Course Information

Instructor: Dr. Timur Ergen (te@mpifg.de)
Institution: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG)
Semester: Fall 2019
Schedule: Fridays at 2 pm in S-242
Institution: University of Cologne

Theories of institutions have been at the core of the social and behavioral sciences throughout the 20th and early 21st century. The course introduces theories of institutions from across the social sciences. The material covered ranges from institutional theory’s classical origins through to recent debates about the explanation of institutional change.

The course is paradigmatically eclectic, covering positions from classical anthropology, institutional economics, historical political science, and organizational sociology. Among the main problems discussed are the relationship between social action and institutions, the origins of social order and change, the role of culture and norms in social organization, and the interplay between social power and institutions.

Course Materials
  • Complete Syllabus — Full course syllabus with detailed information and requirements

Assessment

All participants will be expected to read all texts, take an active part in class discussions, create two response memos, give a brief presentation, and prepare a term paper of 15–20 pages due February 15, 2020. Term papers require original research on literature, data, or archival material and must be written in English. Both electronic (Ilias platform) and printed versions must be submitted with signed plagiarism declaration.

Session 1: Introduction

October 11, 2019

Required Readings:

  • Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knöbl, 2009. What is Theory? In: Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knöbl, Social Theory: Twenty Introductory Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–19.
  • Peter A. Hall and Rosemary Taylor, 1996. Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms. Political Studies 44, 936–957.

Session 2: Durkheim

October 18, 2019

Required Readings:

  • Émile Durkheim, 1966 [1893]. The Division of Labor in Society. New York: The Free Press, 200–225.
  • Émile Durkheim, 1982 [1895]. The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: The Free Press, 50–59.
  • Émile Durkheim, 2001 [1912]: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 153–182.

Session 3: The American Tradition

October 25, 2019

Required Reading:

  • Thorstein Veblen, 1967 [1899]. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Penguin, 1–67; 167–187.

Session 4: The Anthropological Tradition

November 8, 2019

Required Reading:

  • Bronislaw Malinowski, 1944. A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 43–119.

Session 5: The Structural-Functionalist Approach

November 15, 2019

Required Reading:

  • Talcott Parsons, 1951. The Social System. New York: The Free Press, 24–67; 428–479.

Session 6: The Sociology-of-Knowledge Approach

November 22, 2019

Required Reading:

  • Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, 1967. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books, 47–92.

Session 7: Sociological Neo-Institutionalism I

November 29, 2019

Required Reading:

  • John Meyer and Brian Rowan, 1977: Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83, 340–363.

Session 8: Sociological Neo-Institutionalism II

December 6, 2019

Required Readings:

  • Paul DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell, 1983. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review 48, 147–160.
  • Paul DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell, 1991. The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1–38.

Session 9: Economic Neo-Institutionalism

December 13, 2019

Required Readings:

  • Douglass North, 1990. Institutions and their Consequences for Economic Performance. In: Karen Cook and Margaret Levi (eds.), The Limits of Rationality. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 383–401.
  • Kenneth A. Shepsle, 1989. Studying Institutions: Some Lessons from the Rational Choice Approach. Journal of Theoretical Politics 1, 131–147.

Session 10: Institutions and Actors

December 20, 2019

Required Reading:

  • James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, 1989. Rediscovering Institutions. The Organizational Basis of Politics. New York: The Free Press, 21–38; 159–172.

Session 11: Historical Institutionalism

January 10, 2020

Required Readings:

  • Paul Pierson and Theda Skocpol, 2002. Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science: In: Ira Katznelson and Helen Milner (eds.), Political Science: The State of the Discipline. New York: Norton and Company, 693–721.
  • James Mahoney, 2000. Path Dependence in Historical Sociology. Theory and Society 29, 507–548.

Session 12: Institutional Change I

January 17, 2020

Required Reading:

  • Wolfgang Streeck and Kathleen Thelen, 2005. Introduction. In: Wolfgang Streeck and Kathleen Thelen (eds.), Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–39.

Session 13: Institutional Change II

January 24, 2020

Required Reading:

  • John F. Padgett and Walter W. Powell, 2012. The Emergence of Organizations and Markets. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1–29.

Session 14: Final Discussion

January 31, 2020