New institutionalism

New institutionalism or neo-institutionalism is a theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of institutions — the way they interact and the way they affect society. It provides a way of viewing institutions outside of the traditional views of economics by explaining why and how institutions emerge in a certain way within a given context. One of the institutional views that has emerged has argued that institutions have developed to become similar (showing an isomorphism) across organizations even though they evolved in different ways, and has studied how institutions shape the behavior of agents (i.e. people, organizations, governments) (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983).

Sociological new institutionalism is distinguished from, though related to, the new institutional economics and new institutionalism in political science.

The study of institutions and their interactions has been a particular focus of academic research for many years. In the late 19th and early 20th century, social theorists began to systematize this body of literature. One of the most prominent examples of the systematization that occurred during this period was that of the German economist and social theorist Max Weber, who focused on the organizational structure (i.e. bureaucracy ) within society, and the institutionalization created by means of the iron cage organizational bureaucracies create.

In Britain and the United States, the study of political institutions dominated political science until after the post-war period. This approach, sometimes called 'old' institutionalism, focused on analyzing the formal institutions of government and the state in comparative perspective. After the behavioral revolution brought new perspectives to analyzing politics such as positivism, rational choice theory and behavioralism, the focus on institutions was discarded as it was too narrow. The focus moved to analyzing the individual rather than the institutions which surrounded him/her.

...
Wikipedia