This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Darr, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Mutual Weaving of Obligation Networks in Mass Industrial Markets

University of Haifa

Despite the growing tendency to depict markets as social institutions, sales work in mass industrial markets remains a neglected area of study. The results of an ethnographic exploration of the US electronics industry reported here suggest that buyers and sellers in industrial markets, in which firms trade with other firms, engage in the mutual weaving of obligation networks. The article presents a theoretical claim that obligation networks provide the social infrastructure on which other market activities, such as information search, unfold, and calls for additional research on this topic.

Key Words: mass markets • sales interactions • sales work • social obligation • sociology of markets

Current Sociology, Vol. 55, No. 1, 41-58 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0011392107070133


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?