The Logic of Institutional Logics

Abstract

Research on institutional logics has exploded in the last decade. Much of this work has taken its inspiration from Friedland and Alford’s call to “bring society back in” to organizational analysis. Interestingly, when Friedland and Alford published their seminal piece, another body of work with similar focus emerged in France under the banner of French Pragmatist Sociology. In this article, we discuss how French Pragmatist Sociology complements institutional logics by helping it address its main limitations or blind spots. These include (a) microfoundations and recursiveness (how institutions are formed, maintained, or changed at a micro level), (b) legitimacy struggles (how struggles are resolved on a day-to-day basis), (c) morality (as an important element underscoring institutional logics), and (d) materiality (as physical and tangible instantiations of logics). We conclude by suggesting that a rapprochement between both approaches provides an elegant means of bridging the lingering divide between “old” and “new” institutionalism.

Justifying Coproduced Policeability: Restrained Creativity and New Modalities of (Dis)Agreements in the Swedish Police

“…Industrial approaches are not prioritized vis-à-vis civic approaches: this modality is not a resolution whereby the industrial value logic becomes dominant at the expense of another logic (Jagd, 2007). Neither do the police seek to justify coproduced policeability by claiming that they can reconcile their interests with municipal interests (Cloutier & Langley, 2013;Jagd, 2011). Instead, the police justify coproduced policeability by claiming that support from local partners makes it possible to forge new organizational terms that allow them to compromise between industrial and civic values (Boltanski & Thevénot, 2006).…”

“…The responsive modality of justification initially appears to resolve the tensions between industrial and domestic values, with the industrial logic dominating the domestic logic (Cloutier & Langley, 2013). Police work guided by domestic values, such as loyalty and trust from the local community, emerges as a problematic practice constraining the police's ability to offer equal distribution of efficient policing.…”

“…By referring to joint identities or overarching practices, actors may also manage competing logics by seeking reconciliation, stressing that associated practices all contribute to the same organizational context. In cases of resolution, actors deal with tensions between logics by letting one logic dominate the others (Cloutier & Langley, 2013;Jagd, 2007), establishing a hierarchy of priorities. In line with a wider set of institutional research, these modalities all imply that legitimacy emerges when justificatory tensions between logics are resolved (Stark, 2009).…”

“…The article draws on Boltanski and Thevénot's (2006) "order of worth," a framework that criticizes Bourdieu's sociology for underestimating actors' competence to judge their situations and act accordingly (Cloutier & Langley, 2013;Jagd, 2011). The order of worth is described as sociology of action in which analysis is based on institutionalized logics that emerge as tools wielded by actors justifying the way they organize and reorganize practices.…”

An inquiry into pseudo‐legitimations: A framework to investigate the clash of managerial legitimations and employees' unfairness claims

“…In that sense, agents' understanding and use of language are both constrained by a collectively formed discursive interpretative scheme. Nonetheless, actors are able to generate new interpretations and challenge the institutional scheme as the multiplicity of institutional logics gives way to the legitimation of new forms of practices (Cloutier & Langley, 2013;Green et al, 2008;Thornton et al, 2012).…”