The Ceremonial‐Instrumental Dichotomy in Institutional Analysis: The Nature, Scope and Radical Implications of the Conflicting Systems

Louis Junker

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1982, vol. 41, issue 2, 141-141

Abstract: Abstract. An intellectual crisis in institutionalist thought centers around the way the ceremonial‐instrumental dichotomy is perceived and used as a tool of socioeconomic analysis, and more pointedly the way the meaning and role of technological functioning in a ceremonial, power‐controlled context is assessed. Genuine technological‐instrumental forces serve to identify, examine and subject to critical scrutiny outmoded systems and perspectives. They set the tone for conceptualization, reconstruction and destruction of ceremonial institutional forms. The ceremonial power system is concerned with controlling the use, direction and consequences of that reconstruction while serving as the vehicle for defining the limits of technological development by dominating the legal, property and information systems. At home as abroad, the colonizer develops a system for exploiting the colonized and for legitimizing and rationalizing his hegemony.

Date: 1982
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1982.tb03164.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:41:y:1982:i:2:p:141-141

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0002-9246

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Economics and Sociology is currently edited by Laurence S. Moss

More articles in American Journal of Economics and Sociology from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().