How Institutions ThinkDo institutions think? If so, how do they do it? Do they have minds of their own? If so, what thoughts occupy these suprapersonal minds? Mary Douglas delves into these questions as she lays the groundwork for a theory of institutions. Usually the human reasoning process is explained with a focus on the individual mind; her focus is on culture. Using the works of Emile Durkheim and Ludwik Fleck as a foundation, How Institutions Think intends to clarify the extent to which thinking itself is dependent upon institutions. Different kinds of institutions allow individuals to think different kinds of thoughts and to respond to different emotions. It is just as difficult to explain how individuals come to share the categories of their thought as to explain how they ever manage to sink their private interests for a common good. Douglas forewarns us that institutions do not think independently, nor do they have purposes, nor can they build themselves. As we construct our institutions, we are squeezing each other's ideas into a common shape in order to prove their legitimacy by sheer numbers. She admonishes us not to take comfort in the thought that primitives may think through institutions, but moderns decide on important issues individually. Our legitimated institutions make major decisions, and these decisions always involve ethical principles. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
How Latent Groups Survive | 41 |
Institutions Confer Identity | 55 |
Copyright | |
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A. R. Radcliffe-Brown analogies analysis ancestors anthropologists apply argument Bartlett behavior belief CABERNET SAUVIGNON causal causal loop CHARDONNAY claims classification cognitive coherence collective action complex conventions culture depends discovery division of labor Durkheim-Fleck economic effects Elster emotions epistemology example experience explain functional functionalist human individual institutional thinking intellectual justify kind knowledge labels latent group logical MARY DOUGLAS ment Merton metaphor mind modern moral nature Nelson Goodman Nuer Olson's organization pattern persons philosophers political primitive principles problems produce Psychology public memory question rational choice rational choice theory reason recognize relations religion religious Rivers sacred SAUVIGNON BLANC scale Schotter scientific scientific classification scientists social group social order society sociological solidarity structure Syracuse University system of justice things thought collective thought style thought world tion tional University Press W. H. R. Rivers Weber wine ZINFANDEL