Sociology 219 Institutional Theories Cultural Phenomenological Approaches Class

Sociology 219: Institutional Theories: Cultural / Phenomenological Approaches Class 3: Social Construction of the Individual Copyright © 2009 by Evan Schofer

Announcements • Assignment #1 handed back • Assignment #2 handed out • Talks today: • 12: 00 Klandermans, Diani, Feng “Relationship between social movements, democracy and religious fundamentalism • 1: 30 ICSW/Soc 259: Ting Jiang “Economic Globalization and Welfare Spending in 23 Transitional Economies” • Next week • The social construction of ‘actors’ • And, more on organizations

Agenda • Preview of upcoming readings • Presentations: • Sang-Joon & Rachel • Discussion of readings • ~10 minute break at 10: 30.

Reading Preview • Dobbin, Frank. 1994. “Cultural Models of Organization: The Social Construction of Rational Organizing Principles. ” • Develops the idea that modern rational organizing is not “natural”, but reflects an institutionalized culture • John Meyer and Ronald Jepperson. 2000. "The "Actors" of Modern Society: Cultural Rationalization and the Ongoing Expansion of Social Agency. " Sociological Theory, 18, 1: 2000: 100 -120. • Argues that actors and “agency” are socially constructed • Agency isn’t a constant feature of human beings… Historical and cultural variation in institutional/cultural context determines the extent of agency.

Reading Preview • Meyer, John W. 2007. “Reflections on Institutional Theories of Organizations. ” In The Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism, ed. by R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, R. Suddaby & K. Sahlin. Andersson, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007. • A review article on institutional theory, focusing on organizations • *Drori, Gili, John W. Meyer, and Hokyu Hwang (eds). 2006. Globalization and Organization: World Society and Organizational Change. Oxford University Press. • A book that asks: what drives the global expansion of organizing?

Reading Preview • Ansell, Christopher K. 2001. “The Garbage Can Model of Behavior. ” In N. J. Smelser and Paul Bates (eds) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford: Pergamon Press. • *Cohen, Michael D. , James G. March, Johan P. Olsen. 1972. A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Mar. , 1972), pp. 1 -25 • Two readings from the organizations literature… offering an alternative to ‘rational’ decisionmaking • *Kahneman, Daniel. “Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics. ” • More work exploring the limits of ‘rational actors’.

Mini-Presentations • Goffman; March & Olsen

Class Discussion • David Frank introduction • Start with self/life course & identities paper • After break: Frank et al. paper on sex laws.