People,Actors, and the Humanizing of Institutional Theory

In much contemporary institutional scholarship, the term ‘actor’ is used as a shorthand for any entity imbued with agency. Talking about actors in institutions thus serves the necessity of allocating agency before returning to the analysis of institutional structures and processes. We find this approach to actorhood limiting, conceptually and normatively. Grounded in the perspective of pragmatist phenomenology, we assert the need for distinguishing between persons and actors, and the value of integrating the person into institutional analysis. We conceive of persons as humans with a reflective capacity and sense of self, who engage with multiple institutions through the performance of institutional roles. People may acquire actorhood by temporarily aligning their self with what is expected from a particular actor-role in an institutional order. Conversely, institutions enter people’s lifeworld as they are personified in people’s social performances. We outline this perspective and examine conceptual and normative implications that arise from the integration of human experience in institutional analysis.     

Insider perspectives on growth: Implications for a nondichotomous understanding of ‘sustainable’ and conventional entrepreneurship

The aim of this paper is to offer an alternative to a priori theorising in research on firm-level growth and environmental sustainability. We outline an approach that combines John Shotter's phenomenology with post-hoc application of the Bourdieusian concepts of habitus, practices and social capital. This is illustrated empirically through a study conducted with a small group of Finnish entrepreneurs, which examines their lived experience of growth alongside its practical application in their ventures. The entrepreneurs' responses reveal holistic perspectives on growth that extend beyond the economic to incorporate personal commitments to norms of collectivity and well-being for themselves and others. The paper offers an exploratory but empirically grounded approach, arguing that a combination of insiders' perspectives and attention to the social embedding of economic activity challenge the dichotomous distinctions between sustainable and conventional entrepreneurship and reveal a degree of commonality that would not be evident via conventional categorisations on the basis of features such as business model type.     

废墟中的景观:新制度主义批判

在资产阶级经济学的各个分支中,新制度经济学可算是"此物最相思",但实际情况并非如此。所谓的古典主义—新古典主义—新制度主义,乃是资产阶级本体论意义上的虚假理论发展之路;其"虚假"就在于本体论工作预设,在于逻辑推理所依据的本体的虚假性,这样才有社会物理学→数学物理学→现象学的社会物理学的体系更迭性和知识不断翻新,而其中的话语是高度一致的物象学科(工作)语言。这种资产阶级理论为社会主观批判实践提供了"漫画",创立工作范型,巧设了批判模本,而要求研究对象规定的真正意义的去魅。     

A phenomenological explication of guanxi in rural tourism management: A case study of a village in China

Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology in tourism studies as well as Heidegger's concept of being-in-the-world, this paper reveals how tourism can and should be done in a Chinese rural village. This research contributes a contextual interpretation of guanxi in Chinese rural tourism development through an empirical study of a traditional agricultural village in China that has been transformed through tourism development. The paper argues that for the Chinese indigenous residents who are the primary actors engaged in tourism, guanxi is, neither a Confucian political ideal nor an instrumental tool, but the specific manner in which they dwell in their place. It demonstrates how the tourist destination, landscape and managerial regulation have been modified and adapted in a guanxi way. The paper suggests that an emic understanding of guanxi and the roles it plays in tourism participants' daily life is warranted and can provide a more holistic picture of tourism development in rural China.     

对弱势群体的现象学解释

现象学的整体与部分、多样性中的同一性、在场与缺席三种形式结构为研究和探讨各种论题提供了方法论意义。弱势群体作为目前重要的话题对象之一,以现象学的哲学思维剖析它的性质、特点,审视它与其他群体之间的关系等等,有助于进一步发现弱势群体自身的结构、特点,揭示它与其他群体合作中多样性因素的存在价值,以为制定科学地、合理地、具有时效性的社会救助方案提供新的思维路径。     

A Phenomenological Approach to Inquiring into an Ethically Bankrupted Organization: A Case Study of a Japanese Company

