Market and society: a comparative analysis of three socio-economic research programs

Abstract The meaning of the word market is not the same for different schools of socioeconomic thought. Similarly, the relationship between market and society is understood in different ways. This paper offers an interpretation of these differences comparing three socioeconomic programs of research: marginalism, the new economic sociology and Max Weber’s “social economics” (sozialökonomik”). We argue that marginalism is based on a unilateral and abstract conception of a mercantile relationship, while the interpretation of the new economic sociology is based on arbitrariness. In both solutions, this relationship remains incomprehensible. Finally, we show the Weberian system as based on a principle of historic intelligibility: rationalization, which allows it to redefine the market and its relationship with society.