From Catch-and-Harvest to Catch-and-Release: Trout Unlimited and repair-focused deinstitutionalization

Abstract

Increasingly we are faced with broad societal challenges that encourage us to rethink existing institutions. Yet many people also want to preserve institutions they cherish. This tension points to the need for change that can erode or discontinue unsustainable or problematic aspects of institutions while also maintaining what is sacred and valued. In this paper we ask how can organizations deinstitutionalize taken-for-granted practices while also preserving the institution? We answer this question by exploring how Trout Unlimited deployed visual and discursive tactics to push out unsustainable catch-and-harvest fly fishing practices and insert new catch-and-release practices. Our primary theoretical contribution is a model of repair-focused deinstitutionalization, illustrating how custodians utilize three forms of work to respond to threats—mending, caring, and restoring—all with an eye on deinstitutionalization via repair rather than disruption. Importantly, we show how the construct of repair is multipurpose, not limited to maintenance strategies, but can also be a catalyst for change. In addition, we extend research on deinstitutionalization by presenting a multimodal approach that goes beyond discourse, with particular attention to visuality and show how different modalities present different affordances in longer-term repair efforts.

Organizing Sustainably: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…Counteracting these elites’ financial, structural, and discursive power thus requires a collective and concerted transnational effort. By contrast, the trout fishing case by Crawford et al (2024) shows the need to involve multiple actors at various levels to break up entrenched systems. Trout Unlimited, as a central, field-level actor, worked with and through local chapters to influence anglers, and pushed for regulatory change with policymakers.…”

“…These articles bring questions of inequality, participation, and representation to the fore as key issues that need to be addressed and thus link to the fourth theme of our call: the rejuvenation of participatory and democratic ways of organizing at both organizational and societal levels . A number of the contributions in this Special Issue touch on relevant aspects of this question with, for example, the studies by Crawford et al (2024) and Bhatt et al (2024) both engaging with the complexities of change towards organizing sustainably within different societal communities. However, there is a relative paucity of organization scholarship that addresses a key aspect of our organizing perspective on sustainability: the ways in which work, voice, participation, and inclusion are organized or disorganized, thereby contributing to developing or reducing societal capabilities.…”