Course Description Sociology 915 Seminar in Sociological Theory Institutions, Actors, and Historical Change: Economy, Society, Politics Fall 2006 Tuesday 9:30-12:00 6310 Social Science Class # 25224 Professor Jonathan Zeitlin 319 Ingraham phone: 265-6640 email: jzeitlin@wisc.edu Institutions and institutionalism are central to contemporary debates across the social sciences. So too are concepts such as actors, action, and agency. And there is widespread agreement that understanding historical change constitutes a key challenge for institutionalist and action theories of all types. This course is intended to guide graduate students through the key debates in contemporary social science about the relationship between institutions, actors, and historical change. The first section of the course will compare the major contending schools of new institutionalism which have emerged in recent years rational-choice, sociological, and historical examining their core theoretical assumptions, methodological orientations, empirical applications, characteristic strengths and weaknesses, and mutual compatibility. The second section of the course shifts the focus from institutions to actors and agency, devoting particular attention to pragmatist and constructivist perspectives, old as well as new. The aim here is to explore theoretical resources for understanding reflexive action, whereby individuals, organizations, and groups may come to modify not only their habits, routines, and strategies in the light of experience and social interaction, but also in some cases their preferences, interests, and identities. The final section of the course puts institutionalist and action theories to the test of practice as tools for understanding historical change. After considering the uses and limitations of path dependence as a conceptual framework for analyzing institutional stability and change, we will conclude by considering some recent theoretically informed writings on the historical formation and transformation of two central institutional complexes of modern society: capitalist economies and national states. The course is designed to be useful to graduate students in Sociology, Political Science, History, and other social science disciplines irrespective of their substantive or geographical area of specialization. No previous background is required. Requirements and Grading All seminar participants are expected to: 1) take an active part in class discussions; 2) prepare twelve memos on the week s required readings (1-2 single-spaced pages each); 3) write a 15-20
page paper (typed, double-spaced), on a topic related to the themes of the course and agreed in advance with me, due at the final meeting. Weekly memos and class participation will not be formally marked, but will count for 50 percent of the final course grade. I will meet with each student individually midway through the semester to provide an interim performance assessment, and discuss possible areas for improvement. The paper will be formally evaluated and will count for the remaining 50 percent of the final grade. Weekly memos are intended to prepare the ground for good discussions by requiring seminar participants to set out their initial responses to the readings in written form. Memos should not summarize the readings, but should engage with them analytically, by taking up specific arguments, comparing the positions of different authors, identifying particular strengths and weaknesses in the texts, drawing out implications, and/or applying theoretical insights to empirical issues with which you are concerned. Each memo should also identify at least one question that you would like the class to discuss. We will arrange to share these memos through email. In order for everyone to have time to read over others memos, these will be due on email by 6 pm on Monday evening (the day before the class meets). (You are entitled to skip any two weeks but no more during the semester, in deference to your other scheduled commitments.) I will use the email memos to prepare an agenda for our discussions. Memos submitted after 6pm may not be included in the agenda. The final paper may take a number of different forms, depending on students interests. These include: (a) An extended review essay on a book (or in some cases a pair of related books) that develops an empirical application of one or more of the theoretical perspectives we address in the course. Such review essays should include a concise summary of the main claims advanced in the book but should especially focus on situating the work within a broader literature/debate and on providing a well-developed and thought-out critical analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. A list of suggested books will be provided; other books may be substituted with my prior approval. (b) A research paper or proposal that applies one or more of the theoretical perspectives we address in the course to a specific empirical problem with which you are concerned. (c) An in-depth critical analysis of a major work or body of theory related to the themes of the course but not covered directly in the reading. Reading The following books (indicated by an asterisk in the syllabus) will be available for student purchase at the University Book Store and at the Underground Textbook Exchange (664 State St.): Campbell, John L. and Ove K. Pedersen, eds., The Rise of Neo-Liberalism and Institutional Analysis (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001). Crouch, Colin, Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). 2
