Description
Book SynopsisOrganizations are central actors of modern society. No understanding of our world is complete without a theory of how they work. This insight is grounded in the foundational texts of classical social theory, and it remains as true as ever today. Be they multinational corporations or start-up firms, established political parties or insurgent social movements, successful organizations must engage in power-projects. Such is the overarching argument of this volume, a collection of papers by many of the world's leading social scientists and organizational scholars. Many contributions analyze empirical data to generate cutting-edge arguments about the actual working of organizations, institutions, and markets. Other papers represent original theoretical arguments that propose new ways to see and study power. Topics addressed include the nature of post-bureaucratic (polyarchic) organizations, strategic action within fields, identity and contentious politics, and emergent forms of resistance. Collectively, the papers that comprise this volume set a fresh agenda for the study of power in and across organizations and institutions.
Table of ContentsList of Contributors. Rethinking Power in Organizations, Institutions, and Markets: Classical Perspectives, Current Research, and the Future Agenda. Researching Organizational Elites: A Critical Realist Perspective. The Polyarchic Bureaucracy: Cooperative Resistance in the Workplace and the Construction of a New Political Structure of Organizations. The Limit of Bureaucratic Power in Organizations: The Case of the Chinese Bureaucracy. Murky Power: “Think Tanks” as Boundary Organizations. Laboring for the Man: Augmenting Authority in a Voluntary Association. Conceptualizing Power in Organizations. Dominant Ideological Modes of Rationality: Organizations as Arenas of Struggle Over Members’ Categorization Devices. Scenes from a Power Struggle: The Rise of Retail Investors in the US Stock Market. Targeting Organizations: Private and Contentious Politics. A Political–Cultural Approach to the Problem of Strategic Action. Rethinking Power in Organizations, Institutions, and Markets. Research in the sociology of organizations. Research in the sociology of organizations. Copyright page. Advisory Board.
