Market Configurations: Toward a Framework for Socio-Economic Studies

Abstract

The article develops a theoretical framework for studies in economic sociology as a critical alternative to research programmes proposed by Etzioni, Himmelstrand and Smelser. The framework assumes that any real national economy contains only a miniscule segment that can be called market proper and therefore focusses on the dynamics which delinate both market and non-market distributional regimes. Grounded in Weber, the article advances the idea that classes, status groups, political parties and the states are the powerful agents delineating the three important markets in labour, commodities and credit. It emphasises the centrality of conflict associated with legislative changes in the delineation and structuring of distributional regimes. In particular, it singles out conflicts pertaining to definitions of legitimate commodities, sellers/buyers, pricing principles and regulatory agencies and organisa tions active in and outside the market as the strategic research sites. Finally, it distinguishes various distributional regimes in terms of accessibility rules and pricing principles, on the one hand, and agents providing and buying goods and services, on the other.