1. Class 1: Introduction Copyright © 2009 by Evan Schofer
Sociology 219: Institutional Theories: Cultural / Phenomenological Approaches
Class 1: Introduction
Copyright © 2009 by Evan Schofer

2. Agenda 1. Review syllabus 2. Introduce course topic:
Institutions…
Types of institutionalisms
Why cultural/phenomenological institutionalism?
3. Explore some of the intellectual foundations of cultural/phenomenological institutionalism
Specifically, classic contributions from social psychology
Short class… wrap up ~11:00.

3. Announcements Talks Today: Prof David Suarez, USC
Global proliferation of human rights in universities
1:00pm, SSPB 4206
Tomorrow: Prof. David Frank
Also sspb 4206
Relates directly to material covered in this course

4. Syllabus / Course Info
All assignments, readings, and handouts are available online
Course website:
Course readings via webfiles:
UCI ID & password required
Sign up for reading “mini-reports” today
Hand out sheet…

5. Background: Institutional Theories
The 1980s saw the rise/revival of institutional scholarship in economics, political science, sociology, and other fields
Reactions (variously) to:
1. Functionalism – Parsons; plus “lay functionalism” which crops up even today
2. Materialism – ‘interest-based’ explanations
3. Rationalism / Realism / Microeconomics – Emphasis on de-contextualized rational actors.

6. Institutional Theories
“New” Institutionalisms took many forms:
1. New institutional economics
Moving beyond pure rational actors in a vacuum…
The world is not made up entirely of markets…
Economic actors create organizations (firms, states)
Actors function within institutional frameworks (laws, etc)
Questions:
Under what conditions to actors form organizations & institutions?
How do institutions shape/channel economic behavior?

7. Institutional Theories
2. Institutionalism in International Relations: “International Regimes”
Prior theory (“neo-realism”) characterized states as rational actors in an anarchy (Waltz)
But, states cooperate via treaties, organizations (e.g., the WTO)
Again: What leads to cooperation/coordination? How do these “regimes” shape state behavior?

8. Institutional Theories
3. “Bringing the State Back In”… institutions in political sociology
The 1960s saw lots of research on voting behavior and pluralism/interest group representation…
Politics = aggregation of individual/group interests
Skocpol and others reasserted the importance of the state (i.e., governing institutions, policies, law) in channeling & shaping politics.
Also: attention to history, “path dependence”
The ways a particular policy gets implemented channels subsequent action, possibilities
Aka “historical institutionalism”

9. Institutional Theories
4. Institutionalism in organization research
1960s scholarship emphasized the rational & functional features of organizations
Or, brought in context in a limited manner (“old institutionalism”) – e.g., politics / vested interests
New institutionalism emphasized embeddedness of organizations within a wider political, legal, cultural context

10. Institutional Theories
Common theme of “institutionalisms”:
Greater attention to context within which social actors are embedded…
Key differences:
What kind of context?
What kind of actors?
What kind of action?

11. Kinds of Context
(Fragile) agreements that rational/interested actors enter into
Economic actors may form a corporation to reduce transaction costs
Countries may enter into a treaty to improve security
Path-dependent / emergent features of history (arbitary)
Ex: Skocpol’s work on social policy
The way things developed in the past shape future possibilities
Ex: QWERTY keyboard

12. Kinds of Actors / Action
Culture / ideology / “social order” that influences actors – or even “constitutes” them
Key issue: Actors aren’t the starting point…
Interests, preferences, perhaps even identities = shaped by social context
Ex: The phenomenological tradition
We are born into a world in which most social realities are already defined for us…
We “enact” rules of our world…
Others:
Powell: (emergent) culture & networks
Etc., etc.

13. Kinds of Actors
Key distinction in modern sociological theories: Conceptions of actors/action
At one extreme: rational, interested actors
ex: microeconomics, rational choice theory
At the other extreme: “stage” actors that enact roles in society
Ex: phenomenological institutionalism
Various compromise positions
Ex: Bourdieu – habitus, field, etc.

14. Why Phenomenology?
Why focus on cultural/phenomenological institutionalism?
Sociology continues to be dominated by theories that privilege actors & interests; & functionalism
In large part because wider culture seeps into sociological thinking
Yet, cultural/phenomenological institutionalism has been empirically very fruitful
It predicts things that others haven’t… sees things that are in our “blind spots”
In sum: It is a powerful but very non-intuitive way of thinking…. Worth learning.

15. What is Phenomenology?
Phenomenology in philosophy (Husserl): study of subjective experience
Phenomenology in sociology (Schutz, Garfinkel):
Examination of the subjective or “lived world” of everyday life
Further elaborations in 1960’s, 70’s:
Focus on “taken-for-granted” features of reality
Attention to the socially/culturally constructed reality that we inhabit

16. What is phenomenological institutionalism?
Ethnomethodology: a phenomenological tradition that focuses on how “reality” emerges from direct interaction
Related tradition: symbolic interaction
Phenomenological institutionalism (aka cultural institutionalism)
Similar in that it focuses on socially constructed realities…
But it doesn’t just look at immediate social interaction…
Instead, it looks at the broader culture and institutions of society.

17. Readings
Jepperson, Ronald L “Institutions, Institutional Effects, and Institutionalism.” Pp in Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio (eds.). The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Addresses foundational issues: what is an institution. Read closely.
DiMaggio, Paul J. and Walter W. Powell “Introduction.” Pp in Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio (eds.). The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Provides overview of many institutionalisms… plus a description of phenomenological tradition

18. Readings Two classic readings in organizations:
Meyer, John W. and Brian Rowan "Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony." American Journal of Sociology, 83,2:
DiMaggio, Paul, and Walter W. Powell “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields.” American Sociological Review 48, 2:
Moving away from older visions of organizations as bastions of rationality / efficiency
Research was showing the world to be more “Dilbert-like” than previously imagined…
New ideas: Bounded rationality, the “Garbage Can”, etc.
Result: Sociologists trying to re-think things…

19. Readings Recommended readings:
*March, James G “The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life.” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Sep., 1984), pp
Another overview of many institutionalisms
*Kathleen Thelen “Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science. 2:
Example of ‘historical institutionalism.
*Williamson, O “The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach.” American Journal of Sociology, 87:.
Example of economic institutionalism
*North, Douglass and B. Weingast “Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth Century England.” The Journal of Economic History, 4:
Example of economic institutionalism.

20. Discussion & Break
Questions?

21. Foundations: Social Psychology
Cultural/Phenomenological institutionalisms = a product of many intellectual currents
Cognitive Social Psychology: provided key insights about the extent to which humans:
1. Are shaped by social context
2. Depart from standard “rational actor” assumptions
Therefore, the tradition provides an important basis for thinking about actors as “socially constructed”.

22. Group Discussion
Task: Take 10 minutes to read handouts: Foundational ideas from social psychology
Then we’ll have an open group discussion
Sherif
Asch
Milgram
Zimbardo
Issues:
Importance of context / situation
Dynamics of conformity
Action as rule-following  culture as scripts, models.