System-Institutional Approach and the Reflexive Model of Socio-Cultural Institution

We consider System-Institutional Approach as a transdisciplinary systems methodology in the fields of social knowledge and practices. We build the Reflexive Model of Socio-Cultural Institution, answering the call to social sciences from “economic imperialism”, sociologism, and other kinds of reductionist social thinking. We offer to integrate social sciences by basing on the metaphor of the “Schengen area”: borders become transparent, but “states” (i.e., scientific disciplines) remain.

We are based upon the presumption of transdisciplinarity: the basic concepts of the system-institutional approach are interpreted as general and “cross-cutting” for social disciplines. So the systemic principle of holism should be applied primarily to the system-forming concept of “institution”: there are no legal, economic, political, cultural, etc. institutions – but there are “integral” institutions that have legal, economic, political, and cultural, etc. aspects.

The Reflexive Model of Socio-Cultural Institution includes:

1) formal places and procedures + regulatory principles (a scheme defining the system of regulative rules);

2) symbolic fastening (with the function of “protective layer”);

3) material supporting mechanisms;

4) a value idea (an ideal “core” that sets the meaning and value purpose of the institution which manifests certain collective intentionality);

5) spiritual supports (cognitive/moral mechanisms for awareness of norms and socio-cultural rooting of the institute).

Thus, the socio-cultural institution is a socio-cultural unit with reflexive mechanisms acting through spiritual supports and symbolic fastening. The ultimate framework of institutional self-awareness that sets its integrity is the value idea. Acting through collective intentionality addressed to the value idea, this reflexive mechanism supports an equilibrium-based account of a socio-cultural institution. Another system-forming factor for the reproduction of the institution as a whole is the form/mechanism of its social organization: law, custom, ritual, routine practice, procedure/order, etc. These mechanisms support the sustainability of regulative rules.