Doctoral Seminar : Sociology of Markets

Dans le cadre du programme doctoral commun à Sciences Po et au Max Planck Institut for the studies of societies, séminaire sur la sociologie des marchés organisé à Sciences Po du 27 juin au 1er juillet 2011.

Ce séminaire est ouvert prioritairement aux étudiants du MPI et du programme doctoral de Sciences Po.

Contact : Pierre François, s’inscrire avant le 15 février 2011

Programme :

Markets are the core institutions of capitalist economies. They have become an important subject field in economic sociology during the last twenty years. The seminar centers around three coordination problems market actors need to resolve to establish and reproduce markets. These coordination problems are the problem of competition, the problem of valuation and the problem of cooperation. The conceptual texts and case studies read in the seminar provide insights into the different approaches in economic sociology.

· The seminar will take place in Paris, in Sciences Po (199 Boulevard Saint Germain – 75007 Paris), from June 27th to July 1st.

· Students will be asked to read all the “required readings” before the seminar. During the seminar, they will be asked to treat specific topics, drawings on these readings and working in small groups (4 or 5 persons per group), each group involving both German and French students.

· Students will also be asked to prepare a brief presentation (10 to 15 minutes each) based on a “case study” reading. There will be three presentations on days 2, 3 and 4 and one presentation day 4. The presentations will be prepared and presented by two students.

· A preparatory meeting will take place during March in Sciences Po. All seminar participants from Paris must be present at this meeting.

DAY 1 (JUEN 27, 2011)

14:30- 17:30

INTRODUCTION: WHAT ARE MARKETS? HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES

Required readings

Beckert, J., 2009, « The social order of markets », Theory and Society, 38 (3), p. 245-269.

Fligstein, N., 1996, « Markets as politics: a political-cultural approach to market institutions », American sociological review, 61 (4), p. 656-673.

Braudel, F., 1977, Afterthougts on material civilization and capitalism, Baltimore, John Hopkins UniversityPress, 120 p. – Abstracts.

Polanyi, K., 2001, The Great Transformation. The political and economic origins of our time, Boston, Beacon Press, 317 p. – Chapter 4 to 6.

Advised readings

Braudel, F., 1992, Civilization and capitalism, Berkeley, University of California press

Fligstein, N. and Dauter, L., 2007, « The sociology of markets », Annual review of sociology, 33, p. 105-128.

Lie, J., 1997, « Sociology of markets », Annual review of sociology, 23, p. 341-360.

Mauss, M., 2020, The gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies, London, Rouledge, 199 p.

Swedberg, R., 1994, « Markets as social structures », in Smelser, N. J. et Swedberg, R. (dir.), The handbook of economic sociology, Princeton/New York, Princeton university press/Russell Sage foundation, p. 255-283.

Swedberg, R., 2005, « Markets as social structures », in Smelser, N. J. et Swedberg, R. (dir.), The handbook of economic sociology. Second edition, Princeton/New York, Princeton University press/Russell Sage foundation.

DAY 2 (JUNE 28, 2011):

9:00-12:30 AND 14:00-17:00

COMPETITION

Required readings

Classical approaches of competition:

Simmel, G., 1903, « The sociology of conflict: I », American journal of sociology, 9 p. 490-525.

Weber, M., 1978, Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Berkeley, University of

California press, 1469 p – Chapter 1, section 8, p. 38-40.

The field approach:

Bourdieu, P., 2005, « Principles of an economic anthropology », in Smelser, N. J. et Swedberg, R. (dir.),

Handbook of economic sociology, Second edition, Princeton/New York, Princeton university press/Russell Sage foundation, p. 75-90.

The network approach:

Leifer, E.M., White, H.C., 1987, “A structural approach to markets”, in Mizruchi, M.S., Schwarz, M., (dir.), Intercorporate relations: the structural analysis of business, New York, Cambridge university press.

The status-based approach:

Podolny, J. M., 1993, « A status-based model of market competition », American journal of sociology, 98 (4), p. 829-872.

Case studies

Bourdieu, P., 2005, The social structures of the economy, Cambridge, Polity press, 260 p, chapter 1, “Disposition of the agents and the structure of the field of reproduction”, p. 19-89.

Baker, W. E., 1984, « The social structure of a national securities market », American journal of sociology, 89 (4), p. 775-811.

Beth, D. Y. and Podolny, J. M., 1999, « Status, quality, and social order in the California Wine industry, 1981-1991″, Administrative science quarterly, 44 (3), p. 563-589.

Advised readings

Burt, R., 1992, Structural holes: the social structure of competition, Cambridge, Harvard university press, 310 p.

Burt, R., 1993, « The social structure of competition », in Swedberg, R. (dir.), Explorations in economic sociology, New York, Russell Sage foundations, p. 65-103.

Fligstein, N., 2001, The architecture of markets. An economic sociology of twenty-first-century capitalist societies, Princeton, Princeton university press, 288 p.

