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Abstract
The study of institutional myths has been central to organizational sociology, cultural sociology, and the sociology of education for 30 years. This article examines how the myth concept has been used and develops neglected possibilities by asking: What happens when myths become incarnate, and how does this occur? In other words, what happens when conformity to a rationalized cultural ideal such as "accountability" is no longer symbolic but is given tangible flesh? Data from a two-year ethnography of an urban elementary school provide answers and reveal "recoupling" processes through which institutional myths and organizational practices that were once loosely connected become tightly linked. In the school studied here, recoupling accountability with classroom practices created a phenomenon that teachers labeled "turmoil." The findings advance our understanding of the micro-sociological foundations of institutional theory by "inhabiting" institutionalism with people, their work activities, social interactions, and meaning-making processes.
Keywords
recoupling, institutional theory, inhabited institutionalism, accountability, turmoil
Three decades ago, Meyer and Rowan (1977, 1978) suggested that formal organizational structures are types of "myth and ceremony" that are loosely coupled with work activities. Central to their argument was the notion that loose couplings protect organizational legitimacy by alleviating structural inconsistencies, thereby reducing conflict. In time, their work became a mandate for examining how macro-cultural ideals (i.e., institutional myths) provide legitimating rationales across broad organizational populations, and how organizations comply in symbolic, ceremonial ways. However, vital aspects of Meyer and Rowan's work were more local in orientation. In this vein, they proposed that tight couplings between institutional myths and core practices would create uncertainty and conflict inside organizations (1977, 1978). I develop this neglected aspect of their work by examining how myths become incarnate. I shift the focus away from symbolic compliance with institutional myths and examine how myths are given tangible flesh inside organizations.
This article is grounded in efforts to understand ethnographic data from "Costen Elementary School" (a pseudonym) in light of institutional theory. During my fieldwork, the institutional myth of accountability came to dominate Costen's environment. Schools have long been held up as exemplars of institutional arguments about loose coupling, and given this literature, one might expect ceremonial compliance to accountability (i.e., facades of conformity disconnected from actual practices). At Costen, however, accountability became a...