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Towards an Economic Sociology of the Environment
Towards an Economic Sociology of the Environment
Abstract Submissions Closed
Tuesday, 23 February 2021: 16:00-17:30
Location:
RC02 Economy and Society (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
Despite increased scholarly attention to local and planetary environmental crises, economic sociologists have focused little attention on the relations between society, economy and nature. While economic sociologists often concur with Karl Polanyi's foundational insight that the economy is embedded in society, they tend to neglect his related claim that the separation of society from nature is a key aspect of market fundamentalism. Polanyi's assertion that there exists a dialectical relation between the material aspects of nature and its social representation presents promising research avenues for economic sociologists. Researchers can interrogate not only how nature is a contested terrain that shapes the institutional foundations of markets, but also how to build more sustainable markets that balance the interests of society and nature. In addressing the social and environmental embeddedness of markets, economic sociologists can utilize a rich set of frameworks including, but not limited to, path dependence, institutional inter-locks, network analysis, actor-networks and cultural-political approaches, varieties of
capitalism, and financialization. In seeking to develop an Economic Sociology of the Environment, and thus cross-fertilizing two vibrant areas of the discipline, we welcome theoretical and empirical papers that use a wide range of conceptual and methodological approaches.
Session Organizers: