Specifying the “What” and Separating the “How”: Doings, Sayings, Codes, and Artifacts as the Building Blocks of Institutions
Microfoundations of Institutions
ISBN: 978-1-78769-124-7, eISBN: 978-1-78769-123-0
Publication date: 25 November 2019
Abstract
The author distinguishes between state, process, and object perspectives on institutions and institutionalization. While all-purpose process approaches dominate the literature, the author argues that these are analytically insufficient without theorizing the nature of “institutional objects.” Building on recently developed analytic disaggregations of the culture concept in cultural sociology, the author argues that doings, sayings, codes, and artifacts exhaust the broad classes of potential objects subject to institutionalization processes. The proposed approach provides a coherent ontology for future empirical work, features robust microfoundations, places institutional routines and practices in a material context, and acknowledges the importance of semiotic codes and vocabularies in organizational fields.
Keywords
Citation
Lizardo, O. (2019), "Specifying the “What” and Separating the “How”: Doings, Sayings, Codes, and Artifacts as the Building Blocks of Institutions", Haack, P., Sieweke, J. and Wessel, L. (Ed.) Microfoundations of Institutions (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 65A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-234. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2019000065A021
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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