Abstract
What is an institution? We successively examine definitions provided by Durkheim, Mauss, Parsons, Goffman and Berger, and Luckman. Whilst anthropologists acknowledge that the stuff of human institutions is ‘the combination of modes of action with modes of thinking’, somehow they have seen the epitome of that embodied in the compulsory organisations of modern, state‐run, Western society. The paper argues for the abandonment of representational solutions, which operate with a Cartesian view of mind; sociocentric solutions, which view groupness as unitary and teleological; and individualist solutions that fail to see people as constituted in ontogeny through intersubjective attunement. Human sociality and human understanding must not be separated from the world, but persons do not pre‐exist intersubjective attunement and this operates through a process of triangulation between self, other and world where all elements are intrinsically involved.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
