Markets and Economic Institutions: Is New Economic Sociology a Serious Contender?

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate the contributions of mainstream economic sociology on its reconceptualization of markets and economic institutions. By doing so, it discusses whether new economic sociology can be a serious contender to conventional economic thinking. After critically reviewing a selected set of ideal-typical works from the sub-field, ranging from embeddedness/network and field analyses to performativist accounts, it reaches the conclusion that the new economic sociology cannot pose a serious threat to the conventional way of doing economics-- largely due to the fact that both intellectual traditions share a great deal of common understanding of power relations in society. For the new economic sociology to elevate itself from a mere equivalent of imperfect competition in economics, it should rather benefit from a long tradition of scholarly work in political sociology; and institutionalist accounts within the very sub-field itself seem to be the main valid candidate to pursue such a course of action.

Keywords

• Market Structure
• Imperfect Competition
• Status
• Transaction Cost Approach
• Social Constructivist View of Economic Institutions
• Network Forms of Organization

Piyasalar ve İktisadi Kurumlar: Yeni Ekonomik Sosyoloji Ciddi Bir Rakip Mi?

Abstract

Bu makalede, yerleşik ekonomik sosyolojik yaklaşımın piyasaları ve iktisadi kurumları yeniden kavramsallaştırmasına katkısını değerlendirmeyi ve “yeni ekonomik sosyoloji”nin geleneksel iktisadi düşünceye ciddi bir rakip olup olamayacağını tartışmayı amaçlıyoruz. Bu maksatla, “yeni ekonomik sosyoloji”nin toplumsal iç içe geçmişlik (embeddedness)/toplumsal ağlar (networks) ve Bourdieucu alan çözümlemelerinden (field analysis) performativist açıklamalara varana değin bir dizi ideal-tipik çalışmasını eleştirel bir şekilde inceleyip her iki entelektüel geleneğin de toplumdaki iktidar/güç ilişkilerini benzer bir şekilde kavrıyor olmasından dolayı, ekonomik sosyoloji alt-alanının mevcut haliyle geleneksel iktisadi düşünme biçimlerine ciddi bir tehdit oluşturamadığı sonucuna varıyoruz. “Yeni ekonomik sosyoloji”nin yerleşik iktisadi düşüncede zaten kabul görmüş olan “eksik rekabet” anlayışının salt bir eşdeğeri olma konumundan ayrışabilmesi için, toplumsal bilimlerde köklü bir geçmişi olan siyaset sosyolojisinin kuramsal yaklaşım ve kavramsal çerçevesinden faydalanması gerektiğini iddia ediyor; ve alt-alanın kendi içindeki kurumsalcı çalışmaların bu yönde atılacak adımlar için iyi bir başlangıç zemini sunabileceğini göstermeye çalışıyoruz.

Keywords

• Piyasa Yapısı
• Eksik Rekabet
• Statü
• İşlem Maliyeti Yaklaşımı
• İktisadi Kurumlara Toplumsal İnşacı Yaklaşım
• Toplumsal Ağ Biçimlerine Dayalı Örgütlenme

References

1. Abolafia, M. (2001) Making markets: Opportunism and restraint on Wall Street, Harvard University Press.
2. Akerlof, G. A. (1970) “The market for ‘lemons’: Quality uncertainty and the market mechanism”, The quarterly journal of economics, 84(3): 488-500.
3. Baron, J. and Hannan, M. T. (1994) “The Impact of Economics on Contemporary Sociology,” Journal of Economic Literature, 32: 1111-46.
4. Beckert, J. (2009) “The social order of markets”, Theory and Society, 38(3): 245-269.
5. Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1966) The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Anchor.
6. Biggart, N. W., & Beamish, T. D. (2003) “The economic sociology of conventions: Habit, custom, practice, and routine in market order”, Annual Review of Sociology, 29: 443-464.
7. Block, F. (1977) “The Ruling Class Does Not Rule”, Socialist Revolution, 33: 6-28.
8. Bourdieu, P. (2008). “The Forms of Capital”. In Readings in economic sociology, 280-291.

