Non-economic Institutions Research Articles

Cross-country comparison analysis of individual and institutional factors of anomie and online offending

This article addresses the gap in the literature by empirically assessing a cross-national comparison of institutional anomie theory (IAT) and self-reported cyberoffending. We used survey data from Finland, Hungary, and the United States to examine the relationship between institutional anomie and cybercrime. Each country represents different types of societies, which makes them interesting cases for cross-national comparison. With Hungary representing a conservative welfare regime, Finland a social democratic welfare regime, and the United States a liberal welfare regime, we predict that the more political regimes intervene in economic relations and support non-economic institutions, the less applicable IAT's variables will be in predicting cybercrime perpetration. In line with these predictions, binomial regression models suggest that IAT works best in the United States, where individualism, achievement, and fetishism of money increased the indices of cybercrime offending. IAT variables were less useful in predicting cybercrime offending in the other nations. Yet, also in line with our prediction, family has a strong external control function in Finland, protecting participants from cybercrime offending. However, no IAT indexes achieved statistical significance in Hungary, where a work-based welfare system suppresses family-related values. Education has a mixed effect on cybercrime offending. Thus, IAT is valuable for understanding cybercrime offending; however, it should be examined in more countries with social institutions and individual value systems different from that of the United States.

The Broken Windows of the KRG Private Universities: An Autoethnographic Study on XY University in Erbil

This research aims at exploring some of the fundamental disorders and anomies in the Kurdistan private academic institutions. It tries to answer how and why these anomies and disorders originated, and how they are translated into macro-level structural chaos in the society at large. Is the commercial aspect dominant or the academic dimension? which one does shape and constrain the other? My research is theoretically informed by the “Broken Windows Theory”, developed by “Wilson” and “Kelling”, that studies the causes and contexts of spreading, expanding, and translating trivial problems into large-scale and societal problems. I also draw upon the notion “Institutional Anomie” proposed by “Messner” and “Rosenfeld”, that focuses on the economization and commercialization of non-commercial and non-economic institutions. Methodologically, I employ the critical and interpretive autoethnography. To further strengthening my qualitative data, I also made use of focus group technique and unstructured interview with 37 samples (22 students, 7 instructors, and 8 university personnel) in addition to participant and direct observations. The name of the studied university is indicated by the symbol (XY), the researcher taught at this university for three years, and therefore chose it as a target sample. The results show that private universities in Kurdistan, despite their abundance, operate as commercial institutions more than academic and educational institutions, and participate in the marketing and sale of certificates accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education in Kurdistan.

Embedded Economic Behavior in Baatar Jujuran of Banjar Tradition in Banjarmasin

This research delves into the economic behavior embedded in the traditional Banjar wedding process of Baatar Jujuran, a distinctive practice in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. While from a classical economics perspective, individual actions are often viewed as rational and instrumental, this study explores how cultural and religious values significantly influence the economic actions of the Banjar people. This research employs a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews with informants selected via purposive sampling. Three informants were chosen, including a community leader, a cultural expert, and a religious figure with expertise in Islamic perspectives on marriage. Result found Baatar Jujuran involves the groom providing a sum of money to the bride's family, with the amount being determined by the bride, reflecting family social status. Through the theory of embeddedness, this research reveals that economic actions, even in a modern society, remain socially embedded in non-economic institutions like culture and religion, demonstrating the pervasive impact of cultural and religious values. The study also examines the Baatar Jujuran tradition from an Islamic perspective, highlighting its compatibility with Islamic teachings and practices. The findings illustrate how cultural and religious values, along with the dynamics of personal relationships, significantly shape economic behaviors in the Banjar community, offering a unique perspective on economic sociology.

