New Economic Sociology Research Articles

THE NEW ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY AND TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

This article investigates the intersection between economic theory and sociology through a qualitative methodology, aiming to deepen the interdisciplinary debate between economics and the New Economic Sociology (NES). The analysis focuses on the contributions of Granovetter, Fligstein, and DiMaggio, highlighting how NES concepts can enrich the understanding of territorial development, especially regarding the role of social relations in territories. Sociologists, in turn, demonstrate diligence and creativity in addressing cultural and political issues concerning collective representations and social coercion, fundamental concepts that define institutions. Based on a robust set of authors and bibliographic references, the article seeks to complement the debate on NES. The research reveals that NES offers valuable insights for analyzing territorial dynamics and reinforces the importance of a territorial approach in formulating development strategies. In the end, the article demonstrates that the themes discussed by NES confirm the need for a more integrated territorial perspective in constructing sustainable development projects.

ОСНОВИ НА СЪВРЕМЕННАТА ИКОНОМИКА: НОВАТА ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛНА ИКОНОМИКА СРЕЩУ НОВАТА ИКОНОМИЧЕСКА СОЦИОЛОГИЯ – ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЯТ СБЛЪСЪК МЕЖДУ МАРК ГРАНОВЕТЪР И ОЛИВЪР УИЛЯМСЪН

Nearly 50 years ago, Mark Granovetter initiated a fundamental critique of economic theory. His critique was the starting point for the New Economic Sociology (NES). Particularly, he criticized the emerging theories of New Institutional Economics (NIE), focusing on the ideas of Oliver Williamson (1932–2020) who was one of the most prominent representatives of this school. In this paper we address this critique and Williamson’s response to it. Williamson argued from the perspective of transaction cost economics, while Granovetter focused on the social embeddedness of individuals. The impact of this debate on economics has resulted in an increased research interest in the role of institutions and social networks. However, both lines of thought did not bring economic and sociological theories together. NES established as a subdiscipline in Sociology. Its central concept of embeddedness continued to attract interest but proved to be of little empirical applicability. NIE, on the other hand, has become part of mainstream economics.

Drawing The Boundaries Of Economic Sociology: A Critical Assessment

It can be argued that the core of the subfield of new economic sociology (NES) is consisted of two inter-related yet distinct foundational criticisms by the sociologists to mainstream economics: i) that its commitment to rational choice leads to an “under-socialized” concept of the agent; and ii) that it can correct the mainstream understanding of market affairs, if the concept of “embeddedness” is included in the analysis. In this paper, I will argue that these dual criticisms are insufficient, due to; first, even in the economics discipline itself, such a reconceptualization of the agent had already been posed long before the NES scholars even formulated their criticisms, and thus such criticisms had already been absorbed by the conventional economic thinking as exceptions to the rule; and second, the introduction of the concept of “embeddedness” by the NES cannot overturn neoclassical economics, since the NES scholars hardly differ from the heterodox-minded economists as both focus merely on the interpersonal and situational (while largely dismissing the structural) dimensions of power relations.

Social Network and Inter-Organizational Learning: The Case of a Brazilian Cooperative of Fish-Farmers

The inter-organizational learning approach has shown considerable growth in recent years. The concepts of trust and cooperation between individuals present in the New Economic Sociology (NES) approach of social relations emerge with great emphasis and are gaining prominence as a facilitator and propellant mechanism in transferring knowledge inside networks. This study aims to analyze the learning networks formed by fish-farmers organized into a cooperative to identify the characteristics of the network through structural analysis and identification of its critical actors. The study was performed with thirteen fish-farmers of a cooperative headquartered inMundo Novocounty, which is located inMato Grosso do Sulstate in the Midwest region of Brazil. Questionnaires and interviews with closed and open questions were used to collect the data. Measures of centrality (for individuals), density and reciprocity (in relations between individuals) were obtained from ORA software. The findings revealed that experience exchanges between fish-farmers, events participation, meetings attendance, speech audience and technical advice are the main forms of inter-organizational learning. Results suggest that the network has low levels of cohesion and that it is not taking advantage of its full potential. It was also found that there is a subgroup within the network that presents a high level of cohesion and shared learning based on cooperative informal relationships. Grounded in findings, suggestions for future research are presented.

What Factors Constitute Structures of Clustering Creative Industries? Incorporating New Institutional Economics and New Economic Sociology into A Conceptual Framework

Creative industries tend to cluster in specific places and the reasons for this phenomenon can be a multiplicity of elements linked mainly to culture, creativity, innovation and local development. In the international literature, it is pretty well recognized that creativity is frequently characterized by the agglomeration of firms so that creative industries are not homogeneously distributed across the territory but they are concentrated in the space. Three theories are becoming the dominant theoretical perspectives in agglomeration economies theory and they are increasingly being applied in industrial clusters analysis to study the effect of clustering industries. The theories are Marshall’s theoretical principles of localization economies, Schmitz’s collective efficiency and Porter’s five-diamond approach. However, those have adequately theorized neither the institutionalization process through which change takes place nor the socio-economic context of the institutional formations of clustering creative industries. This text begins by reviewing three main theories to more fully articulate institutionalization processes of an economic institution. Specifically, this paper incorporates new institutional economics (NIE) and new economic sociology (NES) to explain the processes associated with creating institutional practices within clustering creative industries. Both streams of institutional theory constitute that economic organizations are socially constructed. Next, this text proposes the framework that depicts the socio-economic context better and more directly addresses the dynamics of enacting, embedding and changing organizational features and processes within clustering creative industries. Some pertinent definitions are offered to be used in a conceptual framework of research about how economic institutions like clustering creative industries constitute their structures.

