Abstract
This paper addresses the use, and potential misuse, of the ‘institution’ as a key concept in sociology. The concept of the ‘institution’ is interrogated using ‘family’ as an example and new institutional economics (NIE) as a crucible. The sociological understanding of family as an ‘institution’ is challenged by the distinction between ‘institutions’ and ‘organisations’ in NIE. The blurring of generic non-sociological terms with critical sociological concepts causes confusion between institutions and organisations. This is highly problematic for understanding social change in increasingly complex systems. I conclude that the contextual embedding of sociological concepts remains important to the appropriate use of the term ‘institution’ in the social sciences.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 126-141 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | International Review of Sociology |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2 Jan 2017 |
Keywords
- complex interplay theory
- institution
- new institutionalism
- organisation
- political economy
- social theory