EXPLORING THE INSTITUTIONAL TOOL KIT - THE RISE OF RECYCLING IN THE US SOLID-WASTE FIELD

A typology of four institutional research perspectives in organization al sociology is offered with the intention of broadening what our subf ield considers ''institutional'': (a) social organization, (b) work an d organization, (c) interactionism, and (d) cultural system. The case of the emergence of recycling in the U.S. solid waste field is drawn o n to illustrate differences among these perspectives. The article advo cates the view that organizational sociologists should draw from these diverse approaches as if they were theoretical resources in an instit utional tool kit. This would make possible more eclectic multilevel ap proaches that should be attentive to the contingent nature of social a ction.