The New Economic Sociology of Market Regulation A Budding Research Program

This paper focuses on the contribution of the so-called “new” economic sociology to the study of market phenomena in general and market regulation in particular. Several approaches within market sociology teach not only that, but also how economic actions in the market place are embedded in political spheres of influence, institutional arrangements, networks of social relations and cultural patterns. The specific way particular economic actions are embedded in these political, social and cultural structures dictates to a certain degree the nature, forms and results of economic actions that take place in the market place and the possibilities for and results of market regulation. Increasingly, however, market regulation takes place not within a particular state or society but on a transnational basis. Nevertheless, national styles of market regulation persist. To illustrate the interaction between transnational and national styles of market regulation a particular case in discussed, that of the European common market.