Major
Approaches and
Ideas in Social
Sciences
Week 9 – DISS
Institutionalism
Facilitated by
Mam Esther Q. De Felipe
Review
• What are the major
assumptions of Rational
Choice Theory?
• What are the strengths of
RCT?
• What are its weaknesses?
How do we
view
CRIMINALS
using the
Rational
Choice
Theory?
Think About It!
Today’s Objectives:
1
Define
Institutionalism.
2
Describe the
characteristics of
Institutions.
3
Identify the types and
functions of Social
Institutions.
4
Analyze the basic
concepts and
principles of the
major social science
idea: Institutionalism
What is Institutionalism?
Institutionalism
This is an approach that emphasizes the
role of
especially in
governance and social sciences.
It stresses the usefulness of established
institutions, often at the expense of the
individual (Ahmed 2015).
It concentrates on institutions and studies
them using inductive, historical, and
comparative methods.
It considers the processes by which
organizations, including norms, routines,
rules, and schemes, become recognized as
authoritative rules for social behavior.
Characteristics
of Institutions
* Structures * Stability * Regulator of Individual Behavior * Shared Values * Legitimacy
Structures
The most significant element of an institution.
-Structure may be either formal (legislature, bureaucracy,
political parties, mass-media) or informal (a network of
interacting organizations or a set of shared norms).
Institutionalism provides no place for individuals and their
interests.
Rather, it involves groups of individuals in some sort of
patterned interactions that is predictable based upon specified
relationships among the actors
Stability
• The existence of some sort of stability over
time.
• Some legislator may decide to meet in a
committee meeting once in a room in the
parliament house. That could be very pleasant,
but it would not be an institution.
• If they agree to meet routinely after a specific
period of time at the same place, that would
begin to take on the shape of an institution.
Regulator of Individual Behavior
• Institutions must in some way
(formal/informal) constrain the
behavior of its members.
• If we resume with the trivial
instance of the committee
meeting above, it may not be
considered as an institution if the
members do not attach
importance and obligation to
attend the meeting.
Shared Values
• There should be some
sense of shared values
and meaning among the
members of the
institution.
• This view is central to
the normative
institutionalism of
March and Olsen
Legitimacy
• Conformity to the law or to rules. In political
science, legitimacy is the right and acceptance
of an authority, usually a governing law or a
regime.
• Institutions involve legitimacy beyond the
preference of individual actors.
• They are valued in themselves and not simply for
their immediate purposes and outputs.
• Institution’s stability of over time may contribute
to gain this legitimacy (Lowndes: 1996:182).
Types of Institutions
Family Religion Economy
Government Education
Functions of
Institutions
Task:
• Wala pong TASK.
Pahinga naman muna
tayong lahat.
Have a great (almost)
weekend!!!