This book aims to provide a clear understanding of different types of societies and their social institutions. Besides discussing the concept of socials institutions, it explains important social institutions such as marriage, family, kinship, economic organization, political organization, religion, and the caste system. An independent chapter on some important basic concepts being used in sociology and anthropology like globalization, post-modernism, ethnicity, diaspora, multiculturalism, rural-urban continuum, social exclusion, and empowerment, help the reader get a better understanding of the various social institutions. This book will be of great help to the students sociology, anthropology, and social work at the UG and PG levels as well as those appearing in UPSC Civil Services, State Civil Services and NET/JRF examinations.