilocal: This is where a married man establishes a home within the wife’s family and is practiced
among the Nsengas, Bembas and Chewas.

Patrilocal: This is where a couple put up a home within the husbands family/village which is common
among the Lozis.

The family plays very important roles in the societies which include: socialization, educational needs,
reproduction / procreation, regulation of behavior expected of its members, companionship and economic
support of its members.
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Descent Patterns
This is the tracing of Kinship through either:
 Patrilineal – lineage (family tree) is traced through the man
 Matrilineal; - is traced through the woman’s side.

Religion
Durkheim (1912) defined religion as a ‘unified system of belief and practices relative to sacred things.’
You will notice that people in different societies have a form of religion in one way or the other. Types of
religions in the world are Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Religion as faith to most people represents
contact with the ultimate, the unchanging being or object. Therefore, religion is concerned with things that
are set apart and forbidden-with the transcendental and the inviolable (sacred). Different societies have their
own ways of perceiving their creator. This type of god is believed to watch the movements of the entire
people at all times, thereby is a provider of their needs in times of calamities such as drought, floods etc.

Types of Religions

i) Animism
This is the religion and philosophy of primitive people founded on traditional witchcraft, ancestor worship
and taboos and fatalism. Animism tends to close the society to outside influences; hence the society tends
to be traditional.

ii) Hinduism
This religion is practiced mostly in India. This religion is based upon a Caste system where certain people
are born in certain roles and you cannot cross the barriers to other castes/classes. The cow is regarded as a
sacred animal among the Hindus and this is the veneration of the cow. Women are restricted in this religion-
most social roles are played by men.

iii) Shintoism
This religion pays reverence to the Japanese nation and the imperial family. This religion pays reverence
for the special and divine origin of the Japanese people. In terms of business, the Japanese love and are
proud of what is Japanese.

iv) Islam
Islamic states are non-secular, that is, religion dominates every aspect of life. The role of women is
restricted. And there are harsh rules and if broken the punishment is severe.

v) Christianity
Christianity is practiced by the Catholics and Protestants.

Catholics place much emphasis on the church. The church and its sacraments offer the route to God.
The Catholics were more socialistic believing that if you make money you should invest into the poor. To
assist the needy, they invested in business to make more money and open up schools and hospitals.

The Protestants preach that an individual can create a relationship with God. Hard work is a virtue that is
pleasing to God and in business, the concept of individualism was adopted from the Protestants. The other
virtue that was emphasized was thrift- that is, when you make money, you should not over-indulge but
make savings, use it prudently. Capitalism was born from these virtues.

The Role of Religion

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The world has many problems of which man cannot cope up with, hence, the idea of religion to help with
many of life’s difficulties and problems. Religion emanates from man to solve the unforeseen problems.
Because of limited resources to solve the problems that man has, man has to appeal to higher forces to help
him find solutions to his problems.

Religion teaches good morals which its members are expected to exhibit and it is an important agent in the
transmission of values. Thus religion impacts the society in terms of what they should eat, how they dress,
and observe certain days.

Education
Throughout the world, education has become a vast and one of the complex socializing agents that prepare
people for the roles demanded by other social institutions. In any society there are socially recognized ways
in which the norms and values of the society are inculcated into the new members. Education in the wider
sense is the process by which the cultural heritage is transmitted from generation to generation, and that
schooling is therefore only a part of it.

In the African traditional education system, education is either informal or non-formal. It may be thought
as training by living. Three fundamental processes are at work in the acquisition of informal knowledge-
identification, cooperation and imitation. The parent of the same sex is the model according to which the
child regulates its conduct and from which it derives its aspirations and values. In learning, imitation has
an important role. From early childhood girls play at housekeeping and cooking, while boys play at dancing
and singing. At the same time the children are actually engaging in the occupation at which they are playing.
Thus play is both imitation of the activities of their elders and a rehearsal of the skills. As the child’s
participation in the activities of the domestic group becomes complete play ceases. The last stage of
childhood coincides with the rapid absorption of the child into the economic system and his/her gradual
acquisition of a responsible status within the social structure. To play now means to dance with one’s peers
and to join in ceremonies and cerebrations with one’s kinsfolk and neighbors.

