The Choice-Within-Constraints New Institutionalism and Implications for Sociology
Paul Ingram: Karen Clay
Annual Review of Sociology; 2000; 26, Academic Research Library, 525-546
Key words economy, commitment, exchange, state, organization
Abstract The variant of new institutionalism that is our focus is a pan-disciplinary theory that asserts that actors pursue their interests by making choices within institutional constraints. We organize our review of the theory around its behavioral assumptions, the operation of institutional forms, and processes of institutional change. At each stage, we give particular attention to the potential contributions of sociology to the theory. (1)
The behavioral assumptions of the theory amounts to bounded rationality and imply transaction cost, which in the absence of institutions, may frustrate collective ends. The principle weakness of these behavioral assumptions, is a failure to treat preferences as endogenous. (2)
We categorize the institutions that arise in response to transaction costs as to whether they are public or private in their source and centralized or decentralized in their making. In dealing the resulting categories of institutional forms, we identify key independencies across the public/private and centralized/decentralized dimensions. (3)
The new institutionalism is in particular need of better theory about private decentralized institutions, and theorists could turn to embeddedness theory and cognitive new-institutional theory as a source of help on this topic. The dominant view of institutional change is that it is evolutionary, driven by organizational competition, and framed by individual beliefs and shared understandings. Sociology can refine the change theory by adding better explanations of the behavior of organizations, and the processes by which institutional alternatives come to be viewed as acceptable or unacceptable. (4)
Task 1. Before complete understanding the Abstract meaning, grasp its structure in terms of the rhetoric functions of its components (1) – (4) / To identify the rhetoric functions see their list and symbols below provided for abstracts on history. If you need more items and symbols make your suggestion on including them in the list /
Task 1.1 Give functional interpretation of paragraph (1)
Model
The subject (Swr) of the paper is the variant of new institutionalism … that asserts …
In its genre and structure (Tg, Tst) the paper is a review of the theory organized around …
The purpose of the paper’ author /or the paper’s focus/ (Am) /(Sf) is to give particular attention to the potential contributions of sociology to the theory…
Task 1.2 Coming from the rhetoric functions identified, give functional interpretation of components (2),(3),(4). To do this, keep in mind Tg - review (критическое рассмотрение, или обозрение) and (Am) / (Sf) - potential contribution of sociology. Meaningful here are the words: absence, frustrate, weakness, failure – as opposed to ‘we categorize, we identify’, - on the one hand, and ‘in particular need of, could turn to, can refine… by’, - on the other hand
Model
(In paragraph 2) the authors criticize the theory for… (Es of Owr)
Then (in paragraph 3) we find information about … (Ac)
The abstract is concluded (para 4) with the authors’ suggestions on (Ac)
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Learn recognizing the abstract structure by skimming its functional components
Functional component symbols:
Тема – Subject / Theme (раскрытие заглавия) - So /Swr
(уточнение /ракурс темы) Focus /emphasis /aspect/ - Sf
(актуальность темы) Present day concern, urgency - Su -
Объект – Object (historical past /historical writings) - Oo/Owr
Текст реферируемого произведения – Т
Жанр (genre / text kind) – Tg /Tk
стиль, структура содержания - Tst
характеристика - Tch
адресат (читатель) - Tr
Смысл /цель автора (meaning / message / intention) - Am
Вывод автора (conclusion / contribution / result) - Ac
Оценка реферируемого произведения / объекта
(The reviewer’s estimation of the author’s contribution) - Es/
Task 2. Hopefully, you are ready now to thoroughly comprehend the above Abstract. To save time, perhaps, you may find useful to read the teacher-edited translation by a former graduate student. But MIND: the translation of the title needs correcting where underlined: give a better variant.
Выбор в условиях ограничений, новый институционализм и приложения для социологии
Резюме. Вариант нового институционализма, которому посвящена статья, является над-дисциплинарной
теорией, которая утверждает, что акторы, преследуя свои интересы, делают выбор в пределах институционального принуждения. Мы строим наш обзор этой теории сщ стороны ее поведенческих положений, действия институтов различных форм и процессов институциональных изменений. На каждой стадии мы уделяем особое внимание возможному вкладу социологии в развитие этой теории.
Поведенческие положения теории сводятся к ограниченной рациональности и подразумевают издержки сделок, которые, при отсутствии соответствующих институтов, могут привести к срыву достижений коллективных целей. Слабость принципа, заложенного в эти поведенческие положения, состоит в том, что они не дают возможности рассматривать предпочтения в их эндогенной (глубинной) сущности.
