Economic and Sociological Approaches To Institutions: Economy, Society And Law

Abstract

Examined in this paper are some important paradigmatic differences between novel economic institutionalism as espoused by the new institutional economics and sociological institutionalism as advanced by economic sociology. Just as the old and the new institutional economics, economic institutionalism and sociological institutionalism display important differences in their assumptions, domains and methodologies. The paper also takes a look at the possibility for multidisciplinary integration, in a multiple-paradigm approach, of economic and sociological institutionalism, particularly ‘law and economics’ (economic analysis of law) and ‘law and society’ (sociology of law) literatures, in these times of interdisciplinary social analysis. Since in the current literature comparative analyses of economic and sociological institutionalism in general, and economic and sociological approaches to legal institutions in particular, are relatively rare, the paper attempts to fill in a gap in this respect.