Assessing Regional Variation in Support for the Radical Right-Wing Party ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD)—A Novel Application of Institutional Anomie Theory across German Districts

The paper at hand aims to address a research gap by examining the spatial impact of economic and non-economic institutions on regional variation in the support for the German populist far-right party ‘Alternative for Germany (AfD)’. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach and drawing on institutional anomie theory, the study explores the relationship between economic dominance—economic inequality and economic strength—and regional AfD vote share, as well as the role of non-economic institutions in shaping support for the party. Using various regional indicators, the study assesses the strength of different institutions and their impact on the AfD’s electoral results in the year 2021 across 401 German districts (NUTS 3-level). The results point to significant differences between eastern and western Germany in the analysis of regional populist voting patterns. Economic dominance emerges as a stronger predictor of the AfD’s vote share in eastern regions. However, the findings on the protective effect of strong non-economic institutions against AfD voting are ambiguous and partly contrary to theoretical expectations. Overall, the study’s findings show that the newly introduced indicators deduced from institutional anomie theory contribute to the existing literature to help better understand regional variances in AfD support. Furthermore, the study contributes to the existing literature on the rise of contemporary radical right movements by employing Karl Polanyi’s framework of ‘disembedded’ markets. In doing so, it sheds light on the complex interplay between social change, anomic tendencies, and the growth of radical right movements in capitalist societies.

Marketized mentality and instrumental offending: the overlooked roles of noneconomic institutions and relative deprivation in individual level institutional anomie theory

ABSTRACT This research examines the individual level extension to institutional anomie theory and explores the link between a marketized mentality and instrumental offending. Further, it investigates the direct roles that family, school and relative deprivation play in offending and probes their possible moderating impact on the relationship between a marketized mentality and illegal activities. Utilizing a street youth sample, the findings reveal that a marketized mentality in and of itself does not have a direct link to instrumental offending. Instead, the association between marketized mentality and offending emerges under conditions where individuals experience low family social control and high levels of relative deprivation. Relative deprivation, criminal peers, moral filters, prior offending, and low self-control also contribute directly to an increased probability of instrumental offending, while under certain conditions school social control decreases these probabilities. Findings are discussed, theoretical implications are outlined, and avenues for future research offered.

Not Just Another Test of Institutional Anomie Theory: Assessing Relative Institutional Imbalances

Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT) proposes high violent crime rates are due partially to imbalances in societal institutions, specifically the dominance of the economy over non-economic institutions. Tests of IAT have focused largely on the absolute strength of the economy, which ignores the core argument of institutional imbalance and the possibility that institutional preferences may not be additive and limited. If one institution is strong, it does not mean other institutions are weak. We believe rigorous tests of IAT must include its central concept of relative institutional imbalance. Utilizing the World Values Survey for a sample of 74 nations, we created institutional imbalance ratios for each pairing of the economy with family, education, religion, and polity. We employed multiple regression to determine if our measures of institutional preferences were associated with homicide victimization rates. Results indicated only the Economic:Education institutional imbalance ratio was positively and significantly associated with national homicide rates.

Embedded reproduction in platform data work

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the experiences of Latin American data workers who annotate data for machine learning algorithms through labor platforms. It introduces the notion of ‘embedded reproduction’: the relationship between embeddedness, the degree to which non-economic institutions and their social environment constrain socioeconomic activity, and social reproduction, or the activities that nurture, maintain, and regenerate the workforce. The analysis of 38 interviews with platform workers suggests they are situated in a highly disembedded market due to the lack of regulations on the data production process, giving free rein to platforms to set rules to their detriment. This article explores how this disembeddedness shapes social reproduction by studying three forms of collective social support received by workers: from family members, neighbors and local communities, and online groups. The support of these networks is primarily local, depends on high levels of trust, and is gendered. These findings suggest that platform data work is unsustainable from an embedded reproductive perspective since platform intermediation leads workers and local communities to carry out the social and economic risks associated with this form of gig work. This research invites a dialogue between the embeddedness framework with social reproduction as well as a consideration of the importance of nature and natural resources in the study of social environments.

