The Corporation as a Social Institution

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The Program on the Corporation as a Social Institution encouraged innovative research on the social and cultural as well as economic aspects of the corporation, with the goal of helping to train a generation of scholars working in the areas of economic sociology, political economy, and other related fields who will be intellectual collaborators and allies. Funds for this program were provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

This program provided some funding for dissertation research, but its main function was to convene a series of workshops and conferences that brought graduate students together with scholars working in the area. The workshops took place at the Center for Culture, Organizations, and Politics at the Institute for Industrial Relations, University of CA, Berkeley. The program was targeted for graduate students working on projects that focus on corporations or firms, and students were encouraged to submit proposals for their projects. Specific themes that were of interest to this initiative include, but are not limited to:

Power: What role does power play within corporations and for corporations in society?
Culture: To what extent do institutional culture and cultural environments play a role in organizational structure and action?
Varying Conceptions of the Corporation: To what extent do conceptions of the corporation vary within and across organizations, across societies and across time?
Networks: What role do social networks play in business relations and negotiations?
Intraorganizational structure: How are the internal structures of the firm shaped by the social relations within and outside the firm?
Governments and Law: How do political interventions and laws shape corporate behavior? What does law mean for corporations and other types of organizations?

Based on the intellectual strength of their proposals, a group of the most promising graduate students working on the social aspects of the corporation was selected to participate in this program. Selected fellows were invited to participate in the workshops that were at the core of this program. Additionally, some of the projects received funding of up to $10,000 for dissertation research. The graduate students were brought together for workshops with senior scholars working in the areas of sociology, economics, law and business.

The 2003 deadline for receipt of materials has passed.
There is no competition scheduled for the future.

Social Science Research Council