9. Bourdieu, P. (2005). “Principles of an economic anthropology”, in Smelser, N. J., & Swedberg, R. The handbook of economic sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 75-89.
10. Burt, R. S. (1995) Structural holes: The social structure of competition, Harvard University Press.
11. Callon, M., & Muniesa, F. (2005) “Peripheral Vision Economic Markets as Calculative Collective Devices”, Organization studies, 26(8): 1229-1250.
12. Calnitsky, D. (2014). “Economic sociology as disequilibrium economics: a contribution to the critique of the new economic sociology”, The Sociological Review, 62(3): 565-592.
13. Coase, R. H. (1959) “The Federal Communications Commission”, The Journal of Law and Economics, 2: 1-40.
14. Coase, R. H. (1937) “The nature of the firm”, Economica, 4(16): 386-405.
15. Davis, G. F., Diekmann, K. A., & Tinsley, C. H. (1994) “The decline and fall of the conglomerate firm in the 1980s: The deinstitutionalization of an organizational form”, American Sociological Review, 59(4): 547-570.
16. DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (Eds.) (1991) The new institutionalism in organizational analysis, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
17. Dobbin, F. (2018) “Why the economy reflects the polity: early rail policy in Britain, France, and the United States”, in Granovetter, M. and Swedberg . (eds.) The sociology of economic life Routledge, 397-418.
18. Dobbin, F. (2008) “The poverty of organizational theory: Comment on: Bourdieu and organizational analysis”. Theory and Society, 37(1): 53-63.
19. Dobbin, F. (2005) “Comparative and historical approaches to economic sociology”, in Smelser, N. J., & Swedberg, R. The handbook of economic sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 226-48.
20. Dobbin, F., & Dowd, T. J. (1997) “How policy shapes competition: Early railroad foundings in Massachusetts”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(3): 501-529.
21. Emirbayer, M., & Johnson, V. (2008) “Bourdieu and organizational analysis”, Theory and Society, 37(1): 1-44.
22. Evans, P. (1995) Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
23. Fligstein, N. (1996). “Markets as politics: a political-cultural approach to market institutions”, American sociological review, 61(4): 656-673.
24. Fligstein, N. and Dauter, L. (2007) “The Sociology of Markets,” Annual Review of Sociology, 33: 105-128.
25. Fligstein, N., & Feeland, R. (1995) “Theoretical and comparative perspectives on corporate organization”, Annual review of sociology, 21: 21-43.
26. Foster, J. B. (1986) The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy, New York: Monthly Review.
27. Furubotn, E. G. & Richter, R. (2005) Institutions and Economic Theory: The Contributions of the New Institutional Economics, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
28. Geertz, C. (1978) “The bazaar economy: Information and search in peasant marketing”, The American Economic Review, 68(2): 28-32.
29. Granovetter, M. (1992) “Economic institutions as social constructions: a framework for analysis”, Acta sociologica, 35(1): 3-11.
30. Gulati, R., & Westphal, J. D. (1999) “Cooperative or controlling? The effects of CEO-board relations and the content of interlocks on the formation of joint ventures”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(3): 473-506.
31. Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1977) “The population ecology of organizations”, American journal of sociology, 82(5): 929-964.
32. Harriss-White, B., (1995) “Maps and Landscapes of Grain Markets in South Asia”, in Harriss, J., Hunter, J., Lewis, C., M., (eds), The New Institutional Economics and Third World Development, London: Routledge.
33. Jessop, B. (1990) State Theory: putting capitalist states in their place, Penn State Press.
34. Knorr-Cetina, K. (2004) “Capturing markets? A review essay on Harrison White on producer markets”, Socio-Economic Review, 2(1): 137-147.
35. Krier, D. (1999). “Assessing the new synthesis of economics and sociology: Promising themes for contemporary analysts of economic life”, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 58(4): 669-696.
36. Landes, D. (1986) “What Do Bosses Really Do?”, The Journal of Economic History, 46(3): 585:623.
37. Langlois, R., N. (ed.) (1990) Economics as a process: Essays in the New Institutional Economics, New York: Cambridge University.
38. Lazerson, M. H., & Lorenzoni, G. (1999) “The firms that feed industrial districts: a return to the Italian source”, Industrial and corporate change, 8(2): 235-266.
39. Lie, J. (1997) “Sociology of markets”, Annual Review of Sociology, 23: 341-360.
40. Lukes, S. (1974) Power : a radical view, New York: Macmillan.
41. Marglin, S. A. (1974) “What do bosses do? The origins and functions of hierarchy in capitalist production”, Review of radical political economics, 6(2): 60-112.
42. Marx, K. (1978) “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte”, in Tucker, R. C., The Marx-Engels Reader, New York: Norton & Company, 594-617.
43. MacKenzie, D and Millo Y (2003) “Constructing a market, performing theory: The historical sociology of a financial derivatives exchange”, American Journal of Sociology, 109: 107-145.
44. Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977) “Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony”, American journal of sociology, 83(2): 340-363.
45. Mizruchi, M. S. (1996) “What do interlocks do? An analysis, critique, and assessment of research on interlocking directorates”, Annual review of sociology, 22: 271-298.
46. North, D. С. (1991) “Institutions”, The journal of economic perspectives, 5(1): 97-112.
47. North, D. C. (1990) Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge university press.
48. Offe, C. (1984) “The Crisis of Crisis Management: elements of a political Crisis Theory”, in Claus Offe, Contradictions of the Welfare State, London: Hutchinson, 35-61
49. Offe, C. (1974) “Structural Problems of the Capitalist State: Class rule and the political system. On the selectiveness of political institutions”, in Von Beyme (ed). German Political Studies, Sage, 31-54.
50. Overdevest, C. (2011) “Towards a more pragmatic sociology of markets” Theory and society, 40(5): 533-552.
51. Özveren, E., (1998) “An Institutional Alternative to Neoclassical Economics?”, Review, 21(4): 469-530.
52. Perrow, C. (1986) “Economic theories of organization”, Theory and society, 15(1): 11-45.
53. Pierson, P (2004) Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
54. Pierson, P (2000) “Not Just What, but When: Timing and Sequence in Political Processes” Studies in American Political Development, 14: 72-92.
55. Podolny, J. M. (1993) “A status-based model of market competition” American journal of sociology, 98(4): 829-872.
56. Portes, A. (2010) Economic sociology: A systematic inquiry, Princeton University Press.
57. Poulantzas, N. (1969) “The Problem of the Capitalist State:, New Left Review, 58: 67-78.
58. Przeworski, A. (1985) Capitalism and Social Democracy, Cambridge University Press.
59. Richter, R. (2008) “On the Social Structure of Markets: A Review and Assessment in the Perspective of the New Institutional Economics” in Ebner, A., & Beck, N. (eds.) The institutions of the market: organizations, social systems, and governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 157-79.
60. Rutherford, M. (2001) “Institutional economics: then and now”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(3): 173-194.
61. Sadi, İ. E. (2022; forthcoming) “Kapitalist Rekabetin Anlamı: Kapitalizm Farklı Aşamalardan mı Geçiyor?”, Praksis, 58.
62. Sadi, İ. E. (2021) “Drawing The Boundaries of Economic Sociology: A Critical Assessment”, Fiscaoeconomia, 5(3), 936-956.
63. Sadi, İ. E., (2008) “Kurumsal İktisat”, in Başkaya F. and Ördek, A. (eds.), Ekonomik Kurumlar ve Kavramlar Sözlüğü, Ankara: Özgür Üniversite, 730-40.
64. Schumpeter, J. A. (1994) Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, New York: Routledge.
65. Schumpeter, J. A. (1939) Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process, New York: McGraw-Hill.
66. Shaikh, A. (2016) Capitalism: Competition, conflict, crises, Oxford University.
67. Simon, H. A. (1962) “The architecture of complexity”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(6):467-482. Stearns, L. B., & Mizruchi, M. S. (2005). “Banking and financial markets in Smelser, N. J., & Swedberg, R. The handbook of economic sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 284-306.
68. Swedberg, R. (2005) “Markets in society”, in Smelser, N. J., & Swedberg, R. The handbook of economic sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 233-53.
69. Swedberg, R. (2004) “What has been accomplished in new economic sociology and where is it heading?”, European Journal of Sociology, 45(03): 317-330.
70. Swedberg, R. (1997) “New economic sociology: What has been accomplished, what is ahead?”, Acta Sociologica, 40(2): 161-182.
71. Uzzi, B. (1996) “The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: The network effect”, American sociological review, 61(4): 674-698.
72. Uzzi, B. (1999) “Embeddedness in the making of financial capital: How social relations and networks benefit firms seeking financing”, American sociological review, 64(4): 481-505.
73. Veblen, T. (1898) “Why is economics not an evolutionary science?” The quarterly journal of economics, 12(4): 373-397.
74. White, H. C. (1981) “Where Do Markets Come From?”, American Journal of Sociology, 87(3): 517-547.
75. Wood, E. M. (2002) The origin of capitalism: A longer view, Verso.
76. Wood, E.M. (1981) “The Separation of the Economic and the Political in Capitalism,” New Left Review, 127: 66-95.
77. Young, D. (2002) “The meaning and role of power in economic theories”, in Hodgson, G. (ed.) A Modern Reader in Institutional and Evolutionary Economics, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
78. Zald, M. N. (1987) “The new institutional economics”, American Journal of Sociology, 93(3): 701-708.
79. Zelizer, V. A. (1988) “Beyond the polemics on the market: establishing a theoretical and empirical agenda”, Sociological forum 3(4): 614-634.
80. Zuckerman, E. W. (2003) “On Networks and Markets by Rauch and Casella, eds.”, Journal of Economic Literature, 41(2): 545-565.