7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
1/29
1
Historical institutionalism, critical realism
and morphogenetic social theory towards a
synthesis of explaining why history matters in
organisations?
By Ian Greener, Department of Management Studies, University of York,
Heslington, York, YO10 5DD
Telephone 01904 434651, [email protected]
Abstract
This paper explores the difficulties with both the theoretical content and application of
the concept of path dependence in organization studies, but suggests that, by combiningit with insights from morphogenetic social theory, we can provide a coherent framework
for its use. After providing a brief survey of the literature on path dependence, it presentsa summary of the most significant criticisms made of the approach. The paper then
moves on to examine morphogenetic social theory and its potential to meet these
criticisms before concluding by characterising the elements of a path dependent system
incorporating insights from both new institutionalism and morphogenetic social theory.
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
2/29
2
Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a
synthesis of explaining why history matters in organisations?
Abstract
This paper explores the difficulties with both the theoretical content and application of
the concept of path dependence in organization studies, but suggests that, by combining
it with insights from morphogenetic social theory, we can provide a coherent framework
for its use. After providing a brief survey of the literature on path dependence, it presents
a summary of the most significant criticisms made of the approach. The paper then
moves on to examine morphogenetic social theory and its potential to meet these
criticisms before concluding by characterising the elements of a path dependent system
incorporating insights from both new institutionalism and morphogenetic social theory.
Introduction historical institutionalism and path dependence
Path dependence is an increasingly widely used concept not only in economic and
business history, but also in sociology and political science. But given its widespread
use, it is striking how differently the concept is used from discipline to discipline. The
first widely-cited cases using the concept were arguably those of Arthur, where abstract
ideas based on Polya urns were used to show how positive feedback mechanisms meant
that small changes in the initial settings of particular experiments had big implications
for their form and structure later on (Arthur, 1989, 1990, Arthur et al, 1983). Arthur went
on to show how economies had positive feedback mechanisms too, suggesting that stock
markets and a range of other economic phenomena could be better modelled using
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
3/29
3
positive feedback mechanisms. Arthurs work on path dependence (1989, 1990, Arthur et
al, 1983) provides a series of discussions on how positive feedback mechanisms pervade
economics (in contrast to more traditional assumptions that are concerned with
equilibrium concepts, and so negative feedback). Arthur is keen to demonstrate the sub-
optimality that can result from possible multiple equilibria being subject to positive
feedback mechanisms, and so inferior technologies becoming locked-in to dominance
through little more than chance (Arrow, 2000, David, 1985, 1997). Political studies based
around Arthurs work tends to make extensive use of multiple equilibria and positive
feedback, and so suggest a framework where there are initially multiple possibilities from
which a sensitivity to the initial conditions of the political situation lead to a particular
policy or institution becoming locked in through a series of contingencies, and then
maintained through some kind of positive feedback mechanism (Goldstone, 1998).
Arthurs work appears to be a central influence on Nobel prize-winner Kenneth Arrow
who began to incorporate positive feedback mechanisms into economics (Arrow, 2000).
Paul David produced controversial accounts of the development of the QWERTY
keyboard, wondering why despite the now existence of technologically superior
alternatives, did we continue to utilise a layout the original adoption of which was based
upon a constraint, the prevention of manual typewriter key levers from jamming, that was
no longer relevant (David, 1985, 1997). Davids answers, again, were largely based on
positive feedback mechanisms, the externalities that the adoption of the QWERTY
keyboard, and the sunk costs that result from so many individuals learning to type using
the layout. At the same time, he provoked an argument as to whether economic
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
4/29
4
rationality was a good model to be using in understanding technological development
(Liebowitz & Margolis, 1995).
In Business and Management, the Strategic Management Journal is now dominated by
accounts of industrial development and change based on the resource-based view of the
firm, which makes extensive use of path dependence in a similar guise to Arrow, David
and Arthur, to explain how firms can achieve competitive advantage by developing
difficult-to-replicate combinations of human and technological capital (Jocobides &
Winter, 2005, Miller, 2002, Rouse & Daellenback, 2002, Vassolo et al, 2004). What
these accounts share with Arthur, Arrow and David is their reliance upon the neo-
classical theory of the firm, an approach that places at its centre the utility-maximising
rational man. This undoubtedly has strengths in terms of creating opportunities for
utilising economic theory as a theoretical underpinning for accounts of the development
of business organisation, with the parsimony and simplicity this allows.
But in other academic disciplines a very different approach to path dependence is
appearing. In sociology and politics path dependence tends to be used in a very different
way with very different underpinning theoretical assumptions.
