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Performativity of Risk and the Boundaries of Economic Sociology

University of Bielefeld

Much energy in economic sociology is expended on showing that core assumptions of microeconomics are too short sighted. It is assumed that sociology provides a better background for analysing and understanding economic institutions than economics itself. This is certainly true, but has led economic sociologists to treat economic theory as the ‘other’ of economic sociology. Thereby, the disciplinary boundary between economics and sociology is reproduced where economic sociology is understood the application of the ‘sociology tradition’ to economic phenomena. This article suggests a change of perspective: economic sociologists should treat economics as an endogenous part of its enquiries, but not to examine what economic theory is, but what it does, i.e. how economic theory shapes the economy. This requires introducing the study of language, concepts and semantic distinctions as an inherent part of economic sociology and its focus on the ‘social’ construction of economic institutions. Ultimately, this suggestion reorients our focus away from ‘authors’ to ‘concepts’. In other words, if economic sociology wants to take the ‘sociological’ and linguistic turn in social theory with its focus on language seriously, it needs to redefine its boundaries.

Key Words: asymmetric information • currency crises • performativity • risk • uncertainty

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