The social order of markets

By Jens Beckert. 2009

276 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this article I develop a proposal for the theoretical vantage point of the sociology of markets, focusing on the problem of the social order of markets. The initial premise is that markets are highly demanding arenas of social interaction, which can only operate if three inevitable coordination problems are resolved. I define these coordination problems as the value problem, the problem of competition and the cooperation problem. I argue that these problems can only be resolved based on stable reciprocal expectations on the part of market actors, which have their basis in the socio-structural, institutional and cultural embedding of markets. The sociology of markets aims to investigate how market action is structured by these macrostructures and to examine their dynamic processes of change. While the focus of economic sociology has been primarily on the stability of markets and the reproduction of firms, the conceptualization developed here brings change and profit motives more forcefully into the analysis. It also differs from the focus of the new economic sociology on the supply side of markets, by emphasizing the role of demand for the order of markets, especially in the discussion of the problems of valuation and cooperation.

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Citations in the corpus

In the Shadow. Illegal Markets and Economic Sociology (2013, unknown): “Special attention is given to the role of networks and institutions, as well as the three essential coordination problems of valuation, competition, and cooperation (Beckert 2009).”
Work, employment and society through the lens of moral economy (2013, background): “Polanyi sets the groundwork of a moral economy approach that highlights the web of social, moral and economic dimensions that oils the wheels of modern market societies (Akturk, 2006; Beckert, 2009b; Sayer, 2006; Streeck, 2008).”
The Local Sources of Market Formation: Explaining Regional Growth Differentials in German Photovoltaic Markets (2012, methodology): “Here we develop a framework for specifying the general function of “market formation” prevalent in many TIS studies by drawing on recent work from the social construction of markets literature (Beckert, 2009 ; Mollering, 2009 ).”
Institutional change in economic geography (2014, background): “The abstract model of the neoclassical market is more accurately described as a theory of exchange, rather than one of the market (Beckert, 2009).”
Fake capitalism? The dynamics of neoliberal moral restructuring and pseudo-development: the case of Uganda (2010, unknown): “In short, neoliberalism explains economic coordination, order and welfare out of decentralised motives of individual utility maximisation (Harrison 2005b , Beckert 2007b , 2007c ).”
THE PRICE OF ART (2013, unknown): “Research on markets is a key theme in economic sociology (Fligstein 2001; White 2001; François 2008; Beckert 2009).”