Sources and Configurations of Institutional Denial

Abstract

In institutional settings, a variety of cultural, organizational, and personal factors influence processing of information so as to deny the existence or severity of chemical abuse, and responsibilities for implementing a response. Models from cognitive social psychology and ethnography and the organizational culture perspective are synthesized in an explication of "institutional denial." The varieties and ambiguities of "maps" of chemical use allow personnel to construct self-justifying accounts. The configuration of institutional subcultures includes inter-related pockets of denial with halo effects on others.