Showing papers on "Embeddedness published in 1996"

What is sociological about economic sociology? Uncertainty and the embeddedness of economic action

Abstract: This article argues that the problem of uncertainty represents the central limitation of efficiency-based approaches to the explanation and prediction of economic outcomes. The problem of uncertainty reintroduces the Hobbesian problem of order into economics and makes it possible to connect questions of economic decision-making with social theory. The emphasis lies not, as in the behavioral theories of the Carnegie School, in the influence of uncertainty on the actual decision process, but in those social “devices” that actors rely on in decision-making, i.e., that structure the situation for the agents. If agents cannot anticipate the benefits of an investment, optimizing decisions become impossible, and the question opens up how intentionally rational actors reach decisions under this condition of uncertainty. This provides a systematic starting point for economic sociology. Studies in economic sociology that argue from different theoretical perspectives point to the significance of uncertainty and goal ambiguity. This contribution reflects theoretically why economic sociology can develop a promising approach by building upon these insights. It becomes understandable why culture, power, institutions, social structures, and cognitive processes are important in modern market economies. But it should be equally emphasized that the maximizing paradigm in economics will not be dethroned without a causal theory of the relationship of intentional rationality and social rigidities.

Growth Triumphant: The Twenty-first Century in Historical Perspective

Abstract: Taking a longer view than most literature on economic development, Richard A. Easterlin stresses the enormous contrast between the collective experience of the last half century in both developed and developing countries and what has gone before. An economic historian and demographer, the author writes in the tradition of the ""new economic history,"" drawing on economic theory and quantitative evidence to interpret the historical experience of economic theory and population growth. He reaches beyond the usual disciplinary limits to draw, as appropriate, on sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, and the history of science. The book will be of interest not only to social scientists but to all readers concerned with where we have been and where we are going. "". . . Easterlin is both an economic historian and a demographer, and it is the combination of these two disciplines and the fine balance between theory and experience that make this well-written, refreshingly optimistic book excellent reading."" -- Population and Development Review ""In this masterful synthesis, Richard Easterlin draws on the disciplines of economic history, demography, sociology, political science, psychology, and the history of science to present an integrated explation of the origins of modern economic growth and of the mortality revolution. . . . His book should be easily accessible to non-specialists and will give them a sense of why economic history can inform our understanding of the future."" --Dora L. Costa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, EH.Net and H-Net "" Growth Triumphant is, simply, a fascinating book. Easterlin has woven together a history of economic growth, economic development, human mortality and morbidity, the connections each has with the others, and the implications of this nexus of forces on the future. . . . This book deserves a wide audience."" -- Choice ""In what must surely be the most fair-minded, well-balanced, and scrupulously reasoned and researched book on the sensational subjects implied in its title--the Industrial Revolution, the mortality and fertility revolutions, and the prospects for future happiness for the human race--Professor Easterlin has set in place the capstone of his research career."" -- Journal of Economic History Richard A. Easterlin is Professor of Economics, University of Southern California.

Agricultural Geography and the Political Economy Approach: A Review

Abstract: In this paper, we review recent developments in political economy approaches to agricultural geography. During the last decade, the main areas of debate have shifted from materialist concerns about uneven development, transformation of the family farm, and the role of the state to the related questions of consumption and social nature. We emphasize the common challenges faced by economic geographers addressing the embeddedness of economic relations in social, political, and cultural practices, including the need for theoretical approaches which examine the differential constitution of "structural" processes, their articulation in localities, and the role of actors. To illustrate, we recount recent changes in British farming that demonstrate the continuous repositioning of agriculture within restructured rural spaces and an increasingly integrated, corporate agro-food chain. From these changes new themes emerge. These include those of nature, specifically relations between "natural" and "social" processes, contested meanings of the natural world, and the environmental regulation of agriculture, and the growing need to address aspects of consumption, ranging from food safety to the delivery of amenity, landscape, and ecological "improvements."

Local Exchange Trading Systems in the United Kingdom: A Case of Re-Embedding?