François, P., 2006, « Prototype, competition and market. The market for early music concerts », Revue française de sociologie, 47 (English issue), p. 183-210.

Podolny, J. M., 2005, Status signals. A sociological study of market competition, Princeton, Princeton university press, 287 p.

White, H. C., 1981, « Where do markets come from ? » American journal of sociology, 87 (3), p. 517-548.

White, H. C., 2002, Markets from networks, Princeton, Princeton university press, 395 p.

DAY 3 (JUNE 29, 2010):

9:00-12:30 AND 14:00-17:00

VALUE

Required readings

The economics of singularities

Karpik, L., forthcoming, The economics of singylarities, Princeton, Princeton university press. – Abstracts.

The performativity approach

Callon, M., 1998, « Introduction: the embeddedness of economic markets in economics », in Callon, M. (dir.), The laws of the markets, Oxford, Blackwell, p. 1-57.

The economics of conventions

Jagd, S. (2007): Economics of Convention and new economic sociology. Mutual inspiration and dialogue. Current Sociology 55: 76-91.

A U.S. reading (and use) of the economics of convention

Stark, D., 2009, The sense of dissonance. Accounts of worth in economic life, Princeton, Princeton university press, 250 p. – chapter 1., “Heterarchy: the organization of dissonance”, p. 1-34.

Case studies

McKenzie, D. et Millo, Y., 2003, « Constructing a market: the historical sociology of a financial derivatives exchange », American journal of sociology, 109 (1), p. 107-145.

Trompette, P., 2007, « Customer chanelling arrangements in market organization: competition dynamics in the funeral business in France », Revue française de sociologie, English issue.

Zelizer, V., 1978, « Human values and the market : the case of life insurance and death in 19th century America », American journal of sociology, 84 (3), p. 591-610.

Advised readings

Boisard, P. et Letablier, M.-T., 1991, « The future of a tradition. Two ways of making camembert the foremost cheese of France », Food and foodways, 4 (3/4), p. 173-207

Bradach, J. et Eccles, R. C., 1989, « Price, authority and trust : from ideal types to plural forms », Annual review of sociology, 15, p. 97-118.

Chiffoleau, Y. et Laporte, C., 2006, « Price formation: the case of the Burgundy wine market », Revue française de sociologie.

Lounsbury, M. et Rao, H., 2004, « Sources of durability and change in market classifications: a study of the reconstitution in the American mutual fund industry, 1945-1958″, Social forces, 82 (3), p. 969-999,

Velthuis, O., 2003, « Symbolic meanings of prices : constructing the value of contemporary art in Amsterdam and New York galleries », Theory and society, 32 (2), p. 181-215.

DAY 4 (JUNE 30, 2010):

9:00-12:30 AND 14:00-17:00

COOPERATION

Required readings

Trust in sociology

Giddens, Anthony, 1990, Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge, Polity Press, Chapter 3, p. 79-111.

Trust and institutions

Möllering, G., « Trust, institutions, agency: towards a neoinstitutional theory of trust », in Bachman, R. et Zaheer, A. (dir.), Handbook of trust research, Cheltenham, Northampton, Edward Elgar, p. 355-377.

Trust and rationality

Williamson, O., 1993, “Calculativeness, Trust, and Economic Organization” Journal of Law and Economics, 36, p. 453-486.

Case studies

Gambetta, D., 1988 “Mafia: The Price of Distrust”, in Gambetta, D. (dir.), Trust. Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations, New York: Blackwell, p. 158-175.

Portes, A., and Sensenbrenner, J., 1993. “Embeddedness and Immigration: Notes on the

Determinants of Economic Action.” American Journal of Sociology 98, 1320-1350.

Zucker, L.G., 1986, “Production of Trust: Institutional Sources of Economic Structure, 1840–1920”, in Barry M.S. and Larry L. Cummings (dir.), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 8. Greenwich, CT, JAI Press Inc., p. 53–111.

Advised Readings

Bacharach, M. et Gambetta, D., 2001, « Trust in signs », in Cook, K. (dir.), Trust in society, New York, Russell Sage Foundations, p. 148-184.

Beckert, J., 2005, “Trust and the Performative Construction of Markets”, MPifG Discussion Papers.

Luhmann, N., 1988, “Familiarity, Confidence, Trust: Problems and Alternatives”, in Gambetta D.

(dir.), Trust. Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations, New York, Blackwell, p. 94-107.

Saxenian, A.L., 1989, “In search of power: the organization of business interests in Silicon Valley and

Route 128”, Economy and Society, 18, p. 25-70.

Shapiro, S. P., 1987, « The social control of impersonal trust », American journal of sociology, 93 (3), p. 623-658.

DAY 5 (JANUARY 15, 2010):

9:00-12:00

SOCIOLOGY OF MARKETS AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY – A discussion with Philippe Steiner (Université Paris IV) and Frank Dobbin (Harvard University) – To be confirmed.