Markets Flashcards
(19 cards)
What are social institutions?
The central domains of social life that guide our behaviors and meet our basic social needs
What is a market?
Markets are arenas in which buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods and/or services.
What is the traditional view on markets from the field of economics?
Markets naturally emerge wherever supply and demand meet
Society consists of rational individuals seeking to maximize their own utility: they’re out to get the best deal for themselves
Buyers and sellers pursue their own interested independent of any larger context or constraint
What is the traditional political ideology of market liberals?
We should aspire to create “free markets” because markets without government intervention the best, most efficient outcomes
Market and Society are separated
How does economic sociology differ from traditional economics?
Economic sociologists believe that markets are always embedded in society and in social relations (intertwined)
In what ways are markets embedded in societies and social relations?
Rules
Networks
Culture
Why do markets need rules?
Markets need rules not only to protect people and the environment from collateral damage, but also to function effectively in the first place.
Rules (laws) can deter deception, profiteering, monopolies, and other predatory behaviors
Where do market rules come from?
Governments certainly do not govern alone. A wide range of private-sector organizations, from industry associations to trade unions, contribute to market governance.
Formed from a power struggle between different actors
Key actors may include:
Legislators, in local, state, and national government
Regulators in government agencies
Judges who make court rulings
Corporations and industry groups
Workers and labor unions
Activists and advocacy groups
What is the role of government in markets?
The role of government in markets is not limited to setting and enforcing market rules
The government is the largest consumer, employer, lender, borrower, insurer, and property owner in modern market economies
Taxpayers fund research that results in massive private profits
What is a network?
A series of social relationships that link a person directly to other individuals and indirectly to even more people
How do networks account for the way markets are embedded in society and social relations?
Network accounts of economic activity view actors as embedded in social networks that provide them with opportunities and constraints
Human capital theory
Wages are tied to valuable skills
Social capital theory
Who you know can be just as important as what you know
social ties are also important
Norms
Our shared expectations can shape and constrain market activity
Values
Notions as to what’s right and wrong
What is culture role in markets?
Societal norms powerfully condition market behavior
What are moral entrepreneurs?
Individuals or groups who attempt to construct certain deviant market activities are morally acceptable
Ex. Marijuana market
What is performativity?
People create theories or tools to describe how the social world works
Our use of those ideas structures social reality, creating the phenomena they support to describe
What is the performativity of networks?
Market behavior is learned, not natural.
We use of knowledge of how something works to structure subsequent interactions
For example, network analysis has moved from the academy into the world of business and beyond
