John Wilfred Meyer (born 1935) is a
sociologist and emeritus professor at
Stanford University. Beginning in the 1970s and continuing to the present day, Meyer has contributed fundamental ideas to the field of sociology, especially in the areas of education, organizations, and global and transnational sociology. He is best known for the development of the neo-institutional perspective on globalization, known as world society or
World Polity Theory World polity theory (also referred to as world society theory, global Neo-institutionalism, and the "Stanford school" of global analysis) was developed mainly as an analytical frame for interpreting global relations, structures, and practices. It wa ...
. In 2015, he became the recipient of American Sociological Association's highest honor -
W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award.
Education and career
Meyer received his B.A. in Psychology from
Goshen College
Goshen College is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, and is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is accredited by the High ...
, located in
Goshen, Indiana
Goshen ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka ...
in 1955; his M.A. in Sociology from the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
in 1957; and his Ph.D. in Sociology from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1965. Since 1966, he has been a professor at Stanford University (emeritus since 2001).
Research
Most mainstream sociological perspectives are realist in orientation, building explanations around concrete actors and particular interests. By contrast, the Meyerian perspective is phenomenologically oriented. It stresses the dependence of local social organization on institutionalized models and definitions, promulgated by professionals and associations to promote collective goods. The dependence involved is more than causal influence. In the Meyerian view, institutional environments ''constitute'' local structures – establishing and defining their core entities, purposes, and interrelationships. Enacted models thus are often decoupled from local circumstances.
Meyer initially developed the general perspective in the context of schooling. Departing from conventional views, Meyer envisioned schools as embodiments of collective myth and ceremonial administration, deeply bound to Modern narratives of progress and justice. His framework, developed with Francisco O. Ramirez and others, reveals the profound extent to which local school arrangements depend on broader social institutions to supply their form and function.
He next applied his ideas to the field of organizations. He helped pioneer the sociological
new institutionalism
New institutionalism (also referred to as neo-institutionalist theory or institutionalism) is an approach to the study of institutions that focuses on the constraining and enabling effects of formal and informal rules on the behavior of individuals ...
, stressing the role of
loose coupling
In computing and systems design, a loosely coupled system is one
# in which components are weakly associated (have breakable relationships) with each other, and thus changes in one component least affect existence or performance of another comp ...
in organizational behavior and the conditions under which the diffusion of practices takes place (e.g. ''Organizational Environments'', with W. Richard Scott, Sage 1983). A primary contention is that formal organizations incorporate institutionalized practices and procedures in order to maintain legitimacy. Organizations that align with the myths supplied by their institutional environments increase their survival prospects, even when doing so costs them internal coherence.
The third area in which Meyer's work has had broad influence, and the area in which his ideas may finally have their most durable impact, is in the analysis of world society. In 1980, he coined the term "
world polity" to describe the stateless character of the international system and distinguish a civil society approach to globalization from existing
world-systems analysis. Meyer and coauthors John Boli, Francisco O. Ramirez, and George M. Thomas applied insights from his analyses of organizations to the global level, showing that even nation-states are constituted, shaped, and restructured by forces operating in their enveloping institutional environments. This line of work uniquely accounts for several peculiar features of global change that other perspectives fail to notice: structural isomorphism; rapid, worldwide change in the nature and purposes of states in regard to environmentalism, the status of women, etc.; the decoupling of national development plans and programs from specific local conditions; and so on. The development of this theoretical paradigm has motivated much of Meyer's later work. Accordingly, Meyer's earlier interests in schooling and organizations were subsequently explored in the context of world society, e.g. the influences of modern world practices on educational systems and their expansion over time.
Over the course of his career, Meyer has authored or co-authored more than 200 scholarly articles and books. In 2009,
Georg Krücken and Gili S. Drori edited a retrospective of Meyer's work entitled ''World Society: The Writings of John W. Meyer''. Currently, he is studying the impact of the human rights regime worldwide, and the impact of global society on national states and societies.
Selected publications
* 1977. "The Effects of Education as an Institution." ''American Journal of Sociology'' 83: 55–77.
* 1977. "Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony" (with Brian Rowan). ''American Journal of Sociology'' 83: 340–63.
* 1980. "The World Polity and the Authority of the Nation-State." In A. Bergesen (ed.), ''Studies of the Modern World-System.'' Academic Press: 109–37.
* 1984. "The Expansion of the State" (with George M. Thomas). ''Annual Review of Sociology'' 10: 461–82.
* 1985. "Explaining the Origins and Expansion of Mass Education" (with John Boli and Francisco O. Ramirez). ''Comparative Education Review'' 29: 145–68.
* 1992. "World Expansion of Mass Education, 1870-1970" (with Francisco O. Ramirez and Yasemin N. Soysal). ''Sociology of Education'' 65: 128–49.
* 1993. "Institutional Conditions for Diffusion" (with David Strang). ''Theory and Society'' 22: 487–511.
* 1997. "World Society and the Nation-State" (with John Boli, George M. Thomas, and Francisco O. Ramirez). ''American Journal of Sociology'' 103: 144–81.
* 2000. "The 'Actors' of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social Agency" (with Ronald Jepperson). ''Sociological Theory'' 18: 100–20.
* 2002. "The Profusion of Individual Roles and Identities in the Post-War Period” (with David John Frank). ''Sociological Theory'' 20: 86-105.
* 2003. ''Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization'' (with Gili S. Drori, Francisco O. Ramirez, and Evan Schofer). Stanford University Press.
* 2006. ''Globalization and Organizations'' (with Gili S. Drori and Hokyu Hwang). Oxford University Press.
* 2006. "Scientization: Making a World Safe for Organizing" (with Gili S. Drori). In M.-L. Djelic and K. Sahlin-Andersson (eds.), ''Transnational Governance: Institutional Dynamics of Regulation.'' Cambridge University Press.
* 2006. "Student Achievement and National Economic Growth" (with Francisco O. Ramirez, Xiaowei Luo, and Evan Schofer). ''American Journal of Education'' vol. 113.
* 2007. “University Expansion and the Knowledge Society” (with David John Frank). ''Theory and Society'' 36: 287–311.
* 2009. ''World Society: The Writings of John W. Meyer'' (edited by Georg Krücken and Gili S. Drori). Oxford University Press.
* 2010. "World Society, Institutional Theories, and the Actor." ''Annual Review of Sociology'' 36: 1-20.
Awards and recognition
Meyer has won numerous awards based on his research and service. They include:
*W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association, 2015
*Election to the National Academy of Education
*Distinguished Career Award from the Global and Transnational Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association 2011
*Honorary Doctorate of Sociology from the
University of Lucerne
The University of Lucerne (UNILU; German: ''Universität Luzern'') is a public university with a campus in Lucerne, Switzerland. 1,460 undergraduates and 1,258 postgraduate students attend the university, which makes it Switzerland's smallest un ...
2007
*Honorary Doctorate of Sociology from the
University of Bielefeld
Bielefeld University (german: Universität Bielefeld) is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization a ...
2006
*Graduate Service Recognition Award, GSPB, Stanford University 2001
*Honorary Doctorate of Economics from
Stockholm School of Economics
The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; sv, Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with ...
1996
*Waller Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Sociology of Education from the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Education Section 1995
References
External links
* http://cddrl.stanford.edu/people/johnmeyer/
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110928055412/http://iis-db.stanford.edu/staff/2169/John_Meyer-CV.pdf
DOI.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, John W.
American sociologists
Living people
Stanford University Department of Sociology faculty
Goshen College alumni
University of Colorado alumni
Columbia University alumni
Sociologists of education
1935 births