The Influence of Network Embeddedness on Innovation Performance of MSMEs. The Mediating Role of Ambidextrous Organizational Learning

The Influence of Network Embeddedness on Innovation Performance of MSMEs. The Mediating Role of Ambidextrous Organizational Learning

The transition of a socio-technical system to a smart grid: illustrated with the Indian electricity network

PurposeThis paper aims to explain transitions in a socio-technical system characterized by non-economic entities that influence economic activity, i.e. embeddedness and coalitions. The selected socio-technical system is an Indian electric network with an interventionist policy. Its embeddedness and coalitions drive the transition. The insights from such analysis expand socio-technical transition theory and provide valuable insights to practitioners in their policymaking.Design/methodology/approachThe authors need to observe the effects of non-economic institutions in their setting. Moreover, in India, the regional policies influence decision-making; therefore, selected two Indian states. The two Indian states, along with their non-economic entities, provided diverse analytic and heuristic views.FindingsThe findings show that coalitions, with their embeddedness in the absence of any mediating policy systems, act as external pressures and influence innovation and the socio-technical system’s transition trajectory. Their coalitions’ embeddedness follows a shaping, not selection logic. Thereby influence innovations in cumulating as stable designs. Such an approach provides benefits in the short-term but not in the long-term.Research limitations/implicationsThe study selected two states and examined two of the four trajectories. By considering other states, the authors can obtain more renewable energy investments and further insights into the transformational trajectory.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the coalition dynamics specific to the Indian electric power network and its transition trajectories. The non-economic entities influenced transition trajectories, innovation and policymaking of the socio-technical system.Originality/valueThe study expands the socio-technical transition theory by including embeddedness. The embeddedness brings a shaping logic instead of a selection logic.

Economy and Supervisors’ Ethical Values: Exploring the Mediating Role of Noneconomic Institutions in a Cross-National Test of Institutional Anomie Theory

This study examined the direct influence of national economic condition, as well as the indirect effects through the strength of noneconomic institutions on supervisors’ ethical reasoning using the institutional anomie theory developed by Messner and Rosenfeld (Soc Forces 75(4):1393–1416, 2001). Utilizing data of 20,025 supervisors across 52 countries, the analyses showed that high disparity in the economic distribution directly and indirectly leads to unethical values. High economic inequality in a country resulted in high tendency of supervisors to justify unethical acts. In addition, some of this influence went through the institutional strength of family, education, polity, and religion, thereby indicating partial mediation. As a result, the study presented the important roles of social institutions in explaining supervisors’ attitude and behavior. The findings of this research contribute to the institutional anomie theory by clarifying the multilevel path of the macrostructures’ conditions in explaining supervisors’ ethicality. Moreover, since some of the relationships between variables resulted in the direction opposite to the propositions of the theory, this study suggested other theoretical models that may be integrated with IAT. Along with these theoretical contributions, practical implications to businesses and society are discussed to strengthen supervisors’ ethics.

The economy as instituted process

[The economy as instituted process] “The economy as instituted process” from 1957 is probably the second most well known text of Karl Polanyi (1886–1964) after his main work The Great Transformation from 1944. Here he explains the difference between the two meanings of the concept of economy, of economy as humans’ actual, substantial, exchange with nature and each other, and economy as a formalized way of thinking about rational optimization. Polanyi argues that the social sciences must liberate themselves from the one-sided market perspective that follows from the formal meaning, and instead starts out from the former, substantive, meaning when he develops his own concepts of how the economy really has worked in different societies throughout history. The economy appears to Polanyi as an instituted, or institutionalized, process, more or less embedded in a social fabric of other both economic and non-economic institutions. The text was written as a summarizing theoretical chapter for the book Trade and Market in the Early Empires , which Polanyi compiled together with Conrad M. Arensberg and Harry W. Pearson. The main article is introduced by the three editors’ own prologue to it, and by a new introduction by sociologists Gunnar Olofsson and Anders Hylmo. Publication history: Translation of the chapters “The economy as instituted process” and “The place of economies in societies” from Karl Polanyi, Conrad M. Arensberg & Harry W. Pearson (eds.), Trade and Market in the Early Empires. Economies in History and Theory , Free Press 1957, with a new Swedish introduction. (Published 8 June 2017) Citations: Olofsson, Gunnar & Anders Hylmo (2017) “Inledning till Karl Polanyis ‘Ekonomin som inrattad process’” (pp. 9–12), Polanyi, Karl, Conrad M. Arensberg & Harry W. Pearson (2017 [1957]) “Ekonomins plats i samhallet” (pp. 13–16), Polanyi, Karl (2017 [1957]) “Ekonomin som inrattad process”, in Arkiv. Tidskrift for samhallsanalys , issue 8, pp. 17–46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.8.1

