How does this field actually examine institutions, power, structures and knowledge?

It does not simply say:

“Institutions influence knowledge.”

Researchers investigate observable mechanisms.

For example:

Question

Does funding influence research topics?

Researchers could examine:

• funding records;
• grant applications;
• funded versus unfunded topics;
• publications resulting from grants.

They might find:

70% of grants concern A, while only 5% concern B.

Then they investigate whether publications show a similar distribution.