INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM
| Author | BRENDON SWEDLOW,PERRI 6 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12296 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
doi: 10.1111/padm.12296
INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM
AN INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF CULTURAL BIASES,
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY
PERRI 6 AND BRENDON SWEDLOW
This symposium showcases diverse contributions that a particular institutional theory of cultural
biases makes to public administration and policy research. Bridging and integrating these sub-
elds, the theory offers powerful explanations for the ways in which institutional processes drive
policy-making. Developed initially by Douglas using Durkheimian theory, Hood and Wildavsky
made the theory increasingly inuential in public administration and policy. Today, the theory has
several variants which nevertheless share common core elements. We briey survey this institu-
tional theory’s contributions to the study of public administration and policy before describing its
central claims, analysing the uses of its variants in the symposium articles, and identifying their key
advances. We conclude with challenges and promising developments in efforts to conceptualize,
operationalize, and test the theory in public administration and policy research.
INTRODUCTION
This symposium showcases diverse contributions that a particular institutional theory of
cultural biases makes to public administration and policy research. Developed initially
by Durkheim and Douglas, the theory has been inuential in public administration and
policy through the work of Hood and Wildavsky, among others. Bridging and integrating
these subelds, the theory offers powerful explanations for the ways in which institutional
means generate cultural biases that drive policy ends.
We use the overarching name ‘an institutional theory of cultural biases’ because the
theory has developed several variants – known as Cultural Theory, Neo-Durkheimian
Institutional Theory, and Cultural Cognition Theory–which nevertheless share core
elements. Symposium articles draw on these variants enabling readers to compare and
evaluate them.
This institutional theory of cultural biases allows our symposium contributors to
provide new, rigorous and powerful explanations for transnational regulatory practice,
central–local relations, coordination among agencies, relations between service providers
and users, dramatic institutional and policy change, the impact of policy delibera-
tion on policy preferences, consultation by regulatory authorities, and core executive
decision-making.
Webriey survey this institutional theory’s contributions to the study of public adminis-
tration and policy studies before describing its core claims, analysing the use of its variants
in the symposium articles, and identifying their key contributions. We conclude with a
few challenges and promising developments in efforts to conceptualize, operationalize,
and test the theory in public administration and policy research.
Interest in this institutional theory of cultural biases has grown considerably over the
past several decades in political science, public policy, public administration, public law,
management and organization studies, and development studies. The theory has been
Perri 6 is at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London, UK. Brendon Swedlow is at
the Department of Political Science, Northern Illinois University,USA.
Public Administration Vol.94, No. 4, 2016 (867–880)
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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