“Institution” and “institute”: tendency to the “false substitution” of concepts

Abstract

Purpose. The objective of the article is deepening the theoretical and methodological provisions of economics by justifying the feasibility the overcoming of the tendency of the “false substitution” of the basic concepts of the institutional theory in the national scientific environment due to the conceptual demarcation between the “institutions” and “institutes” based on the criteria and etymological identification of their key peculiarities. Methodology / approach. The study is based on the dialectical method of cognition, systemic and structural approach to the studying of the institutional environment in general, and the institute of agrarian entrepreneurship in particular. To achieve the set objective the following methods were applied in the work: method of scientific generalization and comparison – to determine the essence of the categories “institution” and “institute”; the approaches of induction, structural analysis, and synthesis – to define the dialectics of interrelation between the institutions, institutes, organizations, agencies, norms, laws, customs, etc.; the associative method was applied to determine the correlations between the structural elements of the institutional environment in the context of the general and partial; the deductive method was applied to determine the essence of the social institutes; abstract-logical method and systematization were applied for the criterial and etymological identification of the key peculiarities of the institutions and institutes. Results. The topicality of the clear conceptual and categorical framework during the institutional studies was substantiated to overcome the methodological discrepancies and inconsistencies between the theoretical implications in the scientific and political vocabulary. The scientific approaches to the interpretation are studied and the attempts of the conceptual demarcation between the categories “institution” and “institute” by the national and foreign scholars are analyzed. The dialectics of the interrelations between the institutions and institutes through the mediation of organizations, methods, agencies, and norms, rules, habits, traditions, laws, etc. is determined. It is found that the institutions are the resources of the creation of norms and rules and institutes are the means of their strengthening and propagation. The essence of the social institutes, such as the state, army, enterprise, family is considered. The characteristic features of the institutions and institutes are outlined. The structure of the institute of agrarian entrepreneurship in Ukraine is described. The modern tendencies in changes of the institutional mechanisms of the relations between the subjects of the agrarian sphere conditioned by the legislative innovations are analyzed. The perspectives of further research towards the improvement of the structure of the institutional environment in the agrarian and other spheres are determined. Originality / scientific novelty. It is improved the conceptual framework of the institutional theory consisting in the demarcation between the concepts “institution” and “institutes” according to the criteria and etymological identification of their key peculiarities, mainly: functionality, generality, social necessity, moral authority (motivating force), psychological aspect, externality, organizational impact on the social life (for the institution) and historicity, structuredness, structuring, objectivity, compulsoriness, hierarchy, organization, legislative entrenchment / legitimacy (for the institute). Practical value / implications. The results of the study constitute the background for further elaboration of the institutional theory within the national scientific environment since they allow for overcoming the tendency of the “false substitution” of concepts in the interpretation of its basic categories. In its turn, the implementation of the differential usage of terms and understanding the essence and dialectics of the relations between the institutions and institutes is a push towards the improvement of the institutional structure of the national economy to improve the welfare of all its members and society in general.

Keywords

• institution
• institute
• institutional environment
• agency
• agrarian entrepreneurship.