Ferrera, Maurizio, The Boundaries of Welfare: European Integration and the New Politics of Social Protection (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Mead, George Herbert, Mind, Self, & Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1934) North, Douglass, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Te Brake, Wayne, Shaping History: Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500-1700, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998). A course reader will be available for purchase at the Social Science Copy Center. All books listed in this syllabus will also be available on reserve at the Helen C. White College Library. Most journal articles can be accessed and downloaded through the UW electronic library. Go either to MadCat or to the Electronic Journals List (http://www.library.wisc.edu/journals/), look up the title, and follow the links. Copies of book chapters and other materials not otherwise available online can be accessed through the e- reserves system under the course number. I will also create a course webpage using Learn@UW, where I may post other relevant materials during the semester. 1. Introductory Meeting (September 5) A. Institutions and Institutionalisms 2. Varieties of Institutionalism (September 12) Hall, Peter and Rosemary Taylor, (1996): Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms, Political Studies 44: 936-57. Nee, Victor (2005): The New Institutionalisms in Economics and Sociology, in Neil J. Smelser and Richard Swedberg (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Sociology (2 nd ed., New York/Princeton, NJ: Russell Sage/Princeton University Press), 26-74. Stinchcombe, Arthur L. (1997): On the Virtues of the Old Institutionalism, Annual Review of Sociology 23: 1-18. *Campbell, John L. and Ove K. Pedersen, eds. (2001): The Rise of Neo-Liberalism and Institutional Analysis (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), Introduction and Conclusion, pp. 1-23, 249-81. 3
3. Rational-Choice Institutionalism (September 19) *North, Douglass (1990): Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), esp. chs. 1-4, 8, 10-12, pp. 3-35, 61-69, 83-117. Weingast, Barry (2002): Rational Choice Institutionalism in Ira Katznelson and Helen Milner, eds. Political Science: State of the Discipline (New York: Norton), 660-92. Aoki, Masahiko (2001): Towards a Comparative Institutional Analysis (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), ch. 1 ( What Are Institutions? How Should We Approach Them? ), pp. 1-29. *Campbell and Pedersen, Rise of Neo-Liberalism, chs. 2-3 (Jack Knight, Explaining the Rise of Neoliberalism: The Mechanisms of Institutional Change ; Edgar Kiser and Aaron M. Lang, Have We Overestimated the Effects of Neoliberalism and Globalization? Some Speculations on the Anomalous Stability of Taxes on Business ), pp. 27-68. 4. Sociological Institutionalism (September 26) Powell, Walter and Paul DiMaggio, eds. (1991): The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), chs. 1-3, pp. 1-82. March, James and Johan P. Olsen (1989): Rediscovering Institutions (New York: Free Press), selections. Jepperson, Ronald L. (2002): The Development and Application of Sociological Neoinstitutionalism in Joseph Berger and Morris Zelditch, eds., New Directions in Contemporary Sociological Theory (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield), 229-66. Risse, Thomas (2002): Constructivism and International Institutions: Towards Conversations Across Paradigms, in Katznelson and Milner, Political Science, 597-629. *Campbell and Pedersen, Rise of Neoliberalism, chs. 7, 9 (John L. Campbell, Institutional Analysis and the Role of Ideas in Political Economy ; Peter Kjær and Ove K. Pedersen, Translating Liberalization: Neoliberalism in the Danish Negotiated Economy ), pp. 159-89, 219-48. 5. Historical Institutionalism (October 3) Thelen, Kathleen (1999): Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics, Annual Review of Political Science 2: 369-404. Pierson, Paul and Theda Skocpol (2002): Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science, in Katznelson and Milner, Political Science, 693-721. Clemens, Elizabeth and James Cook (1999): Politics and Institutionalism: Explaining Durability and Change, Annual Review of Sociology 25: 441-66. 4
Thelen, Kathleen (2003): How Institutions Evolve: Insights from Comparative Historical Analysis, in James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschmeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 208-40. *Campbell and Pedersen, Rise of Neoliberalism, chs. 4-5 (Bruce Western, Institutions, Investment, and the Rise in Unemployment ; Bruce Carruthers et al., Institutionalizing Markets, or the Market for Institutions: Central Banks, Bankruptcy Law, and the Globalization of Financial Markets ), pp. 71-126. B. Actors and Agency: Pragmatist and Constructivist Perspectives 6. Actors, Institutions, Agency (October 10) Scharpf, Fritz, (1997): Games Real Actors Play: Actor-Centered Institutionalism in Policy Research (Boulder, CO: Westview), Introduction and chs. 1-4, pp. 1-96. Whitford, Josh (2002): Pragmatism and the Untenable Dualism of Ends and Means: Why Rational Choice Does Not Deserve Paradigmatic Privilege, Theory and Society 31: 325-63. Emirbayer, Mustafa and Ann Mischke (1998): What Is Agency?, American Journal of Sociology 103(4): 962-1023. Joas, Hans (1996): The Creativity of Action (Cambridge: Polity), selection. 