Understanding Organizations

by Howard Lune

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.

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is framed from the Neoliberal perspective and as such has significant blind spots and unfortunate framings that really should be called out by more, otherwise the institutional inertia that prevents critical programs and policies from gaining traction will continue to languish while the world accelerates into an ecological catastrophe of social construction.