Within political studies, the most significant account of path dependence comes from
historical institutionalism, the central claim of which is that choices formed when an
institution is being formed, or when a policy is being formulated, have a constraining
effect into the future (Hall & Taylor, 1996, Koelble, 1995, Peters, 2001). This dynamic
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
5/29
5
occurs because institutions and policies have a tendency towards inertia; once particular
paths have been forged, it requires a significant effort to divert them onto another course.
History matters because formations put in place in the early stages of an institutional or
policy life effectively come to constrain activity after that point (Peters, 2001, Skocpol,
1992).
Arguably historical institutionalisms most distinctive feature is an image of social
causation that is based around the notion of path dependence the means by which the
historical gets into historical institutionalism. Path dependence has become, within a
relatively short space of time, a widely- used concept (see, for example, Alexander, 2001,
Arrow, 2000, Berman, 1998, Bruggeman, 2002, Garud & Karnoe, 2001, Greener, 2002a,
2002b, Hansen, 2002, Hedlund, 2000, Holzinger & Knill, 2002, Mahoney, 2001, O'Brien,
1996, Pierson, 2000a, Scott, 2001, Sterman & Wittenberg, 1999, Torfing, 1999, 2001,
Wilsford, 1994), but studies often have remarkable little in common in terms of their
conceptual framework or approach.
Interestingly, it is not because writers on path dependence have ignored theory that so
little consensus has appeared in writings concerned with the topic. Attempts have been
made to try and consider how we might construct a framework for specifying what
elements and circumstances combine to form a path dependent system (Goldstone, 1998),
and how path dependent systems manage to reproduce their form (Mahoney, 2000, 2001,
Pierson, 1993, 2000b, Thelen, 1999, Thelen & Steinmo, 1992). Mahoney (2000, 2001)
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
6/29
6
goes further than this, suggesting that maintenance might occur through either positive
feedback or reactive mechanisms of interplay between interest groups.
Criticisms of path dependence
A number of specific criticisms emerge from the literature that we must consider if we
are to if we are to use path dependence as a coherent framework in organizational
analysis.
First, there is the problem we alluded to above. If much of the organisational literature on
path dependence depends on rationalising economic man at its theoretical core, then we
find ourselves stuck in attempting to construct ever more theoretically-elaborate
considerations to attempt to come up with complex reasons why individuals in
institutions are behaving in what is, according to the tenets of economics, such an odd
way. We can see this in the work of Schwartz (Schwartz, 2003) which, although is
logically rigorous and is clearly sincere in attempting to further the rational choice
agenda into understanding path dependence, is unpersuasive as it is so clearly predicated
upon homo economicus that it automatically discounts other ways of understanding path
dependence that are surely relevant.
But the problems do not end if we place instead an alternative model of path dependence
at the core of our modle. Many of the problems with what we might term the political
studies approach to path dependence come from its intellectual roots in historical
institutionalism. First, if path dependent processes preserve the history in their formation,
how do we break free from them? If history matters so much, how do we break from it?
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
7/29
7
How does change occur (Gorges, 2001, Hira & Hira, 2000)? In historical institutionalism,
patterns of behaviour come to resemble punctuated equilibria (Krasner, 1984), where
substantial change is only possible in critical junctures (Collier & Collier, 1991) or
policy windows (Kingdon, 1995, Kingdon, 1996) before institutions and policies once
again settle down onto a new path, and inertia becomes the norm. Hall and Taylor (1996
p. 942) admit that well-developed responses to the question of why critical junctures arise
have not yet been formulated change is effectively an exogenous feature of the model.
Second, what exactly is the role of ideas in path dependence (and historical
institutionalism generally) (Blyth, 1997)? What is the relationship between ideas and
history, and how can they combine to create continuity and resist forces for change in the
past? Path dependence often attempts to locate institutions in a causal chain that gives a
substantial role the development of ideas (Hall, 1993, Mahoney, 2001, Torfing, 1999,
2001), but that has also led to some substantial criticisms of the approach with claims that
ideas are not treated in a systematic and coherent way (Blyth, 1997), and that ideas are
being used as a means of propping up the institutionalist research agenda without
appropriate care.
Third, how can we characterise the feedback mechanism through which path dependent
processes prevent change? Are they subject to increasing returns and positive feedback
mechanisms (Arrow, 2000, Arthur, 1990, Pierson, 2000b) or can we include negative
feedback mechanisms as well(Mahoney, 2000)? If we include both kinds of feedback
mechanisms, are we at risk of losing the distinctiveness of path dependence as a concept
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
8/29
8
(Schwartz, 2003), so reducing its use to a loose metaphor rather than a clearly defined
framework for analysis?
