Sociologists who are trying to understand the basic theoretical principles undergirding the neoinstitutional framework will find this book indispensable. As other reviewers have said, Powell and DiMaggio include some of the foundational pieces of the new institutionalism. In addition, they include several pieces that were seen as groundbreaking (or at least attempting to innovate neoinstitutional thought) at the time this book was published. For instance, papers by Powell and Friedland and Alford attempt to integrate notions of power and political interest into the otherwise top-down, culturally centered theory.

Potential readers should keep in mind that there are several new institutionalisms out there in social science. Those who want to understand the difference between rational choice, economic, and polity-actor versions of the theory will find the introduction by DiMaggio and Powell very useful. It has been one the center pieces of my theoretical toolkit in helping me to map out the conceptual distinctions between the variants of institutionalism.

Neoinstitutional theory has been one of the most influential approaches to sociology in the past 30 years. This book, which represents the "social constructionist" as opposed to the "ratoinal-choice" version of neoinstitutionalism, is useful because it pulls together some of the foundational articles in this field and also places them in context.

This collection of new and classic articles provides a thorough survey to the new institutionalism in Sociology. The introduction is a very broad ranging and exciting survey of recent writings in the social sciences on institutions. The chapters apply the ideas to a wide range of empirical settings from banks to universities. The book is a must have for researchers in organizational theory and management.