Roles of Education
 It ensures that socialisation process occurs through organised learning
 It equips individuals occupationally and recreationally (hobbies)
 To pass-on values and norms in the society so that culture is carried across generations;
 Prepares individuals to live effectively and efficiently in their environment.
 Concerned with the development of knowledge and understanding of people and their
surrounding Environment/society
 It introduces people to what is valuable

Politics
In any society, someone or group makes important decisions about how to use resources and how to allocate
goods, whether it be a tribal chief or a parliament or president. In studying politics, sociologists are more
concerned with social interactions among the individuals and communities, and its impact on the political
and economic front.

Politics consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political
unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

Characteristics of the Modern Nation State

The modern states have certain characteristics that can qualify them to be categorized as nation states.
 The modern states claim complete and final authority over its members;
 They depend on a system of laws- laws regulate all institutions; and
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 Members of a state are referred to as citizens.

The citizens have rights and obligations. The following rights are common among the states:
 Civil rights- right to equal treatment;
 Social rights- government provision of various forms of economic and social security;
 Political rights- participation in governance; and
 Nationalism- this is the feeling of belonging to your nationality.

Power
Power is the ability to marshal the human and material resources to get something done. There are five
bases of power that you will discuss in the next lesson.

The Five Bases of Power

One widely cited classification of power bases identifies five types of power as follows:
Reward power: This is one’s ability to grant rewards to those who comply with a command or request.

i) Coercive power: This is power rooted in fear; coercive power is based on threatened or actual
punishment.
ii) Legitimate power: This is achieved when a person’s superior position alone prompts another
person to act in a desired manner. This type of power closely parallels formal authority.
iii) Referent power: An individual has referent power over those who identify with him/her if they
comply on that basis alone. Charisma is a term often used in-conjunction with referent power.
iv) Expert power: Those who possess and can dispense valued information generally exercise expert
power over those in need of such information.
v) Reward Power: It is one’s ability to grant rewards to those who comply with a command or
request.

Authority
Authority is power which belongs to a status in a social structure. Since authority is a phenomenon of the
social structure, it is therefore permitted or legitimate, e.g. authority a father has over a son. This
arrangement is permitted by the structure of the family. Since this power has been entrenched in the
institutions of society we can say that authority is institutionalized power. It belongs to a position not to an
individual.

The role of Politics

 Looks after the people and their needs in the society;

 Works hard to maintain the rules and regulations of the society;
 Ensures that people's rights are protected and the people must not feel that there is no one to help
them.

The Rural Economy and Work

The other institution of major importance is the rural economy and work. The major rural economic activity
in rural areas is basically agriculture. Agriculture in rural areas is the key economic backbone of most
developing countries. Depending on a country’s level of advancement in the economic sphere, agriculture
contribute to overall economic growth by creating jobs, supplying labor, food, and raw materials to other
growing sectors of the economy; and helping to generate foreign exchange. In rural areas of Zambia, crops,
livestock, fishing and other enterprises are done by the community. Other non-agricultural activities
prevalent in Zambia creating job opportunities to rural people include charcoal burning; sale of grass, and
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forestry products etc. Therefore, rural people directly depend on agriculture for their livelihood. You will
notice that since agriculture is the main economic activity in rural areas, the major objective of every society
is to train its members to take up responsibilities in farming as they grow up, majority of whom may work
for local entrepreneurs, projects and subsidiary entities such as seed companies, coffees plantations etc. In
the rural set-up, the needs of the individuals and those of the society are more apparent in various economic
enterprises. Rural Sociology therefore studies the factors responsible for the failure of agriculture and
suggests various measures for the improvement of agriculture in rural areas.

