Institutional Isomorphism in Religious Entities of Post‐Soviet Tajikistan

Grounded in institutional isomorphism theory, the paper analyzes the extent to which the process of homogenization (isomorphism) can be useful in our understanding of changes within religious entities. Examining the emergence and development of religious entities in post‐Soviet Tajikistan, I find that three isomorphic mechanisms are less dependent on the impact of religious institutional environments and interaction among religious organizations. Rather, isomorphic changes are manifested as the result of interaction with the state. Mimetic and normative processes are observed in a weak state, whereas coercive isomorphism is exerted under the influence of a strong state. A relative heterogeneity of the religious field is observed in the first two stages of the development of religious entities. Once the state expands its regulation and control, religious entities become more homogeneous in structure and administration due to coercive isomorphism. Implications for extending the concept of institutional isomorphism beyond traditional organizational fields are discussed.     

Resisting Institutionalization: Religious Professionals in the Emerging Church*

This article discusses how organizations can resist normative institutional pressures associated with the use of formally trained and credentialed professionals. This research draws on neoinstitutional theories of isomorphism and utilizes a framework of religious training developed by Finke and Dougherty (2002) , which emphasizes both the social and religious capital gained during professionalization, to show that resistance to normative institutional pressures is possible. The data demonstrate that organizations which act to reformulate the role of religious professionals in a way which limits both the opportunities and ability of clergy to implement and maintain organizational routines and processes can successfully avoid normative institutional forces. This research draws on over 50 interviews and 100 hours of fieldwork with people in the Emerging Church, a religious movement that has arisen in the last 25 years as a response to increasing distrust of institutional authority. This study helps to close the gap between institutional studies of organizations and the sociology of religion by suggesting that some, currently overlooked, organizational activities can be more accurately understood as deliberate attempts to resist institutionalizing forces.     

Between Sacral Belief and Moral Community: A Multidimensional Approach to the Relationship Between Religion and Alcohol Among Whites and Blacks

This study explores the conditions under which two dimensions of religion first specified by Durkheim (1995), the normative and the integrative, may be related to a particular aspect of alcohol use among white and black adults. The analysis compares those denominations that oppose the use of alcohol to those that do not, while simultaneously examining the effects of the relative strength of the commitment to the religious community on the risk for dependency. Because a substantially large sample drawn from 41 mid-sized cities nationwide is employed, the study is able to expand the set of denominations considered, and, more importantly, to conduct a more refined analysis of differences between black and white respondents than is typically possible. The findings indicate that although effects due to religious denomination are certainly a factor in the risk for dependency, this is much more so the case among whites than among blacks. By contrast, among blacks, frequency of church attendance, a measure of integration, is a more powerful predictor of risk than it is for whites. These results suggest that to more fully comprehend the manner in which alcohol use and religion are linked, especially in the black community, the organizational nature of the church—and not solely its denomination—needs to be considered in the attempt to assess the risk of alcohol dependency.     

The Shareholder Value Principle: The Governance and Control of Corporations in the United States

In recent decades, maximization of shareholder value has been a dominant business principle in the United States. This article reviews sociological accounts about the emergence, diffusion, and reality of the shareholder value principle. Although mainstream research in law and economics on corporate governance embraces the shareholder value principle and provides theoretical justifications for it, sociologists consider the shareholder value principle to be a product of specific economic, political, and ideological environments. Based on sociological research that reveals normative and political foundations of the shareholder value principle, I argue that the shareholder value principle is far from hegemonic in the contemporary United States. Indeed, faced with shareholder primacy, corporations and top executives have adopted various strategies, such as perfunctory conformity and symbolic acquiescence. The result is a highly volatile and contested system of corporate governance today.     

Religious fund-raising: The theology of stewardship

In funding their national and international ministries, many mainline denominations report a shrinking financial base as local members and congregations change from the traditional unified budget approach to a designated or second pocket giving approach. This article traces the history of this development, relates it to biblical concepts of stewardship, discusses its implications for both religious and secular endeavors, and raises questions that require additional research.     

The Who of Power?

How is the causative role of ideas appreciated in understanding the political economy of neoliberalism? What are the origin stories of neoliberalism and how are these related to the periodisation of capitalism? Is there a role for an explicit normative perspective in critiquing neoliberalism as a set of class relations? These broad questions are raised in this feature review, which looks at the latest work on the durability of embedded neoliberalism. It does so by highlighting the importance of revealing and critiquing ideas-centred assumptions within political economy in order to offer an alternative stance on the class relations, institutions, and ideology of present-day capitalism. As a consequence, reflecting further on the who of power remains an enduring challenge for political economy.     

