Polysemy and plural institutional logics

Figures & data

Table 1. Ideal types of the state, the market and the profession, adapted from Thornton, Ocasio, and Lounsbury (2012, 73).

	Institutional logic of the state	Institutional logic of the market	Institutional logic of the profession
1. Root metaphor	State as redistribution mechanism	Transaction	Profession as relational network
2. Sources of legitimacy	Democratic participation	Share price	Personal expertise
3. Sources of authority	Bureaucratic domination	Shareholder activism	Professional association
4. Sources of identity	Social and economic class	Faceless	Association with quality of craft Personal reputation
5. Basis of norms	Citizenship in nation	Self-interest	Membership in guild and association
6. Basis of attention	Status of interest groups	Status in market	Status in profession
7. Basis of strategy	Increase community good	Increase efficiency profit	Increase personal reputation
8. Informal control mechanism	Backroom politics	Industry analysts	Celebrity professionals
9. Economic system	Welfare capitalism	Market capitalism	Personal capitalism

Table 2. Taxonomy of the different meanings and interpretations to the polysemous form “artistic quality.”

	Institutional logic of the state	Institutional logic of the market	Institutional logic of the profession
1. Polysemous form	“Artistic quality”	“Artistic quality”	“Artistic quality”
2. Interpretative prerogative	Citizens	Consumers	Culture experts
3. Values in focus	Functional, moral, epistemic and skillfulness values	Hedonic values	Aesthetic and skillfulness values
4. Examples of meanings	• “The view of the citizen defines artistic quality” • “Artistic quality is achieved through equal opportunity and diversity” • “Artistic quality should be interpreted in light of written, formal, state documents”	• “The view of consumers defines artistic quality” • “Artistic quality is defined by how many consumers a cultural project attracts and how much they are willing to spend” • “Artistic quality is when the product fulfills the demands of the consumer or commissioner”	• “The view of culture experts defines artistic quality” • “Formally educated culture producers promote artistic quality” • “Artistic value is determined by the professional status of the culture producer”
5. View of cultural projects	Cultural projects embody and foster democratic ideals	Cultural projects are market commodities for entertainment	Cultural projects are artworks with intrinsic value

Thornton, P. H., W. Ocasio, and M. Lounsbury. 2012. The Institutional Logics Perspective: Foundations, Research, and Theoretical Elaboration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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