Religious Polities as Institutions*
作者:
Mike McMullen,
期刊:
Social Forces
(OUP Available online 1994)
卷期:
Volume 73,
issue 2
页码: 709-728
ISSN:0037-7732
年代: 1994
DOI:10.1093/sf/73.2.709
出版商: The University of North Carolina Press
数据来源: OUP
摘要:
This article explores the application of neoinstitutional theory to religious organizations, focusing on how institutionalized myths and rituals of ecclesiastical authority influence members' behavior and attitudes toward organizational policy. Research done on hierarchical and decentralized religious polities (which are structures of church government) reveal differential processes of informing parishioners about church policy. Hierarchical (or “tightly structured”) religious institutions foster knowledge of organizational policy because of the myths and rituals of recognized ecclesiastical authority, while decentralized (or “loosely structured”) religious institutions, whose myths and rituals focus on local autonomy, rely upon members' external motivation for awareness of organizational policy. In part, this article argues for the theoretical usefulness of the application of neoinstitutional theory to various organizational fields, such as religious organizations.
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