Understanding Organizations [Paperback]

Social life is a collective process, and virtually all of social life in contemporary industrial nations is shaped by formal organizations and recognized social institutions. One can no longer hope to understand a complex society without understanding its organizations, any more than one can fully understand organizational life without grasping the social processes that shape it.

Understanding Organizations takes a fresh look at the sociology of organizations, blending classic theories of industrial society with contemporary cultural studies, labor studies, social movement theory, and the role of nonprofits. In each chapter, Lune describes the major ideas and the new work that define the topic, as well as asking how these assumptions came about and how they impact us in our daily lives.

This book will be the ideal companion to courses on organizations across the social sciences, and has insights to offer all students of organized life, whether one is interested in entering the corporate world, starting an arts organization, or mobilizing for social change.

List of Figures and Tables vii

Acknowledgments viii

1 Introducing Organizations 1

What is an organization? 1

The organizational society 8

Key Readings 17

2 Classic Theories of Organizations 19

Weber – bureaucracy and beyond 20

Durkheim and the division of labor in society 28

Karl Marx and the spirit of capitalism 32

Conclusions 37

Key Readings 38

3 Management and Administration 40

How work works 41

Rational systems – Fayol, Ford, Taylor 42

Organizations as human systeml“\