THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG

process is a product of both external rules which form the regulative structures and constructs
that shape the individual. 141 They become synthesised and internalised through the process of
social construction. This concerns both what the individuals have learned to observe and what
they have learned to respect. 142 In terms of natural resource regimes, what has been going on
as a norm in a given resource environment is more likely to continue unabated over time
unless a strong external force, usually by a coercive authority, changes the norms and
customs. 143
Therefore, this branch of institutionalism helps us understand what the cognitive aspects are
and what should be the normative aspects. These are important social dimensions to both the
cognitive and the normative issues in life. 144 While different languages may be used to explain
different existing phenomena, a quite coherent basic perspective has evolved across such
broad fields as classical institutional economics. That is to say: the traditionalists from Veblen
and his disciples, to sociology, organizational theory and parts of political science. 145
Scott’s works are distinctively in a sociological and ultimately within the theory of
organizations realm. His position is quite representative when viewed from a modern
approach and analysis of the so called classic institutional economists. 146 These tend to
support the individual in his capacity to act through delivering structure and meaning to both
cognitively and normatively intractable problems. 147 Situations of the sort as described in the
preceding paragraph can create opportunities to promote cognitive transitions aimed at
devising new and improved systems for managing human uses of living resources in
situations characterized by cross-level interactions. This cognitive framework also postulates
that, mental models are not only important in situations of radical uncertainty. If it is
recognized that information is generally imperfect, then it becomes clear that individual
perceptions of the resource choice set generally varies and the cognitive dimension comes to
the forefront of the analysis. 148
Simon has made pioneering contributions in this respect. He explains sub-optimal decisionmaking
by cognitive limitations. However, such limitations are seen as something, which in
practice cannot be overcome. 149 This has generated criticism from classical institutional
economists such Hodgson, for ignoring the social influences on the process of decisionmaking
and the institutional aspects of the complex transformation of sense data via bits of
141 Berger, P. and T. Luckmann. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of
Knowledge. London:Penguin Books.
142 Meyer, J.W and R.Scott. 1983. Organisational Environments:Ritual andRationality. Bevery Hills: Sage
Publications.
143 Brinton, M. C and V. Nee. 1998. The new institutionalism in sociology. Stanford: Stanford
University Press.
144 Weick, K. E. 1995. Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
145 Pierson, P. 2000. Increasing returns, path dependence, and the study of politics. American Political Science
Review, 94 (2):251-267.
146 Mizruchi, M. S and L. C, Fein. 1999. The social construction of organizational knowledge: A study of the
uses of coercive, mimetic, and normative isomorphism. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44 (4): 653-683.
147 Scott, W.R. 1995. Institutions and Organizations. California: Sage Publications.
148 Simon, H. 1991. Oraganisations and Markets. Journal of Economic Perspectives 5: 25-44.
149 Ibid.
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