Dear colleagues,
Please join us for an exciting symposium in Anaheim, Institutional Logics and Categories: Reflections, Integration, and Future Directions on Tuesday, Aug 9, 9:45AM - 11:15AM in the Northeast Marquis Ballroom at Anaheim Marriott.
Distinguished Panelists: Rodolphe Durand, Candace Jones, Patricia Thornton, Lynne Zucker
Organizers: Eunice Rhee, Jade Lo
This symposium aims to bridge two fast-growing research areas in organization theory: category and categorization, and the institutional logics perspective. Categories are institutionalized ways to structure human cognition and shape individuals' schemas; yet, to fully understand how a category emerges, changes, gets legitimized or dismissed, it is crucial to be conscious of how the institutional logics in a particular context support or suppress the practice or meaning associated with the focal category. Likewise, each institutional logic is associated with a set of categorical elements that act as building blocks, and understanding these categories, or classification of concepts, are key to appreciating the substance of institutional logics. Thus, this symposium is an attempt to open up discussion about this under-developed but important area of potential synthesis by bridging category studies and institutional logics perspective.
First, Lynne Zucker will start the discussion by focusing on the more fundamental question of institutional theory, that is, institutional change and stability. In particular, her discussion will focus on categories as classifications of concepts that underpin institutional logics that influence the stability of institutions. Next,Patricia Thornton will discuss how categories are building blocks of institutional logics along with institutional orders. Moreover, she will explore why the categories literature has not coalesced into a distinct theory and literature. Moving from a more general view of categories as institutionalized concepts that classify collective knowledge that influence the stability and change in institutions, the next two panelists pay more attention to market categories. Rodolphe Durand will discuss how research on market categories help substantiate the two faces of logics, structural and argumentative and also highlight the need to explore the cognitive process of categorization as well as category dynamics. Next,Candace Jones will discuss the effect of societal transformation on logic plurality and category emergence, as well as how cultural resources are created and/or repurposed in turn. There will be a Q&A session following the panelists' presentation, so the audience will have the opportunity to communicate their thoughts on the topic with the panelists and with each other. We hope that this symposium advances our understanding of institutional logics and categories as theoretical constructs, the relationship between them, and implications for future research.