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Organizational Symbolism as a Social Construction: A Perspective from the Sociology of Knowledge

Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, UniversitA degli Studi di Trento, Trento, Italy; Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Universita degli Studi di Trento, via G. Verdi 26, 1-38100 Trento, Italy antonio.strati{at}soc.unitn.it

This article describes organizational symbolism from a sociology of knowledge perspective and considers both the theoretical and extra-theoretical bases of the symbolic approach. It illustrates the distinctive principles of the symbolic approach with respect to other methods used in the study of organizations, the concepts on which it is based, and the organizational issues on which it has shed significant light. Symbolist studies of organizations have refocused scholarly attention on the multidisciplinary understanding of the logos, ethos, and pathos of organizational life. They have done so by stressing the production of knowledge tout court, rather than concerning themselves with the applicability of the organizational knowledge acquired by this approach for managerial purposes. Organizational symbolism is described in the article as a fluctuating and emerging social construction whose growth and spread has been fostered by support within academia.

Key Words: organizational symbolism • organization cultures • qualitative analysis of organizations • social construction of reality and constructionism • sociology of knowledge

Human Relations, Vol. 51, No. 11, 1379-1402 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/001872679805101103


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