Paul M. Hirsch

Ending the Family Quarrel Toward a Reconciliation of “Old” and “New” Institutionalisms

Over the past couple of decades, research in organizational sociology has shifted away from the contextual richness of action perspectives toward more structuralist paradigms. DiMaggio and Powells distinction between what they label the “old” and “new” institutionalisms highlights this general trend. The present authors offer a critical review of this generational paradigm debate among institutional theorists and challenge DiMaggio and Powells assertion that the new should replace the old. The present authors advocate a reconciliation between these theoretical currents that would provide a more balanced approach to the action-structure duality.

The Discourse of Globalization: Framing and Sensemaking of an Emerging Concept

While the literature on framing has importantly expanded our understanding of frame creation and contests from an interpretive point of view, previous studies have largely neglected the structural contexts in which framing activities occur. In this study, we propose extending the framing approach by incorporating insights from the literature on sensemaking to examine how and when opportunities for meaning creation open up and how this affects subsequent discursive processes. Connecting framing and sensemaking better enables us to examine how structural factors prompt and bound discursive processes, affecting when and where frame contests emerge. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by examining changes in the discourse of globalization. Using qualitative and quantitative analyses of newspaper articles and corporate press releases, we trace the emergence of globalization discourse, its diffusion, and the increasing contention that surrounds it. Our findings show how and where globalization discourse emerged in response to greater U.S. involvement with the international economy, and how later frame contests over the meaning of globalization have depended on the interests of the actors involved.

The “Scary World” of the Nonviewer and Other Anomalies A Reanalysis of Gerbner et al.'s Findings on Cultivation Analysis Part I

This article critically examines the statistical evidence presented by Gerbner et al. to support their assertion that television-viewing “cultivates” distorted perceptions of the “real world.” In Part I, I point out discrepancies in the items, samples, and coding categories employed, and show that when controls are applied simultaneously (rather than singly) there is no linear relationship between amount of viewing and the provision of “television answers.” This reanalysis concludes that the “cultivation” hypothesis lacks empirical support and that the very data presented in its support argue strongly for rejecting the assertion that it has any scientific basis in fact.

Review Essay: Sociology Without Social Structure: Neoinstitutional Theory Meets Brave New World

Institutions and Organizations: Theory and Research. By W. Richard Scott. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995. Pp. xvi+178.

On Not Learning from One's Own Mistakes: A Reanalysis of Gerbner et ally's Findings on Cultivation Analysis Part II:

39.95 (cloth);

Television as a cultural forum: Implications for research∗

18.95 (paper).

Ownership changes, accounting practice and the redefinition of the corporation

This article critically examines the statistical evidence and conceptual arguments presented by Gerbner et al. to support their assertion that television-viewing “cultivates” distorted perceptions of the “real world.” In Part II, I examine three reformulations or “refinements” of the original hypothesis of across-the-board, linear effects shown in Part I to lack empirical support. Reformulation 1 requires that heavy viewers in subgroups “portrayed” on television as most victimized perceive the world as “more mean” or “scarier” than light viewers in the same subgroups. They do not. Reformulations 2 and 3. proposed by the Annenberg group and called “mainstreaming” and “resonance,” are then critically examined in terms of their logical adequacy and claims of empirical support. These are shown to fail on both counts, as neither has been stated in a form offering predictions which can be supported or rejected. More generally. we conclude Gerbner et al.’S formulation(s) and assertions about cultivation effects are so inclusive that any response to survey items can be argued to support one or another version of the hypothesis. This makes the assertion both irrefutable and untestable, which argues for its rejection as a scientific proposition. Three alternative explanations of responses in the NORC data set are outlined, each providing a more statistically adequate and theoretically sensible interpretation than those offered by the Annenberg team.

Production Organizations in the Arts

(1983). Television as a cultural forum: Implications for research. Quarterly Review of Film Studies: Vol. 8, The Economic and Political Structure of American Television, pp. 45-55.

To avoid surprises, acknowledge the dark side: Illustrations from securities analysts

Abstract This paper examines the role of accounting in facilitating and legitimating the conglomerate movement in American business during the 1960s. We argue that the profileration of conglomerate mergers contributed to a reconceptualization of the corporation that emphasized its financial rather than its productive capacities. This conception of the firm has now been institutionalized; its logic motivates the takeovers and restructuring that characterize contemporary business. Our case illustrates the rhetorical power of accounting as a symbolic system for legitimating new corporate forms and practices.

Terminal isomorphism and the self-destructive potential of success: Lessons from subprime mortgage origination and securitization

DiMaggio and Hirsch describe the cycle from creation to consumption through which art is produced. Using an organizational model which could be applied to most culture-producing milieux, they focus on three levels of analysis: interpersonal, interorganizational, and total system.