ABSTRACT
A theory is only as useful as its explanatory power. Thus far, we have gone as far as possible in positing a theory of institutions and their autonomy, the actors responsible for carving out autonomy, the ecological dynamics, and a more descriptive examination of the internal structure and culture of autonomous institutions, including the emergence of a stratification system. The questions we now turn our attention to concern the consequences autonomy has for explaining and understanding the various levels of social reality. Some of this discussion has been touched on briefly throughout the previous chapters—some in explicit ways and others implicitly. Other pieces will be entirely new and, hopefully, insightful to sociologists in a wide ranging set of fields. Hence, when possible, the analysis will draw clear links to other traditions or areas of sociological theory that complement each other.