Abstract: In this paper a recent type of social and economic organization to appear in the United Kingdom—the local exchange trading system—is examined. From comparative research based on interviews with coordinators of six systems the motivation for involvement, the nature of the local money, and the relationship to business and state regulation are explored. The internal coherence of the systems and the relevance of the ‘local’ is assessed. Contextualized by debates on the nature of economics, where the notion of embeddedness of economic life in social relations is gaining ground, the concept of an active ‘re-embedding’ is introduced in order to explore the significance of local exchange trading systems.

Frontiers in Social Dilemmas Research

Abstract: Social Dilemmas: Individual, Collective, and Dynamic Perspectives.- Social Dilemmas: Individual, Collective, and Dynamic Perspectives..- 1 The Collective Perspective Provision of Resources.- Collective Risk Generation and Risk Management: The Unexploited Potential of the Social Dilemmas Paradigm..- Attitudes toward Public Affairs in a Society in Transition..- Provision of Community Social Services: The Role of Distributive Fairness for Willingness to Pay..- Concentration and Dispersion of Resources in Simulated Organizations Characterized by Equal or Unequal Power Relations..- 2 The Individual Perspective Cooperation in Experimental Games.- Why do 'Cooperators' Cooperate?: Efficacy as a Moderator of Social Motive Effects..- Tacit Coordination and Fairness Judgments in Social Dilemmas..- Does Knowing the Jointly Rational Solution Make You Want to Pursue it? Motivational Orientation, Information, and Behavior in two Social Dilemmas..- Reduction of Environmental Risk as a Public Good..- Hostage Posting as a Mechanism for Co-operation in the Prisoner'sDilemma Game..- The Effect of Threshold Level on Greed, Fear, and Cooperation in Step-level, Give-some and Take-some Dilemmas..- Does "The Motivating Power of Loss" Exist? An Experimental Test of the Effect of Losses on Cooperation..- 3 The Dynamic Perspective Computer Simulations of Micro-macro Dynamics.- Computer Simulation of Cooperative Decision Making..- Natural Selection and Social Learning in Prisoner'sDilemma: Co-adaptation with Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Neural Networks..- Foundations of Rational Interaction in Cognitive Agents: a Computational Approach..- Computer Simulation of Social Value Orientation: Vitality, Satisfaction, and Emergent Game Structures..- The Generalized Exchange Perspective on the Evolution of Altruism..- Social Dilemmas in Lineland and Flatland..- Selective Play: Social Embeddedness of Social Dilemmas..- 'self-organizing' Friendship Networks..- The Evolution of Cooperation in a Simulated Inter-group Conflict.

Entrepreneurship: A Contextual Perspective. Discourses and Praxis of Entrepreneurial Activities within the Institutional Context of Ghana

Abstract: This study is motivated by the understanding that entrepreneurship varies from one context to another as there are distinctive factors that influence the development and organization of entrepreneurial activities in any particular national context Using qualitative methodology the study aims at developing a conceptual and empirical framework for the study and understanding of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship as an organizing and social process From institutional and social networking perspective, the study describes and analyses how the societally embedded socio-cultural values and beliefs impact on the development and organizing of entrepreneurial activities within the broader historical, economic and institutional context of Ghana While re-reading and thereby challenging some of the mainstream arguments underlying the conventional wisdom of entrepreneurship that Iay emphasis on psychological attributes of the entrepreneur, the study argues that the nature and quality of the environment in which the entrepreneurial process is initiated and organized becomes very crucial to the successful development and survival of any entrepreneurial activities The empirical findings lend a strong illustrative support to the proposition that the development and organizing of entrepreneurial activities in any national context is an interplay between the individual characteristics and the nature of the organizing context For example, in a developing country, Iike Ghana, colonialism and political instability, mismanagement of the economic, paucity of the macro-infrastructures an misguided and inconsistent government policy directives have contributed to the non-development of effective indigenous entrepreneurial activities And in a society with strong family orientation, social networks (connections) - patron-client relationship and reciprocity as a mechanism for collective survival are used essentially as a countervailing mechanism for circumventing any institutional inadequacies Thus, the study proposes the integration of both pychoanalytical and contextual perspectives in the study and development of entrepreneurial activities Finally, the study not only calls for the "retuning" of the dysfunctional aspects of the environment with regards to the mainstream socio-cultural values, basic institutions and the various administrative setups that still bear the hallmarks of the colonial structures but also argues for the "re-embeddednes" of the mainstream concepts of entrepreneurship into the specificity of the socio-economic and cultural context of an emerging economy like that of Ghana for an effective development and promotion of entrepreneurial activities (Less)