Finally, Pierson, one of the most significant writers on path dependence, (see, for
example, Pierson, 1993, 1996, 2000b, 2000c), has commented that the diversity of studies
now being published under its name, risks concept stretching (Pierson, 2000b p. 252)
occurring, and the risk of it becoming meaningless.
These are considerable problems. To attempt to resolve them, we turn to morphogenetic
social theory to argue that it holds considerable complementary explanatory power, and
by incorporating key insights from it, we can more clearly elaborate what we mean by
path dependence and so find solutions to many of the problems raised by its critics.
Morphogenetic social theory
Morphogenetic social theory (Archer 1982a, 1982b, 1995, 1996a, 1996b, 2000a, 2000b)
provides an analytical approach based around the ontology of critical realism (Archer et
al 1998). Archers ideas have been discussed extensively within sociology (King 1999,
Reed 1997, 2001, Stones 2001, Willmott 2000), but appear to have not yet been applied
to institutionalist approaches, even though there is an increasing body of work that that
utilises the approach in organizational theory (Ackroyd & Fleetwood, 2004, Reed, 1997,
2001). The morphogenetic approach divides analysis into three inter-related stages. First
it suggests we should analyse the structural and cultural conditionings that act as an
influence on human actors, and which create emergent properties and situational
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
9/29
9
logics for their interactions with them (see below). Second, it explores how these
conditioning factors influence actors within the system through their interactions with
them, primarily in the form of their behaviour in vested interest groups. The third and
final stage analyses the result of these interactions, and the resulting conditioning effects
that will feed into the next morphogenetic cycle.
As well as having specific analytical stages, we can characterise the morphogenetic
approach as having two particular ontological characteristics derived from critical realism
that are especially distinctive. First, there is an analytical separation between structure
and agency. Morphogenetic social theory recognises the interdependence of structure and
agency, but claims that the two are analytically separable because of the additional
insights that can be generated in this way. So in stage one of the morphogenetic cycle, we
analyse the structural and ideational influences present in the organizational system,
before considering how these interact with human agency in stage two, and the result of
those interactions in stage three. As such, we have a distinctive means of approaching the
debate between structure and agency that has been at the heart of debates on historical
institutionalism (Hall & Taylor, 1996, Hay & Wincott, 1998). In addition to this there is a
genuine sense of the role of history in each morphogenetic cycle we analyse we see the
interactions between pre-existing ideas and structures and human actors unfold before us
(see Archer's extended examples in 1995, 1996).
Second, morphogenetic social theory also specifies an analytical separation between
structural and cultural systems. This means that we examine the realm of institutions
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
10/29
10
(the structural system) separately from the realm of ideas (the cultural system), and so
deal explicitly with Blyths (1997) criticism that ideas are not treated seriously within
historical institutionalism, as they acquire an analytical dimension all of their own. As
with structure and agency, morphogenetic social theory does not treat ideas and structures
as systems that do not interact, but instead suggests they should be treated as being
separable because of the additional analytical power that this approach creates. We will
specify below how this applies to the specific area of path dependence.
Examining a morphogenetic cycle then, consists first of specifying the structural and
cultural influences upon the organization that we are analysing. Morphogenetic social
theory utilises two specific means of analysis in its first stage. First we must consider the
emergent properties of the system in both structural and cultural spheres. An emergent
property can be either necessary in which relationships between those dominating the
system are recognised by all the parties involved as being inter-dependent, or
contingent, in which vested interests in the dominant faction believe they are able to
work relatively autonomously from one another. As well as this, emergent properties are
either compatible, in which the dominant vested interests have a considerable amount
either culturally or structurally in common, or incompatible, in which case they arent.
By specifying the nature of the dominant vested interests in terms of the extent of their
interdependence and compatibility in both the structural and cultural spheres we are able
to assess the probability of their ability to preserve their position (we can hypothesise that
necessary relationships tend to be longer- lasting than contingent ones) and their
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
11/29
11
likelihood of conflict (we can hypothesise that compatible relationships tend to be less
conflictual than incompatible ones).
Second, we must consider the situational logic that the emergent properties are likely to
create. The combinational possibilities, along with their likelihood of path dependence,
are shown in table one below.
