Reframing Informal Institutional Voids as the Attempted Remaking of Contested Social Spaces: Evidence from England

Abstract

The conventional perspective on institutional voids as mere absences has recently faced criticism. Recent research suggests that voids are instead sites of contestation between institutions. However, understanding the specifics of this and how informal voids function in such contestations requires deeper investigation. We combine insights from the institutional voids and political theory literatures to reconceptualise informal voids as spaces of attempted institutional remaking which occurs through three key activities - developing new norms, devising legitimate political interventions and negotiating new rules. We present data from 123 interviews to demonstrate these three activities. This evidence enables us to challenge two assumptions in the voids literature and to demonstrate how an informal void (as reconceptualised) functions at the nexus of health and urban development in England. This study has implications for investigating informal voids as active social spaces, where actors attempt to remake contested social spaces through three core types of activity.