Nécessité et justification

How to understand the frequently conflicting relationships between sociology and economy? Noticing that the accusations which are exchanged from one discipline to the other are most often unconvincing, we will propose the following interpretation: underlying these oppositions one can identify a problem, which lies at the very heart of the social sciences. This problem is related to the tensions between, on the one hand, frames of analysis which don?t take into account the moral motives put forward by the actors and, on the other hand, frames which, at the opposite, are bent on integrating the way people justify themselves or develop criticisms. In this paper, we will outline the boundaries between different programs in the social sciences, according to that scheme of interpretation, and some of the problems which they are compelled to tackle. Finally, we will propose some paths aiming at integrating into a single frame the approaches which lay stress on a compelling necessity and the approaches which whish to bring attention to the moral justifications delivered by the actors themselves. Classification JEL : A12, B20, B40, D63, Z13