The Living Good

This chapter provides the structural underpinnings of the overall system of Sittlichkeit that Hegel calls “the living Good.” The goal of this chapter is to put the preceding account of the inferential validity of right together with the model of life from Chapter 1. The chapter first explains the metaphysical claims in the introduction to “Ethical Life” as claims about value. The chapter provides a new interpretation of the identity of right and duties in “Ethical Life,” arguing that Hegel endorses both right-as-duty and right-as-return-on-duty. A template is developed for institutional rationality that consists of three steps needed to build a living institution. The model is illustrated through an analysis of Hegel’s treatment of the family, and the model is shown to provide a way to carry out an immanent critique of Hegel’s own account.

Understanding how hybrid organisations tackle social challenges

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how hybrid organisations combine institutional logics to tackle complex social needs. Design/methodology/approach A multiple case study design was followed, and cases were selected using a two-staged sampling process. Using qualitative analysis, the mechanisms through which logics are selected, prioritised and get integrated in the strategies and practices of these organisations are illustrated. Findings The study contributes to the literature on hybrid organisations and their ability to address social problems in two important ways. First, the paper reveals through the concept of institutional rationality why market-based organisations emerge to address complex social needs in a complex institutional context. Second, the study demonstrates that there is heterogeneity in how logics are blended externally in their strategies and in how logics are integrated internally within the organisation. Research limitations/implications All the cases are selected from India; hence the possibility that the findings are valid only for countries with similar institutional and socio-economic contexts cannot be negated. Practical implications The policy implication is that if business organisations should embrace social goals substantively, a regulation in the form of CSR is not enough. Instead, there should be institutional provisions to promote such hybrid organisational forms where alternative logics such as community, profession, etc., are part of the core logics of the organisation. Originality/value This study connects the strategic choices of organisations with their institutional logics’ configuration in the Indian context.

Nationality Medicines in China: Institutional Rationality and Healing Charisma

This article describes emergent Chinese regimes of knowledge about “minority nationality medicines.” We adopt Weberian terms of rational and charismatic authority to better understand ethnic healing as it is developing among minorities in southwestern China. In the course of uneven development among diverse ethnic groups over recent decades, modern information regimes and institutional models have started to transform the many forms of healing and heritage that can be found “on the ground” in minority areas. We delineate a shifting border between official (or rational) and wild (or charismatic) forms of medicine, and argue that every healing situation results from a dynamic and sometimes destructive relation between these forms of authority. We draw from research conducted among seven minority nationalities scattered in five provinces in China's south and southwest. After an overview of relevant scholarly work that circulates nationally, we discuss views and practices of three healers belonging to Zhuang, Tujia, and Yao groups, respectively. Ultimately we suggest that all healing, including that taking place in biomedical clinics, relies on some contact with “the wild,” and forges a relationship between rationality and charisma.