A economia solidária sob a ótica da Nova Sociologia Econômica

This article reviews the concepts of New Economic Sociology (NES) and its application on solidarity economy’s field. At first, we use Karl Polanyi’s concept of embeddedness . Based on this and other key concepts (such as habitus , rationality, interest and gift), we try to analyze the social construction of the field of solidarity economy and how its agents reproduce their livelihoods, seeking a ful lsociability. The NES opposes to economic view and criticizes it, by considering economic facts as social facts. In line with this analytical proposal, in solidarity economy is possible to ascertain a characteristic habitus and a supportive culture, which escape from the logic of economic interest and are guided to targets that are not material and that do not follow a strictly economic logic. Key words: solidarity economy, economic sociology, embeddedness.

Os principios de Karl Polanyi e percepções da economia solidária em comunidade de agricultores

This study focuses economic and social relationships in a fruit culture community under the prism of both principles established by Polanyi (2000) in his work “The Great Transformation” and central assumptions of New Economic Sociology (NES) and Solidarity Economy. The community of Povoado cruz, in the municipality of Currais Novos (Rio Grande do Norte - Brazil), was studied through non-participant observation, and data gathered was analyzed with a qualitative approach. The paper aims at identifying how, and if, social not capitalist relationships, guided by reciprocity, domesticity and redistribution principles, survive within the general capitalist environment. It was observed that, even in predominant market reality, Polanyi and Solidarity Economy principles prevail. Such principles are grounded in values such as solidarity, integration, respect, mutual assistance, cooperation and autonomy.

New Economic Sociology and New Institutional Economics

This paper deals with similarities and differences between new economic sociology (NES) and new institutional economics (NIE). We start with brief reports on the basic ideas of NES and NIE. Regarding the latter, we concentrate on NIE in the sense of Oliver Williamson who introduced the term and whose work became the main target of sociologists’ critique. We show that the contrast between the two fields is less sharp than some scientists might assume. We then present a review and assessment of the attack of seven sociologists on Oliver Williamson’s ideas. The sociologists are Perrow, Fligstein, Freeland, Granovetter, Bradach & Eccles, and Powell. Their battering ram social network theory is briefly described and an attempt made to combine network analysis with new institutional economics as understood by Williamson, i.e., his transaction cost economics. The paper is concluded with some thoughts on the convergence of NES and NIE.

Economia plural e desenvolvimento territorial na perspectiva do desenvolvimento sustentável: Elementos teóricos de sociologia econômica e de socioeconomia

This text focuses on the contribution that the concept of plural economics is able to make today toward the advancement of research on the viability of territorial dynamics for sustainable development. The first part of our line of argumentation is centered on clarifying the concept of plural economics, based on studies on economic and social solidarity and on proposals emerging from the New Economic Sociology and the socio-economics of territories. In the second part, the concept of sustainable development is characterized from the angle of the so-called societal paradigm and its interactions with territory and with a plural and social economics. Aligned with the critique of the premises of neo-classical economics, the author accepts the need to re-connect the economy to a broader social and ecological perspective and to seek more effective answers to the challenges raised by the planetary socio-environmental crisis.. Keywords: Sustainable territorial development, plural economics, New Economic Sociology, economics of solidarity, ecological economics.

Padrões de qualidade e segurança alimentares no terreno institucional brasileiro

Private food quality and safety standards are emerging as language of the food industry. The Brazilian market is experiencing the decline of the CEASAs, or Wholesale Produce Markets, and the expansion of supermarkets, including in the distribution of fresh produce. This growth is interpreted by the New Institutional Economy as the efficiency of private quality systems as compared to the purportedly inefficient public systems. Based on the political and cultural approach of the New Economic Sociology (NES), the article challenges the evidential nature of the institutions' efficiency, as well as the definition of quality and safety as neutral concepts. Based on the NES approach, these concepts can be seen as cultural constructs.

Peut-on faire l'économie des singularités ?

