Felder und Institutionen. Der soziologische Neo-Institutionalismus und die Perspektiven einer praxistheoretischen Institutionenanalyse

The rise of new institutionalism in American sociology and its quest for a theoretical foundation has improved attention to Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The article examines chances of a combination of new institutionalism and practice theory as well as prospects of a practice-theoretical analysis of institutions. With some exceptions, it is revealed that neither in theory nor in empirical research Bourdieu’s theory of practice is properly considered by new institutionalism. Nevertheless, fruitful connections between new institutionalism and practice theory are identified especially with regard to basic problems of institutional analysis: the ambiguity of the concept of rule and the delimitation of social institutions as a sociological object of research.