Institutions and Institutionalism

Definitions

The meaning of the term institution is wide ranging, from more restricted to more elaborate and also along several dimensions. One dimension is the degree of formalization of an institution. At the most informal pole, it is common to speak of habits, customs, or conventions. A habit is any action whose repetitive nature comes to be recognized by a self-conscious actor and thus is internally represented. A custom is a habit that is shared by members of a collectivity and hence social. A convention is any agreed-on procedure. Language itself is a convention, as both the meanings of words and syntactical structures require social agreement for communication. The same is true for other social “codes” such as myths and rituals that both embody, and thus communicate, social ideas and ideals but yet require some understanding of such collective representations for their decoding. To the extent that a convention is adopted by ever larger numbers of people and comes to be collectively [Page 1203]binding, it is eventually described as an institution. This movement from an informal to a formal setup is termed institutionalization. As it entails a shift from an individual to a society and from freedom to constraint, it can be viewed as a transition from nature to culture.

The degree to which institutions are collectively binding, however, constitutes a second dimension of variation. A tradition or folkway has been followed over time and by a particular group, such that an individual's cultural identity may incline him or her to adhere to a given custom. The French term moeurs and the English mores, which correspond to the German Sitte, connote slightly more social obligation. A norm, which may be defined as an internalized belief, is more strongly binding, because its transgression is open to moral or social sanction. The Hegelian distinction between Sittlichkeit and Moralität is based on the isolation of the moral rule from the original moral community (Gemeinschaft) and its transfer to the society (Gesellschaft), after which, ultimately, it undergoes a synthesis through the state (Staat). A law is a collectively binding decision whose interpretation is subject to adjudication only in specialized juridical bodies and by breaking which one is subjected to punishment, again by public institutions with a monopoly on the exertion of legitimate force, as pointed out by Max Weber. Consequently, the workings of some institutions may depend on other institutions or on institutionalized settings. As discussed in classical political theory, the establishment of the state or Leviathan is the decisive shift accomplished by the move from the state of nature to civil society.

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