The idea of philosophical sociology

This article introduces the idea of philosophical sociology as an enquiry into the relationships between implicit notions of human nature and explicit conceptualizations of social life within sociology. Philosophical sociology is also an invitation to reflect on the role of the normative in social life by looking at it sociologically and philosophically at the same: normative self‐reflection is a fundamental aspect of sociology's scientific tasks because key sociological questions are, in the last instance, also philosophical ones. For the normative to emerge, we need to move away from the reductionism of hedonistic, essentialist or cynical conceptions of human nature and be able to grasp the conceptions of the good life, justice, democracy or freedom whose normative contents depend on more or less articulated conceptions of our shared humanity. The idea of philosophical sociology is then sustained on three main pillars and I use them to structure this article: (1) a revalorization of the relationships between sociology and philosophy; (2) a universalistic principle of humanity that works as a major regulative idea of sociological research, and; (3) an argument on the social (immanent) and pre‐social (transcendental) sources of the normative in social life. As invitations to embrace posthuman cyborgs, non‐human actants and material cultures proliferate, philosophical sociology offers the reminder that we still have to understand more fully who are the human beings that populate the social world.     

Different while being similar: The dual institutional process and differential organizational status

Connecting the neoinstitutional theory with Bourdieu's field theory, we develop a framework on the dual institutional process of integration and differentiation in a field. While the neoinstitutional theory has focused on similar organizational structures, we shift the research focus to offer an institutional explanation of differential organizational status. Drawing insights from Bourdieu's theory and key concepts, we highlight that the very institutional mechanisms causing isomorphism—regulative forces, normative pressures, and cognitive processes—also generate systematic status differentiation among organizations via their different levels of capital, homologous structures, and various habitus in a field. Our extended framework has theoretical significance in advancing the neoinstitutional theory, the research of status in organizational and economic sociology, and the Bourdieusian perspective. By theorizing status differentiation among organizations, it also adds an important dimension to enrich our understanding of multilevel status and social hierarchies.     

Women and philanthropy in nineteenth-century Ireland

Religion played a major role in directing the philanthropy of Irish women in the nineteenth century. The most extensive systems of welfare were provided by Catholic female religious communities, but substantial and extensive charity was also provided by Protestant denominations. There was much rivalry between Catholic and Protestant charity workers, particularly in work relating to orphaned and destitute children. While the denominational basis of charity work prevented women of different religious persuasions from working together as philanthropists, lay Catholic women were profoundly affected by the limits placed on their activities by nuns. Lay Catholic women had no major tradition of organising in institutions or societies for charity work and, in consequence, the experience of organising for social change came later to Catholic women than it did to Protestant women. Catholic women were slow not only to join reform organisations but also to campaign for changes in social legislation or to demand suffrage.     

The relationship between bonding and bridging social capital among Christian denominations across Australia

This article is an intricate empirical examination of the relationship between bridging and bonding with respect to subcultural differences in religious denomination and faith orientation. The respondents were 2,710 Christian church attendees from nineteen denominations across Australia. They were surveyed with a closed‐answer questionnaire covering the topics of faith, demographics, involvement in the congregation, and involvement in the wider community. The results revealed a positive relationship between bonding and bridging social capital, with a high level of bonding associated with a high level of bridging for all denominations and faith identities. There was no evidence that high bonding within the congregation restricted bridging beyond the congregation. The results support the notion that the relationship between bonding and bridging may vary with societal subcultures.     

ENTER INTO HIS GATES: AN ANALYSIS OF BLACK CHURCH PARTICIPATION PATTERNS

This study examines contemporary trends in Black Church adult participation and whether and how patterns are influenced by factors such as denomination, location, church and clergy profile, church environment, and programmatic efforts. Bivariate and ordered logit results based on Faith Factor 2000 Project data across seven denominations suggest minimal denominational influence; however, church environment, including worship features and sermonic emphasis, as well as varied programs, positively influence participation. Additionally, participation decline is apparent among rural congregations. Results help illumine profiles of Black churches most likely to experience high or low levels of participation.     

The Association Between Loneliness, Social Isolation and Women's Electronic Gaming Machine Gambling

Since the introduction of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) in Victoria, Australia, the visibility of women as gamblers has greatly increased, yet few researchers have explored female gambling patterns and motives. An exception was a study by Brown and Coventry (1997), involving a phone-in of women with gambling problems, and analysis of gambling support service data. Results led the authors to suggest that the most common motivations for women gambling were boredom, loneliness and isolation. The current research assessed this claim through a comparative study of female EGM gamblers and non-gamblers, matched for age and education and drawn from the same geographic location. Data indicated that gambling women in general (N = 38) did not report higher levels of loneliness or social isolation than non-gambling women (N = 57). However, the sub-group of women classified though the South Oaks Gambling Screen as having gambling problems (N = 18) were significantly more lonely (in the sense of alienated rather than friendless or isolated) than the rest of the sample, including both non-gamblers and those who gambled but experienced only minor, or no problems with this activity. Problem gambling women were also more likely to be involved in social networks for which gambling was normative. The study is suggestive of loneliness (or alienation) as either a consequence or a vulnerability factor for problem gambling, but a longitudinal research design would be needed to clarify this issue.     