Work is defined as any activity which is directed towards the production of goods and services which
typically have a value in exchange and which are carried out for a valuable consideration. Every society
has to solve the problem of getting the work done. This involves the society socializing the individuals in
order to produce skills, capabilities and the necessary motivation in individuals, hence, Economic and
Social needs of the individuals and those of the society are more evident in a work place.

Some approaches by Sociologists to study individual needs

Managerial Sociology;
Assumes that there is consensus (harmony) between the needs of an individual and the needs of an
organisation he/she working for. Firms has found ways of maintaining this harmony, such as providing
family medical fees, rentals, leave days, mothers and fathers days etc.

Social Action;
The theory of social Action accepts and assumes that humans vary their actions according to social contexts
and how it will affect other people; when a potential reaction is not desirable, the action is modified
accordingly.
A worker carries along with him/her some needs to the work place which need to be satisfied and work is
the means of meeting these needs.

Alienation of Work
In the previous section, we looked at the key economic activities in rural areas. Since poverty and
unemployment levels are high in majority of the people, some of them work for others on piece work,
contracts etc. Therefore, in some of the companies, projects or plantations that employ capitalist ideas of
maximizing profits, people may lose control over the production system. Workers in this case are just used
as any other resources in the system of production and hence, humans tend to get detached or estranged
from the work they do. -this is alienation of labor. In general, to be alienated from something is to lack
wholehearted identification with it and instead to regard it as strange or alien and perhaps as an obstacle in
one's way or as menacing to oneself. One speaks of alienation only where there is a prior expectation that
one will identify with the thing in question as one's own or as closely connected to or continuous with one's
self. Marx distinguished four aspects of alienated labor:

 Workers are estranged from the product they make which belongs to the factory owner. Workers
do NOT work for themselves in order to satisfy their own needs, neither their individua1 nor their
social needs. They work for the capitalist with little say in WHAT or HOW to do it. Under this
arrangement, the owners set the conditions of work, uses the worker as sees fit payment of
"subsistence wages" that which is minimally needed to survive.
 Workers are estranged from the process of making things-in the factory work is reduced to detail
labor; the execution of simple repetitive, monotonous operations that require few if any skills.
 Workers are estranged from their co-workers-there is no cooperation with their fellow workers and
owners of the factory.
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 Workers are estranged from their basic human nature-human beings are both social and conscious
animals: Industrial capitalism according to Marx reduced workers to mindless machines and placed
them in opposition to one another.

These ways of earning a living affect their bodies, minds, and their daily lives.

Since labor is exchange at the labor market, there are two major classifications of labor markets and these
are:

Primary Labor Markets: These consist of jobs that are reasonably secure, provide good pay and benefits
and hold promises of career training and advancement.

Secondary Labor Markets: This includes unstable jobs with little job security, low pay and few benefits
and little likelihood of career advancement.

Types of Economies
i. The Formal Economy: includes all work related activities that provide income and are
regulated by government agencies-this is what people ordinarily have in mind when they refer
to work. The formal economy includes work for wages, pierce work, and salaries as well as
self-employment. This type of economy is legal.

ii. Informal Economy: This is the system of trade or economic exchange used outside state
controlled or money based transactions. Practiced by most of the world's population, it includes
barter of goods and services, street vending, and other such direct sale activities etc. The
‘informal economy’ or cash-in-hand work or is known by several names: the hidden economy,
shadow economy, grey markets, working off-the-books, ghosting or moonlighting. The most
commonly agreed upon and used definition is by the EU (1998) and the Small Business Council
(SBC, 2004), which states that:

‘Informal work involves the paid production and sale of goods or services which are
unregistered by, or hidden from the state for tax, benefit and/ or labor law purposes, but which
are legal in all other respects.’

iii. Underground Economy: These are income generating activities that are not reported to the
government. Some of these sources of income are clearly illegal, ranging from tax evasion to
overtly criminal activities.