Mark S. Mizruchi

The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty-First-Century Capitalist Societies

Market societies have created more wealth and more opportunities for more people, than any other system of social organization in history. Yet we still have a rudimentary understanding of how markets themselves are social constructions that require extensive institutional support. This groundbreaking work seeks to fill this gap, to make sense of modern capitalism by developing a sociological theory of market institutions. Addressing the dynamism that capitalism brings with it, Neil Fligstein argues that the basic drift of any market and its actors is toward stabilization.“The Architecture of Markets” represents a major and timely step beyond recent, largely empirical studies that oppose the neoclassical model of perfect competition but provide sparse theory toward a coherent economic sociology. Fligstein offers this theory. His political-cultural approach explains why governments remain crucial to markets and why so many national variations of capitalism endure. States help make stable markets possible by, for example, establishing the rule of law and adjudicating the class struggle. State-building and market-building go hand in hand.Fligstein shows that market actors depend mightily upon governments and the members of society for the social conditions that produce wealth. He demonstrates that systems favoring more social justice and redis¬tribution can yield stable markets and economic growth as readily as less egalitarian systems. The journal publishes the chapter 9, «Globalisation», excerpt from «The Architecture of Markets» by Neil Fligstein. The author questions why increasing globalisation has not resulted in convergence of organisational forms at national level. In search of an answer to this puzzle, Fligstein uses the analytical tools of a politicalcultural approach. As the main tasks of the chapter the author considers the development of working definitions of globalisation and a review of arguments demonstrating that globalists exaggerate the scope of its impact on the organisation of production, the state’s role in providing for their citizens and social stratification.

The Social Construction of Organizational Knowledge: A Study of the Uses of Coercive, Mimetic, and Normative Isomorphism

Arguing that knowledge in the social sciences is socially constructed through the selective interpretation of major works, we examine the fate of a classic article in organizational theory, DiMaggio and Powells 1983 essay on institutional isomorphism. We show that one aspect of this article, the discussion of mimetic isomorphism, has received attention disproportionate to its role in the essay. A detailed examination of 26 articles in which researchers attempted to operationalize various components of DiMaggio and Powells model shows that measures used to capture one of their concepts could have served as valid measures of one of the others. Findings show that DiMaggio and Powells thesis has become socially constructed, as authors have selectively appropriated aspects of the work that accord with prevalent discourse in the field, and that centrally located researchers in sociology and organizational behavior are more likely than other scholars to invoke this dominant interpretation of their article.

Similarity of Political Behavior Among Large American Corporations

Political sociologists have debated for decades, without resolution, whether elites in advanced capitalists societies are integrated. Rather than ask whether elites are integrated, this study examines the conditions under which convergence of political behavior occurs, focusing on campaign contributions of political action committees in the American business community. A model of similarity in corporate political behavior is proposed that draws on principles developed by resource-dependence and social class theorists of intercorporate relations. The model was supported by an examination of the 1,596 dyads created by relations among 57 large U.S. manufacturing firms in 1980. Membership in the same primary industry or several similar industries, geographical proximity of headquarters locations (but not plant locations), market constraint, and common relations with financial institutions (through either stock ownership or directorate ties) were positively associated with the similarity of political behavior between firms. Market constraint affected the similarity of political behavior primarily because it increased the likelihood that firms would produce in the same industries. The effect of indirect board interlocking throung financial institutions was a stronger predictor of similarity of political behavior than was direct interlocking between manufacturing firms. The findings suggest the simultaneous importance of organizational and social network factors in understanding common political behavior between firms.

Getting Deals Done: The Use of Social Networks in Bank Decision Making *

Economic actors confront various forms of uncertainty making decisions, and how they deal with these obstacles may affect their success in accomplishing their goals. This study examines the means by which relationship managers in a major commercial bank attempt to close transactions with their corporate customers. It is hypothesized that under conditions of high uncertainty, bankers will rely on colleagues with whom they are strongly tied for advice on and support of their deals. Drawing on recent network theory, it is also hypothesized that transactions in which bankers use relatively sparse approval networks are more likely to successfully close than are transactions involving dense approval networks. Both hypotheses are supported. Bankers are faced with a strategic paradox: Their tendency to rely on those they trust in dealing with uncertainty creates conditions that render deals less likely to be closed successfully. This paradox represents an example of unanticipated consequences of purposive social action.

