Institutions are the 'rules of the game' in social life - the conventions, contracts and customs that shape the actions and intentions of individuals and organisations.
Recent research in social learning, adaptive capacity in the rural sector and rural governance has highlighted the role of informal institutions (the unwritten, embedded norms and rules that arise in social interaction) in rural development, and the difficulties for many policy actors in recognising and responding to them. This has become more important with the recent trend towards more participatory forms of rural governance.
Recent research on informal institutions has focused on shadow networks and communities of practice, demonstrating that informal organisations are tractable to analysis, and that paying attention to them is not inherently corrupt. Key future challenges include operationalising ethical approaches to informal institutions within public and voluntary sector settings.
(2006 forthcoming). Are shadows dark? Governance, informal institutions and corruption in rural India. (pdf - 217kb)
(2005) - Local agency, adaptation and the shadow system: The institutional architecture of social learning in rural areas of the UK and India (pdf - 195kb)
This section includes references on social networks, communities of practice, social capital and shadow systems. References are chosen for clarity, breadth and interest and are not by any means comprehensive.
Social Networks and embeddedness
Mark Granovetter's classic work on weak ties and embeddedness are key references within sociology, particularly for writers who focus on social networks.
. (1973). The strength of weak ties in The American Journal of Sociology 78(6): 1360-1380.
. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness in The American Journal of Sociology 91(3): 481-510.
Work on communities of practice cover much relevant material on informal structures in organisational settings. Key references include:
(1991). Organizational learning and communities of practice: Towards a unified view of working, leaning and innovation in Organization Science 2(1): 40-57.
(1999). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
(2000). Communities of practice, social capital and organizational knowledge in Lesser, E. L., Fontaine, M. A. & Slusher, J. A., Eds. Knowledge and Communities. Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann: 123-150.
(2000). Communities of practice: The key to knowledge strategy in Lesser, E. L., Fontaine, M. A. & Slusher, J. A., Eds. Knowledge and Communities. Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann: 3-20.
Studies of social capital go back to Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman and David Putnam. Social capital is an attempt to get to grips with the shaping of development and society through the interlocking of human relationships and access to other forms of resources (capitals).
(1998). Participation, social capital and vulernability to urban flooding in Guyana in Journal of International Development 10(4): 469-486.
(1999). Capitals and capabilities: A framework for analysing peasant viability, rural livelihoods and poverty in the Andes. London, IIED.
, Eds. (2000). Social capital: Critical perspectives. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
The role of shadow networks and shadow systems are hinted at in the work of a group of academics working in Hertfordshire. They have also been used as an analytical lense on policy processes in India and the UK
(1997). Intervening in the shadow systems of organizations: Consulting from a complexity perspective in Journal of Organizational Change 10(3): 235-250.
(2000). Complexity and management: Fad or radical challenge to systems thinking? London, Routledge.
(2001). Thaan Vuzha Nilam Tharisu: The Land Without a Farmer Becomes Barren - Policies that Work for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in Virudhunagar District, Tamilnadu. London, IIED.
(2002). Working with the system: Reconciling local activism and the policy process in Southern India. Bridging policy and research case study, No. 13, Global Development Network, London.
The Rapid Climate Change project site contains extensive material on informal institutions, while the SLIM project focuses on social learning in environmental management.