As a senior school student, I occupy a place or location in society with a status and role or roles. These are not simply what I as an individual choose—they are not like roles a film actor may or may not opt to do. Social institutions constrain and control, punish and reward. These could be 'macro' institutions like the state or 'micro' ones like the family.

Different social institutions interact with each other. The central areas include family, marriage and kinship; politics; economics; religion; and education. An institution works according to rules established or at least acknowledged by law or by custom. These institutions impose constraints on individuals but also provide them with opportunities.

I am shaped by these institutions in multiple ways. The family constrains as well as provides opportunities to individuals. Political or legal institutions affect the privileged and dispossessed differently. From a conflict view, all social institutions operate in the interest of the dominant sections of society—be it class, caste, tribe or gender.

However, I am not entirely controlled by these institutions. The context shows that people can sacrifice for family, for religion or for the state, indicating individual agency. Institutions can be viewed as an end in itself, but individuals also have the capacity to resist. While institutions constrain through established rules, the existence of different perspectives (functionalist and conflict) shows that institutions can be questioned and redefined over time.