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L'Année sociologique
P.U.F.

I.S.B.N.9782130553120
256 pages

p. 419 à 449
doi: 10.3917/anso.052.0419

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Vol. 55 2005/2

Discipline > Revue > Sommaire > Résumé

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Towards an economic sociology of capitalism

Richard Swedberg

Résumé de l'article

RéSUMé. — Si la supériorité du capitalisme en tant que système économique produisant de la croissance a fasciné les économistes depuis des siècles, tel n’est pas le cas des sociologues qui se sont principalement intéressés à ses conséquences sociales. Cet article propose un programme pour une sociologie économique du capitalisme à partir d’une étude sociologique des institutions économiques qui sont à la base du capitalisme. La dimension “économique” vient de l’attention accordée à la dimension économique du capitalisme, tandis que la dimension “sociologique” vient de la manière d’étudier cette dimension économique. Le point de départ analytique consiste dans la proposition selon laquelle les intérêts déterminent les actions des individus et que ces intérêts prennent une forme sociale particulière, forme que nous appelons “capitalisme”. Cet article est un premier examen des conséquences qu’aurait le fait de placer un tel objet au centre de la sociologie économique et notamment dans le fait de fournir des études sur la production, la répartition, la consommation et la recherche du profit. En outre, l’article prend en compte l’impact du droit, de la politique et de la culture sur le fonctionnement économique pour examiner leur impact, favorable ou défavorable, sur la croissance économique. ABSTRACT. — While the superiority of capitalism as an economic system and growth machine has fascinated economists for centuries, this has not been the case with sociologists, who have mainly been concerned with its social consequences. In this article an effort is made to present an agenda for a sociological study of the economic institutions that make up capitalism that can be called an economic sociology of capitalism. The “economic” in this approach comes from the emphasis on the economic dimension of capitalism; and the “sociology” from the way this economic dimension should be studied. The analytical point of departure for an economic sociology of capitalism consists of the proposition that interests drive the actions of the individuals, and that interests come together in a very specific—and social—way that we call “capitalism”. This study is devoted to an attempt to spell out what it would mean for economic sociology to set this model of capitalism at its center. It is clear, for one thing, that this would have important consequences for what will then be seen as the central task of economic sociology—namely, to produce studies of production, distribution, consumption and profit-making. Added to this are the following three topics: the impact on the economic process by law, politics and culture. For all of these latter topics it is imperative to investigate how they can speed up, slow down or block economic growth.

Plan de l'article

• A basic model of capitalism

• 1. The sociology of distribution

• 2. The sociology of production

— 2 . 1. Factor of production # 1: Labor

— 2 . 2. Factor of production # 2: Capital

— 2 . 3. Factor of production # 3: Technology

— 2 . 4. Factor of production # 4: Organization (Marshall) Alfred Marshall sensed the limits of the economics of his days and argued, in Principles of Economics, that not only land, labor and capital should be considered as factors of production but also “organization”. By organization Marshall meant a number of phenomena, including the individual firm as well as a dynamic collection of firms in the same geographical area, which he termed “industrial district” (Marshall, 1961 [1890], 1: 138-139, 240-313). The insight that organization is crucial to profit-making is also at the heart of what is known as organizational economics, which draws on a mixture of agency theory, game theory, transaction cost analysis, and law and economics—but not on sociology (Barnes and Ouchi, 1986; Milgrom and Roberts, 1992).

• 3. The sociology of consumption

• 4. The sociology of profit

• 5. Factors influencing the basic modelof capitalism # 1: The role of law

• 6. Factors influencing the basic model # 2: The role of politics (including the State)

• 7. Factors influencing the basic model #3:The role of culture in the economy

• 8. Concluding remarks

• REFERENCES

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