The Effectiveness of Neighborhood Collective Action

Abstract: Urban redevelopment forces have created major and complex issues for residents in neighborhoods. Faced with such threats, many neighborhoods have become proactive and have attempted to protect and improve their environment through collective organization and social action. This paper investigates the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of neighborhood organization. A theoretical model that places emphasis on the role of local ecology, organizational complexity, and coalitional embeddedness is developed. The model is tested using data collected from neighborhood associations. Greater effectiveness is associated with socioeconomic status, neighborhood investments, and environmental threats. Organizational resources and coalitional embeddedness were found to be the most important factors explaining effectiveness.

The embeddedness of strategy

Abstract: This volume is part of a series which seeks to act as a vehicle for the communication of research in strategic management It contains papers presenting theoretical and/or empirical analysis of strategic problems, comparative and analytical case studies of issues and application of concepts

Ethnocentrism in the low countries: A comparative perspective

Abstract: This study explores differences of ethnocentrism and related phenomena in The Netherlands and Flanders on the basis of two comparable surveys conducted in 1990 and 1991. The explanatory models derived from theories of ethnocentrism are largely confirmed. People in Flanders subscribe more strongly to both components of ethnocentrism (i.e. to an unfavourable attitude towards out‐groups and to a favourable attitude towards the in‐group) as well as to a number of its predictors such as authoritarianism, anomie, and social cultural localism. The interpretations of these findings involve historical processes, intergroup tensions, economic fluctuations, and the organisational embeddedness of right‐wing extremism in The Netherlands and in Flanders.

Karl Polanyi on ethics and economics

Abstract: Exploring Polanyi's lesser-known works as well as The Great Transformation, Baum provides a more complete and nuanced understanding of Polanyi's thought. He examines Polanyi's interpretation of modern economic and social history, clarifies the ethical presuppositions present in Polanyi's work, and addresses how Polanyi's understanding of the relation between ethics and economics touches on many issues relevant to the contemporary debate about the world's economic future. Baum argues that we should look to Polanyi's understanding of modern capitalism to reinstate the social discourse and, in political practice, the principles of reciprocity and solidarity. He points to examples, both in Canada and abroad, of attempts to formulate alternative models of economic development and to create new forms of institutional and cultural intervention. Karl Polanyi on Ethics and Economics provides fascinating insights into Polanyi's work and today's central social and political issues. It will be of great interest to sociologists, economists, political scientists, and philosophers.

Corporate restructuring : Converging world pattern or societally specific embeddedness ?

Abstract: Recently the term “corporate restructuring” has been used to signify a series of strategies to relieve corporate cost burdens. In the American context, corporate restructuring has been synonymous w...

Organizational Learning and Institutional Embeddedness

Abstract: This book can be read from a variety of angles. One is from the point of view of its contribution to an emerging theory of the firm based on the problem-solving competences that organizations embody. From another angle, one may appreciate what it adds to the understanding of the variety in the patterns of evolution of business corporations in different countries. Yet from another perspective, it may be considered a contribution to the analysis of how the broader institutional context shapes and constrains corporate strategies and organizational change. Indeed, our suggestion is that these perspectives are highly complementary, unified by what we shall call, paraphrasing Richard Nelson, a theory of coevolution linking organizational forms, technologies and institutions. Admittedly, one is still far from the full development of such a theory: however, contributions like those contained in this volume suggest, in our view, the promises of the research programme and the constructiveness of a dialogue between historians, economists and scholars from other social disciplines, whereby theories and historical analyses mutually enrich each other. It is a dialogue which runs from ‘foundational issues’ — concerning, for example, what is the nature of business organizations, what degree of rationality one should attribute to economic agents, etc. — all the way to the ‘grand’ historical conjectures on the determinants of the broad patterns of socio-economic organizations as we observe them. It is this thread that we shall explore in this introduction.

Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts

Abstract: Identifies and assesses three types of industrial districts that exist as alternatives to the "new industrial district" model, to remark on the limits of a locally targeted development strategy. Industrial districts are defined as sizable and spatially delimited areas of trade-oriented economic activity with a distinct specialization. "Sticky places" are industrial districts with the ability to both attract and keep capital and labor, despite globalizing tendencies. Especially in advanced capitalist countries, corporations are faced with the problem of maintaining income-generating activities rather than outsourcing labor to developing countries. This analysis rejects the "new industrial district" (NID) traditionally offered as a solution - that is, the proposed "flexibly specialized" scenario of small, innovative firms in a successful system of industrial governance. Metropolitan growth since 1970 was studied for four countries - the United States, Japan, Korea, and Brazil -and include one case in each country that conformed to the NID, as well as three to five others that did not. Utilizing interviews and examination of documents, three alternative models emerged -- the hub-and-spoke district, the satellite industrial platform, and the state-centered district. These models reject the NID emphasis on small firms, instead demonstrating the power of the state and/or multinational corporations. As opposed to the NID internal emphasis, the proposed models are exogenously driven and allow increased networking across districts. Districts emerge as a result of multiple forces, including industry structures, cororate strategies and public policies. The study of industrial districts needs to move away from the NID model, encompassing a greater variety of firms, and analyzing more closely their links to the larger industry and global economy from which they emerge. (CJC)

Competing Economic Ideologies in South Africa's Economic Debate

Abstract: This paper develops an analytical framework for the sociological analysis of the clash of economic ideologies. The framework is then used to make sense of the economic debate in South Africa in the l990s. The argument is that, following Karl Polanyi, we must treat economic life as 'embedded' in social life; that is, economic action is a form of social action. However, the notion of 'embeddedness' must not blind us to the tendency in all economies, especially contemporary market economies, for economic motivations to become differentiated from the rest of our lives. Accordingly, the framework developed through a critique of key assumptions of neo-classical economic theory attends to both the embeddedness and the differentiation of the economic element. Having established a framework of analysis, I apply it to the debate in South Africa about the most relevant framework for economic policy in the post-Apartheid economy. The article traces the gradual move of the African National Congress (ANC) away from statist economics to a much more market-oriented policy and shows how this reflects the ANC leaders need to balance the demands of their constituency's (embedded) conception of rationality against the potential investor's more mainstream conception of economic rationality, which is itself embedded in prosperous communities with property and skills. A similar analysis is applied to the development of the economic policy of the ANC's rival, the former ruling National Party (NP). The NP advocates an economic policy framework based on an individual selfreliance and 'free' markets, that is, on an individualistic calculative rationality similar to that of the neo-classical textbooks. However, the NP too has to pursue politics and they, although rather differently from the ANC, have sought to reconcile individual maximizing rationality with the collective rationalities of the oppressed black communities in order to win maximum support.

Nationale Innovationssysteme, soziales Kapital und Innovationsstrategien von Unternehmen

Abstract: Institutional conditions of action and the embeddedness of firms into so-called national systems of innovation today are gaining attention in the economic and sociological analysis of the innovation process. This paper develops an integrative approach using concepts from economics, science and technology studies and organizational research. The aim is to explain national differences in innovation strategies. The approach is illustrated using data on two chemical firms in different national contexts, one from Germany and one from the United Kingdom. Both embarked on research into the newly discovered High-Temperature-Superconductors (HTS). They were studied within the frame of a larger research project on the reaction of national research systems to HTS. The explanative approach combines both variables concerning the national institutional structures at the macro-level and variables concerning the institutional setup of sectors and technologies at the meso-level, using the concept of governance. Economical and sociological notions of governance structures are discussed. The central thesis of the paper is that macro- and meso-structures of governance covary with social capital of the firms which in turn helps or hinders them to learn and innovate

Towards a methodology for the analysis of the embeddedness of markets in social institutions. Application to gender and the market for local rice in Eastern Guinea