Intersecting views of Lucien Karpik’s L’economie des singularites Coordinated by Philippe Steiner Jerome Gautie adopts the viewpoint of an economist to assess the work’s contribution to understanding how markets function. But his main point is to examine the approach and propositions of L’economie des singularites in theoretic l and methodological terms so as to situate them in relation to « standard » economic theory, economics of conventions, and new economic sociology. Jean Gadrey reads L’economie des singularites by si uating « singularity » markets [markets for « singular » products and services such as wines and lawyers] within the set of all markets. He highlights the work’s useful ordering of coordination arrangements, and praises it for working to renew our understanding of relations between market and culture, in connection with the strategic role assumed by the work of constructing arrangements that will produce the market coordination that then makes trading on the « singularities » market possible. Answer of Lucien Karpik

Regards croisés sur L'économie des singularitésde Lucien Karpik

Intersecting views of Lucien Karpik’s L’economie des singularites Coordinated by Philippe Steiner Jerome Gautie adopts the viewpoint of an economist to assess the work’s contribution to understanding how markets function. But his main point is to examine the approach and propositions of L’economie des singularites in theoretic l and methodological terms so as to situate them in relation to « standard » economic theory, economics of conventions, and new economic sociology. Jean Gadrey reads L’economie des singularites by si uating « singularity » markets [markets for « singular » products and services such as wines and lawyers] within the set of all markets. He highlights the work’s useful ordering of coordination arrangements, and praises it for working to renew our understanding of relations between market and culture, in connection with the strategic role assumed by the work of constructing arrangements that will produce the market coordination that then makes trading on the « singularities » market possible. Answer of Lucien Karpik

De l'existence et de la portée de l'économie des singularités

Intersecting views of Lucien Karpik’s L’economie des singularites Coordinated by Philippe Steiner Jerome Gautie adopts the viewpoint of an economist to assess the work’s contribution to understanding how markets function. But his main point is to examine the approach and propositions of L’economie des singularites in theoretic l and methodological terms so as to situate them in relation to « standard » economic theory, economics of conventions, and new economic sociology. Jean Gadrey reads L’economie des singularites by si uating « singularity » markets [markets for « singular » products and services such as wines and lawyers] within the set of all markets. He highlights the work’s useful ordering of coordination arrangements, and praises it for working to renew our understanding of relations between market and culture, in connection with the strategic role assumed by the work of constructing arrangements that will produce the market coordination that then makes trading on the « singularities » market possible. Answer of Lucien Karpik

Contribuição da nova sociologia econômica para repensar a economia no sentido do desenvolvimento sustentável

O artigo trata da eventual contribuição da nova sociologia econômica (NSE) para uma sociologia do desenvolvimento sustentável. Elaborada a partir do início dos anos 1980, a NSE busca dar conta da economia como totalidade social, o que já representa uma abertura ao desenvolvimento sustentável. Ademais, considerando a economia sob o prisma das instituições, das organizações, das redes e das formas de governança, ela reinscreve a economia no seio da sociedade. Isso seria trivial se essa concepção já fosse reconhecida por nossas sociedades e até mesmo por nossas disciplinas. Como nossa pesquisa documental é feita em duas etapas, tratamos na primeira parte do surgimento da NSE; na segunda parte, examinamos diversas abordagens que propõem uma reconstrução da economia como objeto sociológico. Em conclusão, nos perguntamos o que podemos apreender dessas abordagens, tendo em vista uma melhor compreensão do desenvolvimento sustentável.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Issues for a Neo-Polanyian Research Agenda in Economic Sociology

Kari Polanyi Levitt has commented that her father's writing was met with a 'deafening silence' in England, a silence which she suggests is 'yet to be explained'. Given The Great Transformation was purpose fully , situated in England Polanyi Levitt's point is an interesting one, and one which still deserves attention. But the last two decades have witnessed an intensification of interest in Karl Polanyi's methodological approach and theoretical insights, from England as well as elsewhere, and representing a range of disciplines. This raises a string of associated questions: interest from who? Why now? And how? Further we could ask: Does this new interest have the potential to redress the Polanyi Levitt charge without falling prey to an opposite one of misusing or abusing the Polanyi legacy? This paper contributes to the much larger agenda of examining in a serious way the usefulness and applicability of Polanyi's key ideas and methods, particularly as they apply to the burgeoning interest in markets and exchange within New Economic Sociology (NES) . A sub-set of this agenda is to explore whether Polanyian insights provide a more nuanced and critical understanding of competitive processes and innovation than is currently available within Economics, Sociology or indeed Economic Sociology.

New Economic Policy, Social Development and Sociology

L'A. rappelle que l'Inde soutient une politique de liberalisation de son economie depuis 1991. Il examine les consequences sur le plan social comme sur le plan economique de ce type de politique. Il montre que la situation economique de l'Inde a eu tendance a se deteriorer rapidement avec l'apparition d'une tres forte inflation. Il souligne que ce dernier phenomene affecte les plus pauvres dont il etudie les conditions de vie en milieu urbain et en milieu rural. Il examine la situation sociale des femmes. Il pose le probleme des besoins sociaux en matiere d'education et de sante en faveur des enfants. Il etudie la situation economique et sociale des pays en voie de developpement. Il s'interroge sur l'influence de la politique en ce qui concerne l'elaboration des paradigmes defendus par les sciences sociales