Recreating legitimacy: 'Niche' private schools as organizational responses to a shifting ethos of childrearing
Abstract
This dissertation examines how deviant or "rogue" organizations secure legitimacy. The new institutionalism predicts that if schools deviate from what is understood as "school-like", they risk legitimacy and are liable to fail. "Third sector" private schools are deviant organizations; these new, small academies incorporate unconventional elements such as uncertified staff and for-profit governance. Between 2001 and 2004, data were collected from 60 private schools in Toronto, Ontario, including 45 interviews with school principals. School data suggest that third sector schools are actively responding to a shifting institutional environment. These schools secure legitimacy as they resonate with specific elements of their environment, notably a shifting ethos of childrearing. Third sector schools cater to particular constituents or market niches. They offer a "nurturing" consumer ethos and personal attention in place of formal credentials, conventional school buildings and facilities. Through lax government regulations and for-profit governance, principals can retain control, autonomy and their own unique philosophy of education. These findings offer only partial support for the new institutionalism. Contrary to the new institutionalism's emphasis on conformity, organizational fields may be segmented and heterogeneous. Rogue organizations may resist pressures for conformity, exercising agency in recreating and securing legitimacy through unconventional means. Such deviant organizations may compensate for their lack of traditional legitimacy by tapping into unconventional sources of legitimacy and support within their institutional environment. ^
Subject Area
Education, Sociology of|Sociology, Organizational
Recommended Citation
Linda Quirke,
"Recreating legitimacy: 'Niche' private schools as organizational responses to a shifting ethos of childrearing"
(January 1, 2006).
ETD Collection for McMaster University.
Paper AAINR28265.
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/dissertations/AAINR28265
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