ABSTRACT
The study of social institutions has origins deeply rooted in history. Thus the analysis of a social institution may take the form of comparing that institution as it occurs in a number of societies differing significantly in some respect, or the comparison of diverse examples of the same institution within a society or in several societies. By an examination of classical literature and such inscriptions as survive, Fustel de Coulanges was able to build up a picture of the social institutions of that primitive rural society. Another social institution, property, is described and its links with both religion and kinship disclosed. The gens, says Fustel de Coul-anges, appears to be the earliest form of social grouping other than the immediate family. However, other forms of social grouping also developed, such as the phratry.
