PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This response refers to the relationship addressed by Jens Beckert between social theory and economic sociology. It takes a critical look at the conceptual and analytical tools of the proposed integrated view of economy and society and rejects the claim that primacy in the explanation of societal development can be ascribed to a single functional system. The discussion of centrally relevant arguments and concepts is complemented by conceptual proposals and some empirical remarks, both of which are meant to encourage a less selective view of the relationship between economy and society. With regard to social theory, it is argued that economic sociology is in need of greater sensitivity to the dynamics of enabling and increasing both economic and non-economic forms of communication and should for this purpose become more open to recent research also from other sociological fields. It is precisely the "new economic sociology" advocated by Beckert that still takes its cue too much from the questions and observations of an economic science that allegedly has problem-solving power. For this reason research in this tradition is incapable of producing multi-layered, innovative contributions to the explanation of highly interdependent and ambivalent societal processes of development.