Table one the likelihood of path dependence from structural and situational logics
Emergent property (in
phase two of
morphogenetic cycle)
Structural situational
logic
Cultural situational
logic
Likelihood of
path
dependence
Necessary
complementarities
Protection Protection Highest
Necessary
incompatibilities
Compromise Correction leading
to syncretism
High -
Medium
Contingent
incompatibilities
Elimination Choice (forcing of) Lowest
Contingent
compatibilities
Opportunism Cultural free play Low
Derived from Archer (1995, p.218)
A morphogenetic analysis of path dependence
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
12/29
12
In morphogenetic terms we can hypothesise a path dependent system as most likely to
emerge where both structural and cultural vested interest groups are dependent upon one
another to hold power (a necessary emergent property). Where structural interest groups
are dependent upon each other (necessary) and their goals are compatible, this leads to a
situational logic where interest groups attempt to protect themselves. This is especially
powerful where the dominant cultural ideas utilised by vested interests are also
compatible and the greater the compatibility the greater the possibility of generating
increasing returns in the system we are investigating. This combination of powerful
structural interests plus mutually compatible ideas is the most stable of the morphostatic
(or stable) cycles Archer posits (Archer, 1995 pp. 308-312), and so, is the most likely to
condition path dependence.
The production of path dependence through increasing returns is therefore most likely to
occur in systems where necessary complementarities exist in both the structural and
cultural systems. It may also occur where there are necessary incompatibilities in either
the structural or cultural system, especially when allied to a necessary complementarity in
the other. Where there are contingent incompatibilities in both the structural and cultural
systems (vested interests have rival structural or cultural loyalties based around
differences of opinion that cannot be easily resolved), the likelihood is reduced, however.
As we can see from the table above, emergent properties with contingent relationships
(where vested interest groups are not dependent upon on another) tends to lead to
situational logics that favour non-stable (morphogenetic) outcomes such as elimination
of rival groupings, and so have a low likelihood of being path dependent. The results of
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
13/29
13
the conditionings from these combinations are more likely to result in change than
continuity.
We therefore have a means of explaining systemic continuity, but also need a clearly
specified mechanism for change (Hira & Hira, 2000). In a morphogenetic- inspired model
of path dependence, forces for change can come endogenously or exogenously, or both. If
we have necessary and compatible relations in both structural and cultural spheres, we
have the most powerful force for morphostasis (continuity), with actors engaged in a
logic of protection in both areas. Even this, however, can eventually lead to change
because of the very limited range of legitimising ideas that are being drawn from
(extreme specialism can ultimately lead to irrelevance), or through the structural vested
interests groups becoming so insular that they engage in factional infighting, and wars on
deviant groups or ideas to the extent that they actually cause these groupings to begin to
establish separate identities and differentiated ideas (Archer, 1995 pp. 237-239). Change
may also come from exogenous factors, such as a wider shift in structural societal
relations at the level of international political economy (fiscal crises for example), or
through the emergence of challenging ideas that are backed by vocal and powerful vested
interests (this is more or less the argument as presently presented in most historical
institutionalist analyses that utilise path dependency (Greener, 2002b)(.
Equally, in less stable versions of path dependence, where the structural or cultural
systems have a built-in incompatibility, attempts at compromise or syncretism can
break down, and vested interest groups attempt to achieve greater power for themselves.
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
14/29
14
This, again, can come about as a result of either endogenous or exogenous factors.
Endogenous change would come about as a result of a significant group no longer being
able to sustain the incompatibility built into the system, and so fragmentation occurring
despite attempts from structural or cultural vested interests to continue to compromise.
Exposure of incompatibilities would tend to result in greater mobilisation from other
vested interest groups against them, and the likelihood that actors would be forced into
choices about whether or not they would continue to support the dominant coalition or
idea.
Situational logics do not create compulsory rules for those operating within them, but
actors do to have to work within the context where they prevail. As such, the opportunity
cost of working against them is likely to be high in other words particular
configurations of these emergent properties are more likely to lead to path dependence
than others, and a change in emergent properties resulting from interaction between
actors and the situational logics that they face will result in the system become either
more morphogenetic (generating change) or morphostatic (generating continuity) ,
depending upon the new prevailing situational logic.
Towards a framework for the analysis of path dependence
From the insights generated above from both existing path dependence literature and
Archers morphogenetic approach, we are now in a position to specify a framework for
considering path dependence in organizational processes.
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
15/29
15
First, path dependent processes begin with multiple equilibria situation (Goldstone, 1998,
Mahoney, 2000, Pierson, 2000a). We must be able to demonstrate that a number of viable
alternatives existed for the development of the policy in question, or for the development
of the institutions we are examining. Leading on from this is the second element; that
contingent events must be shown to have played a substantial role in establishing the
particular policy or institutional form that emerged.