A longitudinal study of borrowing by large American Corporations

Mizruchis research for this paper was supported by a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (Grant #SES-8858669 and SES-9196148). Stearns was supported by the Russell Sage Foundation and the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation. Both authors were supported by National Science Foundation research grant #SBR-9308443. The authors are grateful to Marshall W. Meyer and three anonymous ASO reviewers for their extensive comments on earlier drafts of the paper and to Linda J. Pike for her editorial suggestions. Please direct correspondence to Mark S. Mizruchi, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ml, 48109-1382. Using models drawn from organizational theory and institutional economics, this paper examines the extent to which firms borrow money. We argue that corporate borrowing depends on four factors: the expected return on borrowing, the availability of internal funds, the strategic orientation of the chief executive officer, and the firms board composition. We formulate four hypotheses, which we test with data on 22 large U.S. manufacturing firms from 1956 through 1983. Retained earnings, the expected return on borrowing, the presence of a representative of a financial institution on the firms board of directors, and the presence of a CEO from a finance background are all associated with the level of borrowing. The findings suggest that both economic and organizational factors affect the extent to which firms borrow.-

Networks of Interorganizational Relations

Network analysis has been used extensively in the study of interorganizational relations. This article reviews the literature over the past fifteen years and organizes it into three theoretical traditions: the resource dependence model, the social class framework, and the institutional model. It is shown that network methods have enabled researchers to describe phenomena, such as interorganizational fields, that were previously inaccessible. It is also shown how social networks help to explain the formation of interorganizational ties and how interorganizational relations, conceptualized as social networks, can explain organizational power as well as the strategies decision makers pursue.

Cohesion, equivalence, and similarity of behavior: a theoretical and empirical assessment

Abstract Network analysts have debated the extent to which cohesion versus structural equivalence serves as a source of similar behavior among actors. More recently, role equivalence has emerged as an alternative to structural equivalence. Using data on the contribution patterns of corporate political action committees, I examine the effect of various indicators of cohesion, structural equivalence, and role equivalence on the extent to which firms behave similarly. Although various operationalizations of all three concepts are correlated with similar behavior, the most consistent predictor is the joint prominence of two firms in the network. I argue that this common location in central positions is a form of role equivalence, but one that is distinct from conventional definitions of the concept. I then suggest a distinction between what I term ‘central’ and ‘peripheral’ role equivalence.

Suicidal Behavior in Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients

Abstract Factors associated with suicidal behavior were evaluated during an analysis of the records of 200 consecutively admitted adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Interrater reliability was established for the rated categories of analysis, and a uniform format was used for the standardization and recording of data. Suicidal attempts occurred in 34% of inpatients. DSM-III diagnoses positively associated with suicidal behavior were major depressive and alcohol abuse disorders. Significant predictors of suicidal behavior were alcohol abuse, past suicidal behavior, depression, and aggressive behavior. Some differences between male and female patients were found.

Suicidal behavior in normal school children: a comparison with child psychiatric inpatients

A study of 101 randomly selected preadolescent school children, who had never been psychiatric patients, revealed 11.9% with suicidal ideas, threats, or attempts. Suicidal ideas were expressed in 8.9% of the school children. Suicidal school children differed from nonsuicidal school children in greater preoccupation with death, more recent and past depression, more suicidal impulses in the mothers, and a greater tendency to use introjection as an ego defense. These factors were similar to those found in a comparison of suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients. Factors that contribute to the risk of suicidal behavior in children are described.

Suicidal behavior in latency-age psychiatric inpatients: a replication and cross validation

A study of 65 psychiatric inpatients, 6-12 years old, revealed 78.5% with suicidal ideas, threats, or attempts. The high number of children from middle social status differed from a previous inpatient population of children predominantly from low social status. Findings that replicated a previous empirical study of child inpatients were high frequency of suicidal tendencies and jumping from heights; significant correlations of death preoccupations and depression with severity of suicidal behavior; and lack of significant correlations of sex, and race/ethnicity with severity of suicidal behavior. Neurophysiological variables did not significantly correlate with severity of suicidal behavior.