Mark C. Suchman

Mark C. Suchman (born 1960) is an American sociologist, Professor in Sociology at Purdue University, and the Executive Director of the American Bar Foundation. A Professor Emeritus from Brown University, Suchman is known for his work on Institutional theory, and particularly on "managing legitimacy."

Biography Suchman obtained his AB in sociology at Harvard University in 1983 and his MA in sociology in 1985 at Stanford University. At Stanford he also obtained his PhD in sociology in 1994 with the thesis entitled "On Advice of Counsel: Law Firms and Venture Capital Funds as Information Intermediaries in the Structuration of Silicon Valley", under the supervision of W. Richard Scott. In addition, he holds a JD from Yale Law School (1989).

Suchman started his academic career as a research assistant under Harrison White at Harvard in 1982. At Stanford from 1985 to 1989, he was a teaching assistant, subsequently, of Morris Zelditch, Ann Swidler, Nancy Tuma and Lawrence Wu. In 1993, he started at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as assistant professor of sociology and law, and was promoted to associate professor in 1998, and full professor in 2003. In 2008, he moved to Brown University, Rhode Island, where he was appointed Professor of Sociology.

He later adds to this definition, stating that because legitimacy is socially conferred, legitimacy is independent of individual participants, while dependent upon the collective constituency. In other words, an organization is legitimate when it enjoys public approval, even though the actions of an organization might deviate from particular individual interests.

Influence legitimacy is the support for the organization not due to the benefits that constituencies believe they will receive, but rather due to their belief that the organization will be responsive to their larger interests. Suchman breaks moral legitimacy down into four sub-sections: consequential legitimacy, procedural legitimacy, structural legitimacy, and personal legitimacy. Consequential legitimacy relates to what an organization has accomplished based on criteria that is specific to that organization. Procedural legitimacy can be obtained by an organization by adhering to socially formalized and accepted procedures (e.g. regulatory oversight). In the case of structural legitimacy, people view an organization as legitimate because its structural characteristics allow it to do specific kinds of work.

Suchman refers to this organization as being the "right organization for the job." When an organization has reached this taken-for-granted status, an organization is beyond dissent. While moral and pragmatic legitimacy deal with some form of evaluation, cognitive legitimacy does not. Instead, with cognitive legitimacy society accepts these organizations as being necessary or inevitable.

Selected publications Suchman, Mark C. On Advice of Counsel: Law Firms and Venture Capital Funds as Information Intermediaries in the Structuration of Silicon Valley. 1994

Articles, a selection: Suchman, Mark C. "Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches", Academy of Management Review, 20.3 (1995): 571-610. Suchman, Mark C., and Lauren B. Edelman. "Legal rational myths: The new institutionalism and the law and society tradition", Law & Social Inquiry, 21.4 (1996): 903-941. Edelman, Lauren B., and Mark C. Suchman. "The legal environments of organizations", Annual Review of Sociology (1997): 479-515.