Regulatory Culture: A Theoretical Outline*

Abstract

Although recent scholarship on regulation has seen a significant increase in discussions of regulatory culture, little has been done to develop the theoretical implications of the concept. This article seeks to help focus discussions of regulatory culture by explicating the general nature of cultural analysis, relating it to traditional approaches to regulation, reviewing the sources of regulatory culture, and suggesting strategies for future research. SUMMARY Culture has become a central construct in recent studies of administrative regulation (e.g., Bell, 1985; Hawkins, 1984; Jasanoff, 1986; McGarity, 1985; Meidinger, 1985; Vogel, 1986). But the meaning and import of this development remain quite unclear. Culture has not traditionally played a significant role in regulatory discourse. Consequently, scholars and analysts picking up on the idea tend to use it in diffuse, inconsistent, and often simplistic ways. This paper is an effort to lend some focus to discussions of regulatory culture by developing a useful theoretical framework for comprehending it. That framework must be broad enough to encompass the complexities of regulatory activity, flexible enough to adapt to its continuous changes, and still focused enough to suggest particular lines of inquiry. In pursuing such a conception, this paper draws heavily on scholarship outside the substantive area of regulation, for culture has a long and instructive history as a primary construct in other fields of inquiry. At the same time, it attempts to tailor the concept of culture to regulatory arenas, and to offer examples from them where possible.

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