Meyer, John

American sociologist John Meyer has been a central figure in the development of neoinstitutional or sociological institutional theory. Along with a large number of collaborators, he has contributed important ideas about education's institutional effects on society, the expansion of mass schooling, and the nature of world society. Meyer's institutional theory counters the assumption that there is a natural, realist account of education premised on the rational choices of interested actors. He argues instead that institutions construct conceptual models of the world, affecting individuals at the cognitive level. As a social institution, education does not simply socialize individuals. It creates new social roles, identities, and forms of knowledge. Meyer's work further depicts the emergence of education as a global institution, a central component of a pervasive ...