The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis

edited by Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio

University of Chicago Press, 1991
Cloth: 978-0-226-67708-8 | Paper: 978-0-226-67709-5 | Electronic: 978-0-226-18594-1
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226185941.001.0001

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ABOUT THIS BOOKTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Long a fruitful area of scrutiny for students of organizations, the study of institutions is undergoing a renaissance in contemporary social science. This volume offers, for the first time, both often-cited foundation works and the latest writings of scholars associated with the "institutional" approach to organization analysis.

In their introduction, the editors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory. Several chapters consolidate the theoretical advances of the past decade, identify and clarify the paradigm's key ambiguities, and push the theoretical agenda in novel ways by developing sophisticated arguments about the linkage between institutional patterns and forms of social structure. The empirical studies that follow—involving such diverse topics as mental health clinics, art museums, large corporations, civil-service systems, and national polities—illustrate the explanatory power of institutional theory in the analysis of organizational change.

Required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of organizations, the volume should appeal to scholars concerned with culture, political institutions, and social change.

Acknowledgments

Introduction - Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell

Part One: The Initial Formulations

2. Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony - John W. Meyer and Brian Rowan

3. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organization Fields - Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell

4. The Role of Institutionalization in Cultural Persistence - Lynne G. Zucker

5. The Organization of Societal Sectors: Propositions and Early Evidence - W. Richard Scott and John W. Meyer

Part Two: Refining Institutional Theory

6. Institutions, Institutional Effects, and Institutionalism - Ronald L. Jepperson

7. Unpacking Institutional Arguments - W. Richard Scott

8. Expanding the Scope of Institutional Analysis - Walter W. Powell

9. The Public Order and the Construction of Formal Organizations - Ronald L. Jepperson and John W. Meyer

10. Bringing Society Back In: Symbols, Practices, and Institutional Contradictions - Roger Friedland and Robert R. Alford

Part Three: Empirical Investigations

11. Constructing an Organizational Field as a Professional Project: U.S. Art Museums, 1920-1940 - Paul J. DiMaggio

12. Making Corporate Actors Accountable: Institution-Building in Minneapolis-St. Paul - Joseph Galaskiewicz

13. The Structural Transformation of American Industry: An Institutional Account of the Causes of Diversification in the Largest Firms, 1919-1979 - Neil Fligstein

14. Institutional Origins and Transformations: The Case of American Community Colleges - Steven Brint and Jerome Karabel

15. Organizational Isomorphism in East Asia - Marco Orril, Nicole Woolsey Biggart, and Gary G. Hamilton

16. Institutional Change and Ecological Dynamics - Jitendra V. Singh, David J. Tucker, and Agnes G. Meinhard

References

Contributors

Index