The paradox of multiple elections

Assume that voters must choose between voting yes (Y) and voting no (N) on three propositions on a referendum. If the winning combination is NYY on the first, second, and third propositions, respectively, the paradox of multiple elections is that NYY can receive the fewest votes of the 2³ = 8 combinations. Several variants of this paradox are illustrated, and necessary and sufficient conditions for its occurrence, related to the “incoherence” of support, are given. The paradox is shown, via an isomorphism, to be a generalization of the well-known paradox of voting. One real-life example of the paradox involving voting on propositions in California, in which not a single voter voted on the winning side of all the propositions, is given. Several empirical examples of variants of the paradox that manifested themselves in federal elections – one of which led to divided government – and legislative votes in the US House of Representatives, are also analyzed. Possible normative implications of the paradox, such as allowing voters to vote directly for combinations using approval voting or the Borda count, are discussed. Received: 31 July 1996 / Accepted: 1 October 1996     

MORAL MESSAGES: THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF DENOMINATION ON THE RELIGIOSITY-ALCOHOL RELATIONSHIP

This article examines the use and misuse of alcohol across religious denominations. After controlling for standard sociodemographic variables, we find that the impact of religiosity on alcohol use is greatest among those denominations taking a strong stand against its consumption, mainly because religion constitutes a significant reference group for members. We also find that religiosity fails to influence misuse, and discuss the possible reasons for this result.     

Creating value,not wasting resources: sustainable innovation strategies

It is well-accepted in academic and public debate that society has overused natural resources. Business managers in consequence face a normative framework where products need to become more “sustainable”. The paper characterises the mechanisms and logic that make “[environmentally] sustainable innovation strategies”. Those mechanisms highlight multiple value creation and sustaining value beyond the original new product lifecycle. They yield as much utility as possible from the embedded natural resources. And they avoid creating waste. “Multiple value creation” asks managers to revaluate the attrite product or to make customers change their use patterns. The paper then demonstrates how to extend the “old” logic of innovation with a phase of revaluation: a phase promoting further use of the product and/or material. Our concept is empirically illustrated by two industry case examples. Namely, the copier and the emerging automotive lithium-ion batteries industry. We provide a patent analysis in order to demonstrate the assessment of extended life cycles, for the case of “recovery of raw materials from disposed products”.     

School discipline and disruptive classroom behavior: the moderating effects of student perceptions

This study examines the relationship between school discipline and student classroom behavior. A traditional deterrence framework predicts that more severe discipline will reduce misbehavior. In contrast, normative perspectives suggest that compliance depends upon commitment to rules and authority, including perceptions of fairness and legitimacy. Using school and individual-level data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and multilevel regression modeling, the author finds support for the normative perspective. Students who perceive school authority as legitimate and teacher–student relations as positive are rated as less disruptive. While perceptions of fairness also predict lower disruptions, the effects are mediated by positive teacher–student relations. Contrary to the deterrence framework, more school rules and higher perceived strictness predicts more, not less, disruptive behavior. In addition, a significant interaction effect suggests that attending schools with more severe punishments may have the unintended consequence of generating defiance among certain youth.     

The Liberal Paradox: A generalisation

A largely unsolved problem in economics is what criteria should an economic policy satisfy to be desirable. The Pareto principle is the most widely used normative criterion in economics. Some recent criticisms have suggested that it is not compatible with other objectives of economic policy, most significantly that the Pareto principle conflicts with the respect of individual rights. This paper argues that the Pareto principle is not a significant cause of this conflict. Our argument is based upon a simple generalisation of the Liberal Paradox.For Comments I would like to thank Ruvin Gekker, Kevin Lang, Yew-Kwang Ng, Prasanta Pattanaik, Amartya Sen, John Wriglesworth, the referee, and the editor of this journal     

The news of the death of welfare economics is greatly exaggerated

The paper reexamines the controversy about Bergson–Samuelson social welfare functions (BSFs) that took place between welfare economists and social choice theorists as a consequence of Arrow’s (1951) impossibility theorem. The 1970’s witnessed a new version of the theorem that was meant to establish that BSFs “make interpersonal comparisons of utility or are dictatorial.” Against this, Samuelson reasserted the existence of well-behaved “ordinalist” BSFs and generally denied the relevance of Arrovian impossibilities to welfare economics. The paper formalizes and reassesses each camp’s arguments. While being also critical of Samuelson’s, it eventually endorses his conclusion that welfare economics was left untouched by the controversy. It draws some connections of BSFs with contemporary normative economics.     

A Stain on the White Uniform — The Discursive Construction of Nurses' Industrial Action in the Media

This article focuses on the discursive construction of the nursing profession in the context of an industrial action. Drawing on studies that claim that the diffusion of new public management reforms restructure healthcare professions and on feminist studies arguing that gender is crucial to understanding the concepts and processes of this restructuring, the article examines a media debate surrounding a recent labour dispute in the Finnish healthcare sector. The analysis illustrates how the nursing profession was discursively constructed through a negotiation of individual and societal rights and responsibilities, and how the debate was framed by competing and contested discourses of professionalization, caring, labour markets and new public management. As a consequence, the debate both sustained and reproduced the traditional gendered meanings related to the nursing profession, as well as provided a context for unsettling, at least for a moment, the normative gender order of Finnish society.