Мы подразделяем институты, возникающие для реагирования на издержки сделок, в зависимости от того, являются ли эти децентрализованные. общественными или частными в своем происхождении, централизованными или децентрализованными в их становлении. Уточняя выделенные институциональные формы, мы определяем основные взаимозависимости в измерениях отношений общественные/частные и централизованные/децентрализованные.
Новый институционализм особенно нуждается в усовершенствовании теории частных децентрализованных институтов, а теоретики могли бы обратиться к теории вложенности и когнитивной нео-институциональной теории как источнику развития этой темы. Преобладающая точка зрения на институциональные изменения состоит в том, что они носят эволюционный характер, управляемый организационной конкуренцией, формируются убеждениями индивида и совместным пониманием. Социологи могут усовершенствовать теорию изменений, внеся более точное объяснение
поведения организаций, а также процессов, благодаря чему институциональные альтернативы в результате станут оцениваться как приемлемые или неприемлемые.
*** Note 1: Mind the meanings of following words:
imply – denote, mean; hint, signify; implicate – associate, connect, involve;
implication –1) hidden meaning, hint, significance; 2) association, connection, involvement
Note 2: The choice of the paper whose abstract is given above was made by the graduate student because of its connection with the subject of the student’s thesis:
Quality evaluation of higher school management – institutional approach
“ The problem of my thesis is contradiction between interests of the parties involved in the system of higher education. Methodological basis of my research is institutional theory, to be exact, authoritative approach by N. Fligstin and French institutionalism by Tevenot.
Institutions are rules and shared meanings, provided that the participants aware of their existence. Institutions can constrain the choice of actors. /…/
The term ‘ quality’ may be considered as concerning the system and as a set of norms and values. In the former case we deal with evaluation techniques (methods), in the latter case we are engaged in developing the evaluation methodology. /…/
Consequently, we must analyze the interaction between actors in the process of quality evaluating in terms of institutional choice within constraints”
Note 3: A critical summary of any paper like that abstracted above should contain
The student’s statements of the paper’s subject, problem / purpose / approach etc.
The student’s assessment of the paper’s conclusion / overall meaning etc. in accordance with the paper’s purpose as the author formulates and meets it
The assessment of how informative the article is in view of its subject matter and how important its contribution (if any) to the student research field.
A paper to be translated and critically summarized must fall in the student’s field of investigation and correspond as closely as possible to the student’s subject.
* * * *
Writing abstracts is very much like writing Research Report Introductions
The purpose of the introduction is to show your reader what you are doing in your writing. It is also helpful to explain why you are doing it and how you are doing it.For that reason, there are usually three main parts in the introduction. The most useful description is given by Swales (1990, pp. 137-165)
Research Report Introductions
Move 1 |
Establishing a research territory
|
Move 2 |
Establishing a niche
|
Move 3 |
Occupying the niche
|
Move 1: Establishing a research territory
Note particularly the language used in the first two sentences to express Move la.
The increasing interest in ... has heightened the need for ....
Of particular interest and complexity are ....
Recently, there has been growing interest in ....
The development of ... has led to the hope that....
The .., has become a favourite topic for analysis ....
The study of ... has become an important aspect of ....
A central issue in ... is ....
The ... has been extensively studied in recent years.
Many recent studies have focused on ....
Move 2: Establishing a niche
In many ways, Move 2 is the key move in Introductions. It connects Move 1 (what has been done) to Move 3 (what the present research will do). Move 2 thus establishes the reason for the study. By the end of Move 2, the reader should have a good idea of what is going to come in Move 3.
Move 2s establish a niche by indicating a gap. Probably the most common way to indicate a gap is to use a “negative” subject. Presumably, negative subjects are chosen because they signal immediately to the reader that Move 1 has come to an end. Note the following uses of little and few:
However, little information/attention/work/data/research ....
However, few studies/investigations/researchers/attempts ....
Of course, not all RP Introductions express Move 2 by indicating an obvious gap. You may prefer, for various reasons, to avoid negative comment altogether. In such cases, a useful alternative is to use a contrastive statement.
The research has tended to focus on ...,rather than on ....
These studies have emphasised ...,as opposed to ....
Although considerable research has been devoted to ... , rather less attention has been paid to ....
The previous research ... has concentrated on ....
Most studies have been content to ....
So far, investigations have been confined to ...
Move 3: Occupying the Niche
The third and final step is to show you want to fill the gap (or answer the question) that has been created in Move 2.
The purpose of this paper is to ...
The purpose of this investigation is to ...
The aim of this paper is to ...
This paper reports on the results obtained ....
This study was designed to ...
In this paper, we give results of ...
In this paper, we argue that ....
This paper argues that ....
We have organise the rest of this paper in the following way ....
This paper is structured as follows ....
The remainder of this paper is divided into five sections ....