The invisible order: a relational approach to social institutions

In: Palgrave studies in relational sociology

Abstract

"This important book brings up what in contemporary social theorising has been forgotten and ignored, namely taken for granted institutions. These institutions are the invisible kit that makes social order prevail. Herranen shows by a detailed and scholarly analysis that institutions, as relationally emerging phenomena, are the backbone of the social fabric. The timely book is a novel and valuable contribution to social theory, and the usefulness of the theoretical analysis is applied to the contemporary capitalistic society." Patrik Aspers, Chair of Sociology, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland "The problem of social order, how humans unconsciously coordinate, is perhaps the central problem of social theory, dividing, for example, historical Institutionalists from scholars of ideas and ideology. Herranen seeks to reconcile these disparate views, and he does so by rehabilitating Parsonian functionalism by embedding it in a relational ontology. The result is a deeply sociological and yet non-realist account of social life." Mark Blyth, The William R. Rhodes 57 Professor of International Economics, Brown University, US The book addresses the problem of institutionalised order in modern capitalist societies with highly developed division of labour. Via thorough critique and reconstruction of neo institutionalist theory, classical social theories, and critical ideology theory, The Invisible Order introduces the first relational theory of social institutions to explain in detail how individuals end up encountering institutions as objective. Thus synthesising integrative and conflicting social relations, this timely and useful relational examination of social institutions reveals how complex societies can keep functioning even though their orders are constantly contradicted by multiple disordering endeavours and tendencies. Olli Herranen is a researcher at University of Helsinki, Finland. His work has focused on social theory, climate-change denialism, and the political economy and public administration of both Finland and the European Union. .