Social institutions

Streeck, W. Social Institutions and Economic Performance, Studies in Industrial Relations in Advanced Capitalist Economies. Newbury Park (Sage) 1992... 

The elementary unit of social life is the individual human action. To explain social institutions and social change is to show how they arise as the result of the action and interaction of individuals. This view, often referred to as methodological individualism, is in my view trivially true. Many think differently, however, and some of their arguments will be addressed in chapter XV. Here 1 want to stress that individual actions are themselves in need of explanation. ... 

Each problem - why we are not in the state of nature and why we are not in a state of chaos - could be resolved in two ways. On the one hand, cooperation and coordination may emerge by decentralized, uncoerced action. This is the topic of this chapter and the two following ones. On the other hand, cooperation and coordination may be centrally imposed by social institutions backed by force. This is the topic of chapter XV, where 1 also argue, however, that the distinction is less clear-cut than it might appear. 

Identification of risk levels and margins of safety in comparisons with other commonly encountered chemicals do not finally solve the problem whether a particular chemical risk constitutes a socially acceptable risk. This must finally be determined in the social institutions mentioned earlier at the various political jurisdictions. Whether a risk will be socially acceptable depends not only on the level of risk, which we have dealt with here, but on the nature of the risk, on who assumes the risk, who receives the benefit, and one s personal philosophy of accepting any risk versus zero risk. 

Especially to assist in the analysis of business performance, to understand socio-cultural and environmental concerns and to consider tourism as a social institution in contemporary life... 

The hazards posed by urban environmental contaminants are not, of course, the only ones posed to ecological and human health. Climate change, access to health care, the provision and maintenance of sanitary and other infrastructure, and numerous other economic and political factors variously impact on ecological and human health in cities. By some measures, and in some locations, urbanites enjoy better health and well-being than their rural counterparts, a difference thought to be due to socioeconomic factors, and access to health care and other social institutions (Perdue et al., 2003). Pohcies to address urban environmental health may be debated within a benefit-risk framework that considers the multiplicity of economic, social and environmental factors that interact and underhe health and well-being. 

The way people and social institutions will react to climate change will differ from region to region, country to country. Some countries will gain, some will lose. It is not too late for the African countries to involve in their future plans the alternatives to increased carbon dioxide, reduced fossil-fuel consumption, and a higher reafforestation rate. 

The philosophy of history warrants explanation in terms of consequences that are beneficial for the ultimate advent of communism. In other contexts, Marx argues that social institutions and forms of... 

In The German Ideology Marx introduced a quite general notion of alienation, involving men s alienation from social institutions and other aggregate phenomena ... 

For modem dtscusskms, see ( son. The logic of Coffrirfitv Action, ch. IV Baumd, Wtifare Economics and the Theory of the Slate Taylor, Anard and Cooperation Sdwtter, The Economic Theory of Social Institutions. 

Elster, J. (1996b) "Equal or proportional Arguing and bargaining over the Senate at the Federal Convention," in J. Knight and 1. Sened (eds.), Explaining Social Institutions, Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press 1995 PP- M5 6o-... 

Lastly, Gro Harlem Brundtland, head of the World Health Organization and former prime minister of Norway and the secretary general of the World Commission on Environment and Development has noted that The obstacles to sustainability are not mainly technical. They are social, institutional and political. ... 

Clearly, there exist cases where the community is contained within a single company or institution, often for security reasons, though there are cases where the proprietary nature of the research effectively contains the community. Still, I think these are exceptions, and I would argue that, generally speaking, engineering communities span social institutions, such as corporations, universities, and national lines. 

This exhaustive work by one of America s foremost historians covers every aspect of intellectual life from earliest times to 1965. The arts, sciences, mathematics, philosophy, social institutions, technology, religious institutions, jurisprudence, music, literature, and every other area of cultural history. Scientific portions brought up to date by foremost scholars such as Jagjit Singh, Donald Menze), etc. Total of 1318pp. 5 x 814. 

Transforming disability from an existential disaster into an economic bonanza has, of course, far-reaching financial, personal, political, and social consequences. Long before the advent of Medicare, Medicaid, and the AWDA, Ludwig von Mises warned As a social institution it [social insurance] has thus made the neurosis of the insured a dangerous public disease. Should the institution be extended and developed the disease will spread.. . . We cannot weaken or destroy the will to health without producing illness. 7... 

Perhaps the best way to understand the mythical character of certain beliefs is to examine their history. Why did medieval man choose to believe in witchcraft and seek the amelioration of his society in the compulsory salvation of witches Why does modem man choose to believe in the myth of mental illness and seek the amelioration of his society in the compulsory treatment of mental patients In each of these mass movements we are faced with two interlocking phenomena a guiding myth (of witchcraft and of mental illness), and a powerful social institution (the Inquisition and Institutional Psychiatry) the former provides the ideological justification, the latter, the practical means for social action. Much of what I have said so far in this book, and particularly in Chapter 4, was an effort to answer the questions posed above. Since, in the discussion heretofore, my emphasis has been on institutional practices rather than on ideological (mythological) justifications, I shall concentrate, in this chapter, on what men believe and the imagery they use to express their belief, rather than on what they ostensibly seek and the means they employ to achieve it. 

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