Institutions restrict people's scope for action.
But they also make possible collective activity, and because of this they increase people's scope for action. But institutions are also internalised, and as people go from old situations to new ones, they draw upon the institutions that they are familiar with to give them a guide for behaviour. On the nature versus nurture question, I always suspect dichotomies. We are very clearly hardwired to acquire the language of those around us when we are very young. An aspect of this, of course, is preservation of cultural diversity.