Third, we must specify the conditions in which we would expect path dependent systems
to reproduce their form and lock-in to occur. The use of insights from morphogenetic
social theory allow us, through the analysis of the relationships between vested interests
in the structural and cultural spheres, to begin to generate hypotheses about the likelihood
of continuity occurring. After the period of production, a period of reproduction appears
during which the policy or institution must generate feedback mechanisms that create
inertia, or possible even increasing returns to lock out competing ideas and vested
interests. Once the logic of path dependent policy or institution has been established, it
will tend generate an inertial force where established vested and cultural interests have a
high opportunity cost for challenging the system (based on a necessary relationship both
within and between the groups). This will tend to lead to morphostasis, which is most
likely to appear where necessary emergent properties are reproduced in the policy or
institution.
Critics of path dependence have, as we noted above, made great store of the lack of
specificity in the model of the nature of the returns that the model is specifying. Pierson
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
16/29
16
(Pierson, 2000b, 2000c), basing his work on Arthur (1989, 1990), makes clear that he
believes that path dependent systems are the study of positive returns, but this approach is
logically flawed. Were positive returns to dominate a system for a considerable period of
time, it would eventually lead to the removal of all opposition as the influence of the
dominant idea or vested interest became so widespread that there would no longer be
anywhere left for notions or interests that challenged them. This would effectively take
away the opportunity for change completely, short of an exogenous shock. In the world
of physics, where models of path dependence consider stable equilibria generated by the
selection of coloured balls from bags, this lack of internal change be possible, but in the
world of organizational studies we need some modification of the idea. As such, it makes
sense to hypothesise, in line with the insights above, that a path dependent system might
go through, in its creation phase, a period where increasing returns are generated. Once it
enters its reproduction phase, however, it seems unlikely that anything greater than the
preservation of the status quo is possible a situation more in line with constant than
increasing returns. As Schwarz notes (2003) there are considerable costs involved in
keeping things the same. We are able, by analysing emergent properties and their
corresponding situational logics, the difficulties involved in keeping the system on its
particular path, and the likely costs involved.
Finally, as we noted above, we have a mechanism for change in a path dependent system,
located not in the cultural or structural spheres, nor in human agency, but in the
interactions between all three. The analytical separation of cultural and structural systems
allows us to examine the role of ideas as well as structure in organizational analysis, and
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
17/29
17
the analytical separation of both from human agency through the three-step
morphogenetic cycle allows us to see the process through which change unfolds from
apparent continuity before us. We have no need to make the source of change an
exogenous factor in our model, as historical institutionalism tends to do.
The importance of path dependence a brief example
We can illustrate the above approach through the use of a brief example based on the
authors own research into the UK National Health Service (see for examples Greener,
2001, 2002a, 2002b, 2003, 2004, Greener, 2005). The NHS at its creation in 1948 is
perhaps regarded as an organization based on a compromise between the state and the
medical profession within which both parties entered into a tacit agreement. The state
agreed to allow the doctors considerable autonomy in the operational control of the NHS
on the one hand, and the doctors allowed the state to set the budget for the NHS, within
which they would endeavour to keep (Klein, 2001). The relation between the state and
the medical profession was therefore necessary in nature the state needed the medical
profession for the NHS to work, and the medical profession needed the state in a time of
wholesale health organisation nationalisation. Between the consultant elite and the
Secretary of State for Health, Anuerin Bevan, there was also a complementary emergent
property they saw that each had the others interest at heart (Honigsbaum, 1989), and so
a bargain was reached rather quickly in which Bevan famously claimed he had stuffed
their mouths with gold. There was a strong contingent element in Bevans negotiating
stance, being considerably based on the quick decisions that consultant representatives in
the Royal Colleges could provide him versus the rather more democratic, ponderous
decision made by the BMA, who largely represented the GPs. This meant that the relation
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
18/29
18
between the state (as represented by Bevan in negotiations) and the GPs, however, was
rather more difficult, and although it can still clearly be categorised as necessary, was
rather more incompatible, because GPs wished to effectively remain independent
contractors in the NHS, and balked at Bevans suggestion that they, like the consultants,
should effectively become state employees.
This led to a situational and cultural logic of protection between the state and the
consultants, and a high degree of path dependence in their relationships. Between the
state and the GPs, however, it led to a structural logical of compromise, and a cultural
logic of correction or syncretism, in which the two interests had something of a more
abrasive relationship, and although the potential for path dependence was significant the
relationship between the two had somewhat reduced capacity for mechanisms of
reproduction than the mutually enforcing one between the state and the consultants.