7. Dewey s Pragmatism: Deliberative Problem-Solving as the Reciprocal Determination of Ends and Means (October 17) Dewey, John (1922/1930): Human Nature and Conduct (New York: Modern Library), selections. Dewey, John (1929/1960): The Quest for Certainty (New York: Capricorn Books), selections. Dewey, John (1939): The Theory of Valuation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), entire (pp. 1-67). 8. Mead s Pragmatism: The Reflexive Constitution of the Self through Social Interaction (October 24) *Mead, George Herbert (1934): Mind, Self, & Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, ed. Charles W. Morris (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), selections. Markell, Patchen (forthcoming): The Potential and the Actual: Mead, Honneth, and the I, in David Owen and Bert van den Brink, eds., Recognition and Power in Contemporary Social and Political Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). 5
9. Narrative, Identity, and Action (October 31) Carr, David (1986a): Narrative and the Real World: An Argument for Continuity, History and Theory 25(2): 117-31. Carr, David (1986b): Time, Narrative, and History (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press), chs. V-VI, pp. 122-85. Somers, Margaret R. (1994): The Narrative Constitution of Identity: A Relational and Network Approach, Theory and Society 23: 605-49. Morson, Gary Saul (1998): Sideshadowing and Tempics, New Literary History 29(4): 599-624. Kristensen, Peer Hull and Jonathan Zeitlin (2005), Local Players in Global Games: The Strategic Constitution of a Multinational Corporation (Oxford: Oxford University Press), xii-xxii, 157-84. 10. Reflexivity in Action: Pragmatist Organizations (November 7) Sabel, Charles F. (1994): Learning by Monitoring: The Institutions of Economic Development, in Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg, eds., Handbook of Economic Sociology (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press and Russell Sage Foundation, 1994), 137-65. Helper, Susan, John Paul MacDuffie, and Charles Sabel, (2000): Pragmatic Collaborations: Advancing Knowledge while Controlling Opportunism, Industrial and Corporate Change, 9(3): 443-88. Sabel, Charles F. (2005): A Real Time Revolution in Routines, forthcoming in The Firm as a Collaborative Community, Charles Heckscher and Paul Adler, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Press). C. Understanding Historical Change: The Test of Practice 11. Path Dependence and Its Critics (November 14) *Pierson, Paul (2004): Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis (Princeton: Princeton University Press), esp. chs. 1-4, pp. 1-132. Mahoney, James (2000): Path Dependence in Historical Sociology, Theory and Society 29: 507-48. Greif, Avner and David Laitin (2004): An Endogenous Theory of Institutional Change, American Political Science Review 98(4): 633-52. 6
*Crouch, Colin, 2005: Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs (Oxford: Oxford University Press), ch. 4, ( Innovation and Path Dependence ), 74-100. 12. Historical Alternatives in Industrial Development (November 21) Sabel, Charles and Jonathan Zeitlin (1985): Historical Alternatives to Mass Production: Politics, Markets, and Technology in Western Industrialization, Past & Present no. 108: 133-76. Sabel, Charles and Jonathan Zeitlin (1997): Stories, Strategies, Structures: Rethinking Historical Alternatives to Mass Production, in Sabel and Zeitlin (eds.), World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1-33. Sabel, Charles (1996): Intelligible Differences: On Deliberate Strategy and the Exploration of Possibility in Economic Life, Rivista Italiana degli Economisti (Journal of the Society of Italian Economists) 1(1): 55-80, available on line at http://www.law.columbia.edu/sabel/papers/inteldif.html. Zeitlin, Jonathan (forthcoming): The Historical Alternatives Approach, in Geoffrey Jones and Jonathan Zeitlin (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Business History (Oxford: Oxford University Press). 13. Capitalist Diversity and Institutional Change (November 28) Hall, Peter A., and David Soskice (2001): An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism, in Hall and Soskice (eds.), Varieties of Capitalism: Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1-68. Streeck, Wolfgang, and Kathleen Thelen (2005): Introduction: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies, in Streeck and Thelen (eds.), Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1-39. *Crouch, Capitalist Diversity and Change, chs. 1-2, 5-7, pp. 1-45, 101-62. 14. Early Modern State Formation and Popular Politics (December 5) *Te Brake, Wayne (1998): Shaping History: Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500-1700, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press). 15. The Boundaries of Welfare and Social Citizenship (December 12) *Ferrera, Maurizio (2005): The Boundaries of Welfare: European Integration and the New Politics of Social Protection (Oxford: Oxford University Press). 7