This collaborative project extends and expands a research project on organizations. The investigators identify organizations which transmit important political and social values, and study how those organizations grow and decline. They are developing a model of the ecology of organizations based on models of spatial diffusion and organizational properties. The research aids in developing a comparative theory of culture relating culture production to changes in organizations, historical change, and environmental conditions. In particular, PIs hope to improve understanding of such phenomena as declining voter turnout and organizational failures among U.S. universities.
