Legitimacy as a Social Process Export

@article{johnsonetal06, abstract = {To gain an in-depth understanding of legitimacy as a general social process, we review contemporary approaches to legitimacy within two areas of sociology: social psychology and organizations. A comparison of these distinct approaches allows us to explain the process, both in implicit and explicit ways at different levels of analysis, through which a social object is construed as legitimate. This comparison also suggests four stages in the process by which new social objects, both individual (worthy/unworthy individuals) and collective (organizational forms), gain legitimation: innovation, local validation, diffusion, and general validation. We then show how legitimation of the status quo—that is, the acceptance of widespread consensual schemas/beliefs in the larger society—often fosters the stability of nonoptimal actions and practices that are created as a result of these new individual and collective social objects. Finally, we discuss how consensual beliefs such as status beliefs and cultural capital fuel the reproduction of inefficiency and inequality in groups and organizations.}, author = {Johnson, Cathryn and Dowd, Timothy J. and Ridgeway, Cecilia L.}, citeulike-article-id = {2615979}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123101}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123101}, doi = {10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123101}, journal = {Annual Review of Sociology}, keywords = {legitimacy, organizations}, number = {1}, pages = {53--78}, posted-at = {2008-03-31 12:52:33}, priority = {0}, title = {Legitimacy as a Social Process}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123101}, volume = {32}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - johnsonetal06 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2615979 N2 - To gain an in-depth understanding of legitimacy as a general social process, we review contemporary approaches to legitimacy within two areas of sociology: social psychology and organizations. A comparison of these distinct approaches allows us to explain the process, both in implicit and explicit ways at different levels of analysis, through which a social object is construed as legitimate. This comparison also suggests four stages in the process by which new social objects, both individual (worthy/unworthy individuals) and collective (organizational forms), gain legitimation: innovation, local validation, diffusion, and general validation. We then show how legitimation of the status quo—that is, the acceptance of widespread consensual schemas/beliefs in the larger society—often fosters the stability of nonoptimal actions and practices that are created as a result of these new individual and collective social objects. Finally, we discuss how consensual beliefs such as status beliefs and cultural capital fuel the reproduction of inefficiency and inequality in groups and organizations. IS - 1 JF - Annual Review of Sociology EP - 78 TI - Legitimacy as a Social Process VL - 32 SP - 53 KW - legitimacy KW - organizations AU - Johnson, Cathryn AU - Dowd, Timothy AU - Ridgeway, Cecilia PY - 2006/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123101 ER -