This study introduced a phenomenological approach to the study of the companies that committed corporate crimes. The author first developed the epistemology of normative control which is based on the philosophical ground of phenomenology, sociology of knowledge, ethnomethodology, Habermas's normative theories, and Foucault's normalizing discourse in the context of organizations. He, then, showed the procedures for conducting a qualitative and phenomenological empirical case study of an aggressive Japanese company whose name appeared in the media for its scandal in Tokyo. The inquiry revealed the generative mechanism of normative control and the patterns of constructing social reality of workplaces in a Japanese company.For the sabbatical period August 1999–August 2000:     

From pushchairs to wheelchairs: understanding tensions in family decision making through the experiences of adult children caring for ageing parents

Abstract

Within a modern family life, roles have changed significantly; however, relatively little attention has been given to the increased health and longevity of parents. This article focuses on the tensions relating to the transitional role of parent as ‘carer of the child’ to child as ‘carer of the parent’ as parents age. This article focuses on the experiences of adult children as they care for their parents and the related tensions that emerge and coping strategies that are adopted. Adopting an interpretive approach we shed light on the decision-making practices around shopping, residential arrangements and other consumer choices and how they take place in complex arenas of intricate family interactions, influence and power. Key themes that emerged were strategies adopted by both the adult child and ageing parent to attain or retain control in an increasingly sensitive environment where there is no roadmap to guide either party.     

“People First—Always”: Euphemism and Rhetoric as Troublesome Influences on Organizational Sense-Making—A Downsizing Case Study

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of euphemism and rhetoric in influencing organizational members' constructions of reality and sense-making abilities. The discussion opens with a return to the role of the sociology of knowledge, before exploring the purpose and outcomes of euphemism and rhetoric. Heideggerian phenomenology was used to collect this particularly poignant story from Adrian (a pseudonym), who was made redundant from his workplace after heart bypass surgery. Weick's theoretical exposition of sense-making in organizations is used to examine Adrian's story, with the purpose of demonstrating that sense-making is highly influenced by the use of rhetoric and euphemism (K. E. Weick, 1995, Sense-making in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage). When the truth finally comes out, the outcome is seen to be serious—even life threatening.     

Knowing your place and commanding space: de/constructions of gendered embodiment in mixed-sex karate

ABSTRACT

Feminists have long acknowledged that gendered divisions in access to spaces of leisure, and how women and men physically take up that space, reproduce gender inequality. This article will explore how karate practitioners participate in the space of mixed-sex karate practice and how such uses of space de/construct gendered embodiments and a gender hierarchy. Data presented are drawn from nine months of ethnographic emersion within three karate clubs and 15 photo-elicitation interviews with karate participants from the three clubs. The findings of this paper suggest that whilst women often occupied spaces of expertise within the karate hall, gendered distinctions in uses of space emerged in the more subtle ways in which women and men used their voice, responded to the tacit and smelt dilemmas of sweat, and moved their bodies across physical space. This research highlights both the potential of physical leisure practice to ‘undo’ conventional gendered embodiments that particularly restrict women’s intentionality in the world, and the power of spatially attuned research to illuminate the minute ways in which unequal gender relations are naturalised, legitimised and done.     

旅游学方法论：何来“主义”之争？——与宋子千、张斌等人商榷

宋子千的《旅游研究方法论的实证主义与现象学之争》（简称《之争》）一文将申葆嘉先生的“旅游是市场经济的产物”和谢彦君教授的“旅游的本质是体验”分别作为旅游学研究中实证主义和现象学方法的代表性观点而对立起来。实际上, 不管是在当代旅游学界, 还是在申、谢两位学者之间, 都不存在关于研究方法论的“主义”之争一说。《之争》在未考虑科学研究中不同类型的问题需要不同的方法的情况下对两位学者的立场做出了武断的批评, 如果不予以澄清, 很可能会引起学术界在此类问题上的无谓甚至错误的争论, 误导学术研究的方向。同时, 《之争》在现象学的分析和技术理性等概念的使用上还有诸多值得商榷之处, 另有若干细节问题亦需要进一步澄清。鉴于旅游学在我国的发展还处于较为初步的阶段, 对旅游学基础理论的讨论必须秉持客观、严谨和科学的态度, 该文旨在与《之争》中的若干观点做一些商榷性的讨论。