Jens Beckert

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop an integrative concept which theorizes the connection of strategic agency and institutions in a model of institutional change, and argue that, under market conditions, institutional rules and intentional rational agency can be conceptualized as antagonistic mechanisms that contradict each other, but, nevertheless, remain interdependent.

TL;DR: The authors argues that the problem of uncertainty represents the central limitation of efficiency-based approaches to the explanation and prediction of economic outcomes and connects questions of economic decision-making with social theory.

Abstract: 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 show 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 the change of institutions, networks and cultural frames of market action.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the interrelations between the three types of social structures relevant for the explanation of economic outcomes: social networks, institutions, and cognitive frames, and propose a framework which aims at an integrated perspective on the social structuring of markets and their dynamics.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop a proposal for the theoretical vantage point of the sociology of markets, focusing on the problem of the social order of markets and argue that these problems can only be resolved based on stable reciprocal expectations on the part of market actors, which have their basis in socio-structural, institutional and cultural embedding of markets.