Abstract: The mains results of this work are threefold. First, theoretical issues are revisited in the light of the information from fieldwork: gender appears as a pervasive institution in markets, which results in the economic subordination of women. However, not all women are more deprived than all men: gender determination is itself embedded in other social institutions such as class, urbanism or ethnicity. An institutional representation of markets also seems justified: the market investigated is actually socially embedded, not enly in gender, but also in a wide range of other social institutions. The embeddeness results from the partial determinationn of economic behaviour by social ideologies, and from the regulation and perpetuation of forms of exchange by social norms. Second the methodology designed for the thesis is discussed: it appears as practically applicable, but the analytical separation of gender from the other social institutions produces a restricted view of the embeddedness of the market. Finally, the descriptive information obtained on the rice market of eastern Guinea is used for policy recommendations: the embeddedness of the market in gender results in an imperfectly competitive market structure and a less than optimal market performance, hence a questionning of the current liberalization implemented in the state

Between morality and rationality: an analysis of interpersonal economics in rural ireland

Abstract: Social scientists interested in peasant societies have tried to make sense of their economies in terms of the "political" and "moral" economy paradigms. It is the aim of this paper to assess critically the applicability of such models to the informal sector of Irish family farms and, in so doing, to postulate the necessity of a different theoretical approach. The simplistic dichotomy between "rational" and "moral" behaviour is shown to fall short of a satisfactory account of economic relationships in this particular context. The complex inter­ section of different forms of rationality on an Irish family farm, half-way between peasant and capitalist agricultural producers, calls for newer and less rigid hypotheses. he particular type of social behaviour that we define as "economic" _L has been over-analysed and rationalised by such a powerful social science as economic theory. Even though the task of economic anthropology can be said to lie in the understanding of economic practices beyond the logic of market rationality, the research of economic anthropologists very often has to be carried out within a jungle of non-anthropological competitors. This is especially clear for those of us who have chosen to work in western Europe. Precisely because in this particular context, there does not seem to be any significant economic activity beyond the rationality of the market.

The economic importance of geographical location. Some observations in relation to Arne Isaksen's thesis on the growth of new industrial spaces and specialized areas of production

Abstract: In spite of the ongoing formation of a global market, most economic activity is conducted by firms deeply rooted in national or regional structures, and fundamentally dependent on specific national or regional capabilities The renaissance of the Marshallian concept of industrial districts emphasizes the economic role of territorial embeddedness A new Norwegian study of three selected industrial clusters is commented on

Local, National and International Constructions of Social and Economic Worlds

Abstract: In this article we draw together several recent debates which have a bearing on the development of children's socio-economic understanding. Firstly, socialisation: we indicate the problem of defining the development of children's understanding as the progressive disembedment of one area of child's thought from another (e.g. social from economic understanding). We provide examples of how and why socio-economic knowledge has to remain undifferentiated in order for people to carry on with daily life. Secondly, we want to suggest that Western, ideal views of what is meant by 'the social' and 'the economic' have become enshrined at international national levels of policy-making. This has had a profound effect on local social life and particularly on how people understand their transactions with one another. We begin by outlining problems concerning socialisation and introduce the model of discourse translation to examine connections between social worlds. American and Indonesian ethnographic material is reviewed examining the 'embeddedness' of socio-economic thought; the latter additionally draws attention to the effects of international national discourses on local social and economic understanding.

Issue Context and Project Content : Managing Embeddedness in Organizational Development Projects

Abstract: Issue Context and Project Content : Managing Embeddedness in Organizational Development Projects

A critical comment on Braun's “restricted access in exchange systems"*

Abstract: In general this comment tackles the problems and difficulties potentially combined with an application of formal economic models and constructs, such as the Walras equilibrium and microeconmic demand theory, to pure sociological contexts. In particular, this is done by analyzing a further attempt, as recently suggested by Braun (1993 and 1994), to extend the well‐known Coleman Model by incorporating the embeddedness of social transactions in incomplete social network structures. “Pars pro toto” it is proved that Braun's conceptualization contains some weaknesses which imply that fundamental conclusions drawn in his article have to be revised.