Divine institution: Max Weber’s value spheres and institutional theory
Religion and Organization Theory
ISBN: 978-1-78190-692-7, eISBN: 978-1-78190-693-4
Publication date: 16 April 2014
Abstract
This article examines Max Weber’s theory of value spheres as a basis for a polytheistic religious sociology of institutional life. Weber’s approach implies institutional theory as a form of comparative religion. Two problems present themselves. If the values of the spheres are to be considered as “gods,” they do not align easily with Weber’s sociology of religion. Given that love was central both as a driver and a constituent in Weber’s understanding of salvation religions, it also implies that love be incorporated into our theorizing of institutional life, something entirely absent in the way we think about enduring forms of social organization. Taking the second seriously may enable us to fabricate a solution to the first.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
My thanks to Serge Peyre of the Chancellery of the University of Paris who guided me through the site and provided me this information. In writing this article, I am indebted to actual and virtual conversations with Sarah Friedland, Damon Golsorkhi, Debra Friedland, Alistair Mutch, Brad Onishi, Michael Lounsbury, Daniel Gabay, Jeffrey Alexander, Nicolas Dromel, Patricia Thornton, Diane-Laure Arjalies, Afshin Mehrpouya, Gregoire Croidieu, and Tom Carlson. I also had the benefit of engaging audiences at the Grenoble Ecole de Management and the EM Lyon Business School who read an earlier version of this article.
Citation
Friedland, R. (2014), "Divine institution: Max Weber’s value spheres and institutional theory", Religion and Organization Theory (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 41), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20140000041015
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited