Final Remarks: A Needed Agenda

Abstract

Abstract The ‘Final Remarks’ reconstructs the book’s argument and summarizes the main points worked in each chapter. It explains how the book sought to show the relevance of institutional theories to make sense of algorithms, to the same extent in which algorithms call for a renewal of institutional theories. Algorithms are a particular kind of institution, and their specificities invite reflection about central concepts such as agency, rationality, reflexivity, responsibility, and accountability pervading institutional theories. This theoretical disruption indicates a wide field of applications that look at how these institutions solve problems, shape decisions, carry out organizational tasks, allocate resources, affect social relationships, assign meanings to collective action, and define what is prohibited, allowed, or facilitated in the interactions between humans and machines. Algorithmic Institutionalism provides a necessary theoretical framework to make sense of a changing world in uncertain times.