The absorption of financial services in an Islamic environment

This study examines the determinants of access to finance by firms residing in 42 Islamic countries. Firm-specific characteristics, such as size, sector, legal status and export status are found to be robust predictors of financing constraints of firms. Small-size firms appear to face more binding financing constraints, whilst firms operating in manufacturing and focusing on exports appear to face lower constraints. The auditing of accounts, the location of operations and ownership structure appear significant with a varying effect on direction. Differences are documented on the role of firm-specific characteristics between Islamic and non-Islamic countries. Both the absolute and relative size of Islamic bank assets is a significant predictor of firms’ financing constraints. The results add new insights on the role of non-economic institutions, social and cultural factors across regions in predicting financing constraints of firms in Islamic countries. Effective financial inclusion reform must focus on small-size, introverted and services-oriented firms operating in some distance from the center as well as understand the divergent role of institutions, social structures and culture within the Islamic world.

Institutional imbalance, integration into Non-economic institutions, and a marketized mentality in Europe: A multilevel, partial elaboration of Institutional Anomie Theory

This research builds upon prior efforts to transport insights from a macro-sociological theory of crime – Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT) – to enhance understanding of an important individual-level phenomenon in advanced capitalist societies – a ‘marketized mentality’. Such a mentality entails a strong commitment to the utilitarian, instrumental values of the market at the expense of more altruistic, expressive values. Drawing upon IAT, we hypothesize that at the individual level, integration into selected non-economic institutions will tend to inhibit the adoption of a marketized mentality, but the strength of this inhibiting effect will vary depending on the degree to which economic institutions and non-economic institutions in society are ‘balanced’ or ‘unbalanced’. Our theoretical arguments imply that observed levels of acceptance of a marketized mentality will vary significantly across societies and that this variation will be related to the degree of imbalance in the institutional order: We expect to observe a cross-level interaction such that the inhibiting effect of integration into non-economic institutions is attenuated as institutional imbalance increases. These hypotheses are assessed in multilevel analyses with data from 25 European countries using the European Social Survey. The results are generally in accordance with theoretical expectations, revealing how an institutional imbalance helps shape people’s value orientations by promoting marketized mentalities and by weakening the socialization effects of non-economic institutions.

Digital Labor and the Sharing Economy: An Interview with Ivana Pais (interviewed by Ivan Pavlyutkin )

Prof. Ivana Pais was interviewed by Ivan Pavlyutkin, associate professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The conversation occurred at the Department of Sociology of Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. Pais introduces us to her career path as an economic sociologist, and explains challenges that economic sociologists encounter while teaching economics students and why it is more insightful than teaching sociology students. She also talks about directions and peculiarities of economic sociological thought in Italy. There is a strong tradition in Italy to study industrial districts with their network of small firms and labor markets. In the interview, Pais shares her previous and current research projects. She points out the significance of the digital economy for a better understanding of some market processes happening within the local community and describes her current research concerning the sharing economy. Applying Karl Polany’s theoretical perspective, she argues that the Italian sharing economy is embedded in noneconomic institutions. A pure digital sharing economy model that lacks social interactions (the Silicon Valley type) does not work in Italy. Finally, Pais provides information about her participation in the conference arranged by the European commission and the organization of future mini-conference in Berkley.

Why lay social representations of the economy should count in economics

We consider the potentially major role of lay economic representations in economic theoretical modelling. Departing both from the rational expectation hypothesis, that supposes a maximal cognitive fit between agents’ representations and the variables in the model , and from an approach in terms of psychological biases that would externally affect agents’representation of their environment, we consider that lay representations have essential features that make them potentially valuable tools for the reconciliation of normative and practical perspectives in macroeconomics. By reviewing a series of studies in the sub-field of the psychology of lay economics, we first emphasize the collective and pragmatically-oriented features of these lay economic representations. We thereby uncover the major role of language and meaning, seemingly non-economic human institutions, in laying down the basis for economic understanding. Secondly, we directly address the question of the internal logic and cognitive features of these representations and uncover/in uncovering typical circular causal reasoning in lay macroeconomics. We finally re-assess the question of the maximal fit between ordinary economic psychology and predictive economic modelling.

