It has been suggested in the previous articles that social theory tends to interpret social reality as a collective fact imposed upon the individual, and is generally blind to the possibility of individuals modelling social reality. Thus even social constructionism, which sees institutions as jointly “constructed” by participants, stops short of directly considering institutions as instruments that can be used by individuals to satisfy their own needs.

To widen our search for examples of how social organisations can be seen as implements, since there seem to be few examples in the domain of scientific sociology, we will turn to the theory and practice of economic organisations (businesses, cooperatives) and political organisations (parties, trade unions, associations). This first article deals with economic organisations seen as implements.