Legal Rational Myths: The New Institutionalism and the Law and Society Tradition

Recent years have witnessed the early stages of a convergence between the sociology of law and the sociology of organizations. Contemporary sociolegal scholarship increasingly recognizes that important aspects of legal life occur within bureaucratic settings, such as law firms, regulatory agencies and corporations.1 Simultaneously, contemporary organizations theory increasingly acknowledges that important aspects of organizational activity occur within legal environments, such as rights regimes, disputing cultures, and regulatory systems.2 Although few researchers have explicitly attempted