Institutional rationality
Institutional rationality
The first embedded mode of reasoning to be examined is institutional rationality. Its significance lies in its critique of a universalistic concept of rationality. Interrogating the fiction of the disembedded individual, it recognizes that ‘the rational individual is, and must be, an organized and institutionalized individual’. An institutional rationality acknowledges that there are different spheres of society reflected in the major institutions that organize social life (government, law, the family, religion, etc.), and that of these each has its own inherent or immanent logic. The individual is thus embedded in different institutional modes of reasoning. This chapter outlines the extent to which this institutional rationality has been recognized in organization theory.
Keywords: organization theory, rationalization, reasoning, embedded rationality
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