Anomie, marketization, and prejudice toward purportedly unprofitable groups

This paper discusses systematically different concepts of anomie as an explanation of Group-focused Enmity (GFE) against selected groups in society. The GFE research programme has demonstrated the utility of applying the concept of ‘anomia’ – an individual reaction to disruptions in the normative order – to explain prejudices against vulnerable groups. This paper extends the GFE research programme by incorporating insights from Institutional Anomie Theory, a theoretical perspective originally introduced in the criminological literature. Drawing upon this, it develops a theoretical model that links perceptions of weakened non-economic institutions with prejudices against groups that are readily seen as being ‘unprofitable’. These perceptions are theorized to affect prejudices against such groups via a pathway of ‘marketized’ attitudes and orientations, net of any influence of anomia. This paper’s theoretical model was assessed with data from a representative survey of the German population ( n = 840). The results of Structural Equation Modelling support most of the main hypotheses, revealing the additional value for prejudice research of measuring the individual experience of anomie not only as anomia but also with respect to processes of marketization.

Unbalanced Institutional Commitments and Delinquent Behavior

Institutional anomie theory (IAT) argues that crime results from a value complex that elevates the economy over other institutions. Though most assessments of IAT have been conducted at the macro level, the key relationships can also be evaluated among individuals. Using a national survey of high school seniors, we examine whether violence, theft, and substance use are related to individual commitments to economic and noneconomic institutions. Results show that adherence to economic values is positively related to certain forms of delinquency and that commitments to noneconomic institutions reduce delinquent behavior. Moreover, commitment to noneconomic institutions often reduces the effect of economic commitment on delinquency.

An investigation of corporate executive fraud by CEOs in the Nigerian banking sector

A number of studies and reports have associated corruption with the misuse of public office for private financial gain, but they have rarely examined the involvement of corporate executives in fraudulent and corrupt financial practices. This paper argues that the recent banking crisis in Nigeria has exposed the activities of bank executives in corruption and fraudulent practices. The paper locates the role of corporate executives within the institutional anomie theory called American dream’ theory, whereby the pursuit of monetary success has come to dominate society and non-economic institutions have tended to become subservient to the economy. The paper argues that, given the strong and relentless pressure for everyone to succeed, understood in terms of an inherently elusive monetary goal, people formulate wants and desires that are difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy within the ambit of legally permissible behaviour. The paper uses publicly available data to show that bank executives and directors ...

Eastern European Transformation and Youth Attitudes toward Violence

This cross-national examination of the motives behind adolescent approval of violence in major cities in Germany and four Eastern European transformation societies (Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Slovenia) draws on Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT), which leads us to expect higher instrumental motivation for violence among adolescents in the transforming societies. Differences in institutional structure and cultural orientations between Germany and the Eastern European societies are assessed using data from ILO and ESS. Analysis of the different motives for violence is based on data collected by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) in Krakow, Volgograd, Ljubljana, Plzen, and Hamburg. Comparability and cross-cultural interpretability of the violence attitude measure is assessed by applying confirmatory factor analyses in multi-group comparisons. A lack of sufficient data meant that specific assumed linkages as implied by IAT could not be established, but the results for a specific instrumental/utilitarian motive for violence and for institutional structure and cultural orientations point to the utility of applying insights from IAT to understanding the dynamics of violence within the Eastern European context of transformation. We find empirical indications that specific features of the family mediate the “Eastern effect” on the instrumental/utilitarian motive. Further research is needed to discover whether economic dominance affects motives for youth violence indirectly via the socialization provided by non-economic institutions rather than directly via cultural orientations.

Are Female-Headed Households More Food Insecure? Evidence from Bangladesh

Summary This paper uses household and village-level survey data to investigate the food security of male- and female-headed households in Bangladesh with particular attention to indigenous ethnic groups, and finds no significant differences in the food security between these two types of households. The absence of social and cultural restrictions among the indigenous groups permitting their females greater freedom to participate in the labor force coupled with informal redistributive mechanism is attributed to their less food insecurity. This result indicates that noneconomic institutions can significantly impact economic outcomes such as food security.