This simple analysis sets the scene for the first forty years of the NHS remarkably well.
Once established, consultants and the state did remarkably well in leaving one another
alone, with the state constructing ever more elaborate means of allocating funding, and
the consultants securing greater and greater representation and control over their hospital
fiefdoms. Flashpoints between the two occurred if the state attempted to remove any of
the privileges afforded to the consultants (see especially Klein, 1979, Klein, 1983), or
over attempts to introduce reforms of which the consultants did not approve (Greener,
2001) but the main source of friction for the NHS was between the state and the GPs.
This is because the situational logic of correctio n began to assert itself, especially as
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
19/29
19
general practitioners got more organised in the 1960s, and began to demand greater
equality of pay and conditions with their consultant colleagues (Rivett, 1998). We can see
a series of compromises over contracts, pay and conditions that meant the GPs found
themselves rather more often threatening industrial action.
By the 1980s, and the negotiations leading up to the creat ion of the first internal market
in the NHS (Secretary of State for Health, 1989), the state appeared to be adopting a
rather more confrontational approach than any of its post-war predecessors. Despite the
concern of the Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Health Kenneth Clarke appeared to
be more than prepared to confront and challenge both consultants and GPs in the name of
improving efficiency in the NHS through the introduction of the internal market
(Timmins, 1995a, 1995b). We can view this as the beginning of the state realising the
potential to view its relationship with the medical profession as being contingent rather
than necessary. This offered the state potential to put in place radical reform. Doctor
representation groups, now themselves angered by the relatively low funding given to the
NHS and a cumulative funding gap that was emerging (Ham, 1999), launched a
campaign that attempted to get the government to back down, but failed. This period
looked a lot like an unpleasant divorce, with a logic of elimination appearing, and of
prominent representatives from both state and medical profession apparently presenting a
cultural logic of choice you were either with the reforms or against them with little
scope for any other position.
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
20/29
20
The reforms, however, were not fully implemented as Clarke had planned (Greener,
2002b, West, 1998), and a logic of compromise appears to have been re-established for
much of the 1990s. It is remarkable how conciliatory toward the medical profession New
Labour were on their return to power in 1997 (Secretary of State for Health, 1997),
presenting a consultative and almost Fabian approach to the NHS. But the contingent
relationship appears to now be firmly entrenched; a series of NHS reforms since 2000 has
meant that we now see widespread introduction of private sector providers into the NHS,
the introduction of patient choice a second internal market apparently based around it,
contracts with clearly defined duties on the part of doctors, and a structural logic that the
state is prepared to directly challenge any attempt by the medical profession to stand in
the way of reform. The logic cannot be one of elimination because the state clearly still
needs the doctors for the NHS to function, but it is increasingly finding ways of breaking
up local cartels created by the medical profession to allow private practice, and there is
certainly a distinct lack of compromise. In short, the state appears to be doing all it can to
reassert a contingent emergent property to the system, and create a situational logic where
it is prepared to let individual hospitals follow the path of unsuccessful schools in
education reforms, that is, to closure.
In sum, the path dependence present in the NHS can be successfully described in terms of
the path dependence between the state and the medical profession established in 1948,
but is now under serious threat because of the move from its relationship being necessary,
to being more contingent. This has meant a movement from a situational logic of
protection and compromise, to one instead of elimination and the forcing of choice, as the
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
21/29
21
interests of the state and the medical profession appear to have diverged under the new
public management (Dunleavy & Hood, 1994, Hood, 1991).
Conclusion
Path dependence can be retrieved from the rather unsystematic use to which it is
presently put. Its combination with morphogenetic social theory appears to be a
potentially fruitful one. In providing a more coherent framework for its use, and
combining it with coherent social theory and ontology, we can both deepen its analytical
content as well as provide a basis from which hypotheses and comparative studies about
organizational continuity and change can be drawn. Path dependence has considerable
potential for providing the basis for substantial empirical studies of the linkages between
policy and organisation continuity and change with the relationships within institutions
that shape the behaviour of agents and the structural and cultural conditionings that act
upon them. Providing a more detailed framework than presently exists allows
comparative cases to be constructed in a more systematic way, and for us to understand
the complex processes making up organizational life to be better understood.
