How Institutions Think

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How Institutions Think

• Presentation by
• Kristin Redmond
• Janet Hauge

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Mary Douglas

• Born in 1921
• Educated at Oxford University as anthropologist
• Fieldwork in the Belgian Congo
• Affiliated with
• Northwestern Univ.
• Princeton Univ.
• Yale Univ.
• University of Pennsylvania

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About the book . . .

• A result of a lecture series at Syracuse
  University in March, 1985 given by Mary Douglas
• Two-week lecture series for the Maxwell School of
  Citizenship and Public Affairs

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Emile Durkheim

• French 1858-1917
• Educated in Philosophy
• Views of Functionalist Society
• Studies were based on primitive cultures
• His beliefs were the role of society was more
  important than the individual
• Religion explained the unknown
• His theories were not well received

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Ludwik Fleck

• Polish 1896-1961
• Studies based on Durkheims theories
• Trained as a medical doctor
• Widely renowned for his sociologically-oriented
  approach to the study of science and medical
  knowledge

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Functionalism

• A social group that generates its own view of
  the world, developing a thought style that
  sustains the pattern of interaction
• a theory that stresses the interdependence of
  the patterns and institutions of a society and
  their interaction in maintaining cultural and
  social unity (Websters College Dictionary,
  1983)

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Thought Collective

• The individual within the collective is never,
  or hardly ever, conscious of the prevailing
  thought style which almost always exerts an
  absolutely compulsive force upon his thinking,
  and with which it is not possible to be at
  variance. Fleck

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Institutions

• Legitimized social groupings- family, games,
  ceremony
• Social institutions make decisions, solve
  problems and think on behalf of individuals
• Institutions organize and classify information

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Right and Wrong

• Institutions squeeze each others ideas into a
  common shape so we can prove rightness by sheer
  numbers.
• In this we tell one another what right thinking
  is and pass blame on wrong thinking.

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Institutions Remember...

• Anthropologists are intrigued with remembering
• We remember what is politically correct
• The institution manipulates what it wants us to
  remember
• Studies of primitive cultures reveal people have
  great memories. It is attributed to their
  simple existence.

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And Forget

• Scientists forget previous discoveries and
  continually rediscover past scientists works
• When they do not fit prevailing political views

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The Imperial Palace

• An example of memory being manipulated by
  institutional structures
• Preserving gives legitimacy to current political
  authority locally and globally
• Remembering signifies heavenly mandate for the
  emperor to rule extends to current authority
• Forgetting aspects of moral, political, financial
  decline

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Does Size Matter?

• Many studies relating to institutional scale
• Small scale societies vs large scale
• Originally thought that the size of the
  institution affected the behavior of the
  individual
• Where the ratio of population to resources is
  proportional, individuals in large or small scale
  societies behave similarly

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Institutions Small and LargeAmish Society
English Society

• Small scale
• Fewer changes
• Simpler public memory

• Large scale
• Rapid changes
• Complex public memory

However, both have similar accuracy of their
collective memories.
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Similarly said

• The Social Life of Information
• Loosening the links to the dominant institution
  allows a new more dynamic institution to form
  that is encouraged to think outside the box

• How Institutions Think
• In a society where technology and division of
  labor are established, people cannot move beyond
  the limits set by the stable technology and
  pattern of work.

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Our government

• Citizens run government, yet the government
  creates the laws and enforces them.
• As an individual you dont have much influence or
  impact over the institution

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Classification at the most basic

• A baby with no prior classification knowledge
  learns first to classify good and bad feelings.
  He cries due to a negative feeling (hunger, wet,
  tired).
• Badcry
• Goodcontent
• Good/bad is the most fundamental classification.

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Classifying is institutionalized

• Colin
• 2 parent family
• Minimal caregivers
• Regular routines

• Baby at Angels Wings (emergency foster care)
• Removed from family
• Changing caregivers
• Minimal routine

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Wine classification

• France wine is categorized by region and
  chateau
• California wine is classified by the grape
• Although both systems work to classify wine the
  systems cannot be compared.

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Self-fulfilling prophecy

• Institutional classifying produces labels which
  allow us to classify.
• Once a label is determined, the category gets
  filled up.
• Autism
• Preschool handicap class

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Book Reviews and Impact

• Web of Science - cited 30 times
• EBSCO cited 92 times
• ...this is not an easy book to breeze through.
  But what it shakes and reshapes is so fundamental
  to how we perceive and (try to) direct our
  institutions, that questions raised here can
  percolate out into our daily deeds at the oddest
  times. Stewart Brand (Global Business Network
  review, Dec. 1989)

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Our Critique

• Very confusing, a difficult read
• Jumped back and forth, covered many different
  peoples viewpoints
• Her viewpoints are unclear
• Could have been illustrated with more relative
  examples (such as the wine)

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The people we meet

• At a cocktail party in the US, one would ask
  someone, What do you do?
• In Morocco at a party, one would ask, Where are
  you from?
• What would you ask?

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Other things to consider

• How does the scale of institutions you are a part
  of influence your input to that institution?
• Can you think outside of your institution? If
  so, how?