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The Ceremonial‐Instrumental Dichotomy in Institutional Analysis: The Nature, Scope and Radical Implications of the Conflicting Systems
Author(s) -
Junker Louis
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1982.tb03164.x
Subject(s) - conceptualization , scrutiny , context (archaeology) , subject (documents) , hegemony , sociology , institutional analysis , power (physics) , possession (linguistics) , law and economics , epistemology , positive economics , political economy , political science , law , economics , social science , politics , history , philosophy , archaeology , library science , computer science , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics
A bstract . 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.