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
22/29
22
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Hugh Pemberton for organising the specialist stream on Path Dependence at
the PSA Annual Conference at Leicester University in 2003, to Fiona Ross for her
encouragement and criticism at that panel, and to Herman Schwartz for his provocative
and incisive critique.
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
23/29
23
References
Ackroyd S, Fleetwood S, eds. (2004). Critical Realist Applications in Organization and
Management. London: Routledge
Alexander G. (2001). Institutions, Path Dependence, And Democratic Consolidation.
Journal of Theoretical Politics 13: 249-70
Archer M. (1995). Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Archer M. (1996). Culture and Agency: The Place of Culture in Social Theory .
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Arrow K. (2000). Increasing returns: historiographic issues and path dependence.
European Journal of the History of Economic Thought7: 171-80
Arthur W. (1989). Competing technologies, increasing returns, and lock- in by historical
small events.Economic Journal 99: 116-31
Arthur W. (1990). Positive Feedbacks in the Economy. Scientific American 262: 80-5
Arthur W, Ermoliev M, Kaniovaski Y. (1983). A Generalized Urn Problem and Its
Applications. Cybernetics 19: 61-71
Berman S. (1998). Path Dependency and Political Action: Re-examining Responses to
the Depression. Comparative Politics 30: 379-400
Blyth M. (1997). "Any More Bright Ideas?": The Ideational Turn of Comparative
Political Economy. Comparative Politics 29: 229-50
Bruggeman D. (2002). NASA: a path dependent organization. Technology in Society 24:
415-31
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
24/29
24
Collier R, Collier D. (1991). Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor
Movement, and Regime Dynamics in Latin America. Princeton: Princeton
University Press
David P. (1985). Clio and the Economics of QWERTY. American Economic Review 75:
332-7
David P. (1997). Path Dependence and the Quest for Historical Economics: One More
Chorus of the Ballad of QWERTY. In Discussion Paper in Economic and Social
History. Oxford
Dunleavy P, Hood C. (1994). From Old Public Administration to New Public
Management. Public Policy and Management: 9-16
Garud R, Karnoe P. (2001). Path Dependence and Creation. London: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates
Goldstone J. (1998). Initial Conditions, General Laws, Path-Dependence, and
Explanation in Historical Sociology.American Journal of Sociology 104: 829-45
Gorges M. (2001). New Institutionalist Explanations for Institutional Change: A Note of
Caution. Politics 21: 137-45
Greener I. (2001). "The Ghost of Health Services Past" Revisited: Comparing British
Health Policy of the 1950s with the 1980s and 1990s. International Journal of
Health Services 31: 635-46
Greener I. (2002a). Theorising path-dependency: how does history come to matter in
organisations? Management Decision 40: 614-9
Greener I. (2002b). Understanding NHS Reform: The Policy-Transfer, Social Learning,
and Path-Dependency Perspectives. Governance 15: 161-84
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
25/29
25
Greener I. (2003). Who Choosing What? The evolution of 'choice' in the NHS, and its
implications for New Labour. In Social Policy Review 15, ed. C Bochel, N
Ellison, M Powell, pp. 49-68. Bristol: Policy Press
Greener I. (2004). Health Service Organisation in the UK: A Political Economy
Approach. Public Administration 82: 657-76
Greener I. (2005). Health Management as Strategic Behaviour: Managing Medics and
Performance in the NHS. Public Management Review 7: 95-110
Hall P. (1993). Policy Paradigms, Social Learning and the State. Comparative Politics
25: 275-96
Hall P, Taylor R. (1996). Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms. Political
Studies XLIV: 936-57
Ham C. (1999).Health Policy in Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Hansen R. (2002). Globalization, Embedded Realism, and Path Dependence.
Comparative Political Studies 35: 259-83
Hay C, Wincott D. (1998). Structure, Agency and Historical Institutionalism. Political
Studies XLIV: 951-7
Hedlund S. (2000). Path Dependence in Russian Policy Making: Constraints on Putin's
Economic Choice. Post-Community Economies 12: 390-407
Hira A, Hira R. (2000). The New Institutionalism: Contradictory Notions of Change.
