ABSTRACT
Institutional theory is one of the hottest topics in contemporary sociology and political science. Dozens of articles and several important book length treatments of the elements and aims of this theoretical perspective have been published in the last several years. In sociology, the seminal work by Powell and Dimaggio (1991) has brought the major elements of this work together in a single volume that is receiving widespread, and well deserved, attention. Institutional theory is also appearing in graduate programmes - new courses covering its theoretical and empirical foundations are being designed in sociology, education and other fields emphasizing the study of complex social organizations.
