Sociological institutionalism is a form of new institutionalism that concerns ‘the way in which institutions create meaning for individuals, providing important theoretical building blocks for normative institutionalism within political science’
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As the name suggests, this version of institutionalism states that "history matters." Paths chosen or designed early on in the existence of an institution tend to be followed throughout the institution's development. Institutions will have an inherent agenda based on the pattern of development, both informal (the way things are generally done) and formal (laws, rule sets and institutional interaction.)
A key concept is path dependency: the historical track of a given institution or polity will result in almost inevitable occurrences. In some institutions, this may be a self-perpetuating cycle: actions of one type beget further actions of this type.
This theory does not hold that institutional paths will forever be inevitable. Critical junctures may allow rapid change at a time of great crisis.