Journal of Economics and Sociology 59: 267-82
Holzinger K, Knill C. (2002). Path Dependencies in European Integration: A
Constructive Response to German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. Public
Administration 80: 125-52
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
26/29
26
Honigsbaum F. (1989). Health, Happiness and Security: the Creation of the National
Health Service. London: Routledge
Hood C. (1991). A Public Management for All Seasons? Public Administration 69: 3-19
Jocobides M, Winter S. (2005). The co-evolution of capabilities and transaction costs:
explaining the institutional structure of production. Strategic Management
Journal 26: 395-413
Kingdon J. (1995). Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies. New York: Harper Collins
Kingdon J. (1996). The Policy Window, and Joining the Streams. In Agendas,
Alternatives and Public Policies, pp. 165-95. London: Longman
Klein R. (1979). Ideology, Class and the National Health Service. Journal of Health
Politics, Policy and Law 4: 464-90
Klein R. (1983). The Politics of Ideology vs. The Reality of Politics. Milbank Quarterly
62
Klein R. (2001). The New Politics of the NHS. Harlow: Longman
Koelble T. (1995). The New Institutionalism in Political Science and Sociology.
Comparative Politics 27: 231-43
Krasner S. (1984). Approaches to the State: Alternative Conceptions and Historical
Dynamics. Comparative Politics 16: 223-46
Liebowitz S, Margolis S. (1995). Path Dependence, Lock-In and History.Journal of Law,
Economics and Organisation 11: 205-26
Mahoney J. (2000). Path dependency in historical sociology. Theory and Society 29: 507-
48
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
27/29
27
Mahoney J. (2001). Path-Dependent Explanations of Regime Change: Central America in
Comparative Perspective. Studies in Comparative International Development36:
111-41
Miller K. (2002). Knowledge inventories and managerial myopia. Strategic Management
Journal 23: 689-706
O'Brien P. (1996). Path dependency, or why Britain became an industrialised and
urbanised economy long before France.Economic History Review XLIX: 213-49
Peters BG. (2001).Institutional Theory In Political Science. London: Continuum
Pierson P. (1993). When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.
World Politics 45: 595-628
Pierson P. (1996). The New Politics of the Welfare State. World Politics 48: 143-79
Pierson P. (2000a). Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics.
American Political Science Review 94: 251-67
Pierson P. (2000b). Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics. In
American Political Science Review, pp. 251-67
Pierson P. (2000c). The Limits of Design: Explaining Institutional Origins and Change.
Governance 13: 475-99
Reed M. (1997). In Praise of Duality and Dualism: Rethinking Agency and Structure on
Organisational Analysis. Organization Studies 18: 21-42
Reed M. (2001). Organization, Trust and Control: A Realist Analysis. Organization
Studies 22: 201-28
Rivett G. (1998). From Cradle To Grave: Fifty Years of the NHS. London: Kings Fund
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
28/29
28
Rouse M, Daellenback U. (2002). More thinking of research methods for the resource-
based perspective. Strategic Management Journal 23: 936-67
Schwartz H. (2003). Down the Wrong Path: Path Dependence, Markets and Increasing
Returns.
Scott P. (2001). Path Dependence and Britain's "Coal Wagon Problem". Explorations in
Economic History 38: 366-85
Secretary of State for Health. (1989). Working for Patients. London: HMSO
Secretary of State for Health. (1997). The New NHS: Modern, Dependable. London:
HMSO
Skocpol T. (1992). Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social
Policy in the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Sterman J, Wittenberg J. (1999). Path Dependence, Competition and Succession in the
Dynamics of Scientific Revolution. Organizational Science 10: 322-41
Thelen K. (1999). Historical Institutionalism in Political Science. Annual Review of
Political Science 1999: 1
Thelen K, Steinmo S. (1992). Historical Institutionalism In Comparative Analysis. In
Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis, ed. S
Steinmo, K Thelen, F Longstreth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Timmins N. (1995a). The Five Giants. London: Fontana
Timmins N. (1995b). How three top managers nearly sank the reforms. Health Service
Journal: 11-3
7/31/2019 Historical institutionalism, critical realism and morphogenetic social theory towards a synthesis of explaining why
29/29
29
Torfing J. (1999). Towards a Schumpeterian workfare postnational regime: path-shaping
and path-dependency in Danish welfare state reform. Economy and Society 28:
369-402
Torfing J. (2001). Path-Dependent Danish Welfare Reforms: The Contribution of the
New Institutionalisms to Understanding Evolutionary Change. Scandinavian
Political Studies 24: 277-310
Vassolo R, Anand J, Foltak T. (2004). A Bayesian operationalization of the resource-
based view. Strategic Management Journal 25: 1279-95
West P. (1998). Market - what market? A review of Health Authority purchasing in the
NHS internal market. Health Policy 44: 167-83
Wilsford D. (1994). Path Dependency, or Why History Makes It Difficult, but Not
Impossible, to Reform Health Care Services in a Big Way. Journal of Public
Policy 14: 251-83
Top Related