Social Organizations

Pocketbok. Sage Publications Inc. 1994. 180 sidor.

Nyskick. ///Förlagets beskrivning: In this lively and wide-ranging essay, Göran Ahrne sketches an organizational theory of society. Combining the insights of organization theory with the traditional concerns of social theory, he makes an original and creative contribution to both fields. Using a broad definition of organizations - including not only business enterprises but also nation states, families and voluntary associations - he shows that what goes on inside, outside and between organizations is central co understanding social relations. Organizacions provide people with resources and motives, and they set the frames for human action. Although organizations do not themselves form societies or systems, society is shaped and changed by interaction between organizations. Social Organizations illustrates the potential of an organizational theory of society to illuminate current areas of sociological interest such as agency and structure, and the processes of global ization. Drawing on different strands of organization theory - contingency, institutional, ecological and economic - the author shows how a synthesis with social theory clarifies the nature and effects of organizational interactions. Accessible and full of insights. this book will be essential reading for all those interested in social theory,
organizational theory and the sociology of organizations. Göran Ahrne is Professor of Sociology at the University of Stockholm. His previous publications include Agency arid
Orgamzatfon (Sage. 1990).