Some Aspects of Institutional Disorganization

Abstract

D EFINITION. A definition of the terms and as here employed would seem imperative in order to avoid confusion since both are currently used in various ways. Among the various uses of institution' by sociologists, two are outstanding. The older is the nominalistic conception in which an institution is regarded as a highly generalized societal phenomenon which has no specific spatial or temporal existence. It is this conception which is implied in the use of collective nouns like the family and the state. Obviously, specific families and particular states are but imperfect instances of the type. The second usage may be termed the realistic, according to which specific instances of the foregoing are Thus, some sociologists apply the term to specific or or organizations, such as the Smith family, the First Congregational Church of Akron, the University of Warsaw, when these local phenomena conform to a widely diffused pattern. In this discussion, will be used in the latter sense, that is, particular local groups or associations which have a relatively permanent and formalized nucleus of social roles are regarded as institutions. It is not implied, however, that institutions in the more general sense cannot manifest disorganization, but merely that it is the local and specific groups which are organized or disorganized and when viewed in the aggregate may reveal organization or disorganization of the in the broader sense. It seems necessary, however, briefly to explain the conception of disorganization which is here assumed. Disorganization, as a point of departure, may be regarded in the now traditional sense of Thomas and Znaniecki.2 St refers to the relative absence or decline of formerly established controls over the behavior of persons in institutional roles and a resultant reduction in the coordination of activities; its ultimate end is disintegration -a sort of atomization of the socii. This general conception of the phenomenon of disorganization could apply to any pattern of collective behavior ranging from the husband-wife group to an entire nation or to Western