Transcending History’s Heavy Hand: The Future in Economic Action

Abstract This paper discusses sociological analyses of the formation and role of expectations in the economy. Recognition of the social constitution of expectations advances the understanding of economic action under conditions of uncertainty and helps to explain core features of modern capitalist societies. The range of applications of the analytical perspective is illustrated by closer examination of three core spheres of capitalist societies: consumption, investment, and innovation. To provide an idea of core challenges of the approach, three major research questions for the sociological analysis of expectations are presented.Zusammenfassung Wie lassen sich die Entstehung und die Rolle von Erwartungen in der Wirtschaft soziologisch analysieren? Erwartungen sind sozial konstituiert. Der Rekurs auf Erwartungen trägt zum Verständnis wirtschaftlichen Handelns unter Bedingungen von Unsicherheit und zum Verständnis charakteristischer Wesenszüge moderner kapitalistischer Gesellschaften bei. Nähere Betrachtungen von drei Sphären wirtschaftlicher Aktivität – Konsum, Investition und Innovation – verdeutlichen das breite Spektrum möglicher Anwendungen der Erwartungsperspektive in der Wirtschaftssoziologie. Die zentralen Herausforderungen für die soziologische Analyse von Erwartungen werden anschließend anhand von drei wichtigen Forschungsfragen skizziert.Contents 1 Introduction 2 Uncertainty and the social constitution of expectations 3 Expectations in contemporary capitalism Consumption Investment Innovation 4 Questions and perspectives of an economic sociology of expectations Where do expectations come from? How do expectations spread and gain momentum? The moral economy of expectations 5 Conclusion Reference

Torus models for obscuration in type 2 AGN

We discuss a clumpy model of obscuring dusty tori around AGN. Cloud-cloud collisions lead to an effective viscosity and a geometrically thick accretion disk, which has the required properties of a torus. Accretion in the combined gravitational potential of central black hole and stellar cluster generates free energy, which is dissipated in collisions, and maintains the thickness of the torus. A quantitative treatment for the torus in the prototypical Seyfert 2 nucleus of NGC 1068 together with a radiative transfer calculation for NIR re-emission from the torus is presented.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, contributed paper to Proceedings of the Conference "Growing Black Holes" held in Garching, Germany, June 21-25, 2004, edited by A. Merloni, S. Nayakshin and R. Sunyaev, Springer-Verlag series of "ESO Astrophysics Symposia

Markets from Meaning: Quality Uncertainty and the Intersubjective Construction of Value

This article explores price formation in markets where quality cannot be based on intrinsic characteristics of the good exchanged. In such markets, quality uncertainty is not an information problem as described by Akerlof in the market for lemons model. Instead, defining quality is a problem of contingent assessments that are arrived at intersubjectively through discursive practices and mutual observation of market participants. Quality is endogenous to the market process. Institutions and conventions play an important role, much as they do in the market for lemons model, but their function is to generate confidence rather than trust. Prices emerge in such markets from a combination of intersubjectively established quality assessments, institutions and existing structural characteristics of the market. I call this the markets from meaning model, which I develop based on the art market and expand to capital investments and financial speculation.1. Introduction 2. Art as an example of the model 3. Institutions 4. Application to investment markets 5. Conclusion Footnotes Bibliograph

Capitalism as a System of Contingent Expectations: Toward a Sociological Microfoundation of Political Economy

Political economy and economic sociology have developed in relative isolation from each other. While political economy focuses largely on macrophenomena, economic sociology focuses on the level of social interaction in the economy. The paper argues that economic sociology can provide a microfoundation of political economy beyond rational actor theory and behavioral economics. Based on a discussion of what I call the four Cs of capitalism (credit, commodification, creativity, and competition), I argue that macroeconomic outcomes depend on the “contingent expectations” actors have in decision situations. Expectations are based on the indeterminate and therefore contingent interpretation of the situations actors face. This shifts attention to the “management of expectations” as a crucial element of economic activity and to the institutional, political, and cultural foundations of expectations. The dynamics of capitalist development are precarious because they hinge on the creation of expectations conducive to economic growth.Politische Ökonomie und Wirtschaftssoziologie haben sich relativ isoliert voneinander entwickelt. Während die Politische Ökonomie vornehmlich Makrophänomene untersucht, konzentriert sich die Wirtschaftssoziologie zumeist auf die Ebene der sozialen Interaktion in der Wirtschaft. Der Beitrag zeigt, dass die Wirtschaftssoziologie Grundlagen für eine Mikrofundierung der Politischen Ökonomie jenseits der Theorie rationalen Handelns und behavioristischer Theorien bietet. Ausgehend von der Diskussion vier zentraler Elemente kapitalistischer Ökonomie, die ich als the four Cs of capitalism bezeichne (credit, commodification, creativity, and competition), zeige ich, dass makroökonomische Resultate auf den „kontingenten Erwartungen“ der Akteure in der Handlungssituation beruhen. Erwartungen gründen auf den unbestimmten und daher kontingenten Interpretationen der Handlungssituation, mit der die Akteure konfrontiert sind. Dies lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit auf das „Erwartungsmanagement“ als zentrales Element wirtschaftlichen Handelns und zu den institutionellen, politischen und kulturellen Grundlagen von Erwartungen. Die Dynamik kapitalistischer Entwicklung ist immer prekär, weil sie von der Schaffung von Erwartungen abhängt, die Wachstum befördern.1 The four Cs of capitalism Credit Commodification Creativity (Innovation) Competition 2 Conclusion Reference

Where Do Prices Come From? Sociological Approaches to Price Formation

The article provides an overview of the state of the art of sociological research on price formation. The dominant trait of the sociological approach to prices is to understand price formation not as the outcome of individual preferences but as the result of the social and political forces operating within the market field. The article proceeds from the concept of market fields and is organized around the three dominant approaches in economic sociology: the network approach, the institutional approach, and the cultural approach.Der Artikel gibt einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand zum Thema Preisbildung in der Soziologie. Ausgangspunkt der Betrachtung von Preisen aus soziologischer Perspektive ist, diese nicht als das Resultat individueller Präferenzen zu verstehen, sondern als Ausdruck der sozialen und politischen Kräfte in Märkten. Der Artikel orientiert sich an dem Konzept der Marktfelder und ist anhand der drei Hauptrichtungen der Wirtschaftssoziologie strukturiert: des Netzwerkansatzes, des institutionellen Ansatzes und des kulturellen Ansatzes.1 Introduction 2 Prices from networks Power and price Trust and price Status and price 3 Prices from institutions 4 Prices from meaning Pricing technologies Expectations and pricing Legitimacy and pricing Prices and preferences 5 Pricing in firms 6 Conclusion Reference

Capitalism as a System of Expectations: Toward a Sociological Microfoundation of Political Economy

Political economy and economic sociology have developed in relative isolation from each other. While political economy focuses largely on macro phenomena, economic sociology focuses on the embeddedness of economic action. The article argues that economic sociology can provide a microfoundation for political economy beyond rational actor theory and behavioral economics. At the same time political economy offers a unifying research framework for economic sociology with its focus on the explanation of capitalist dynamics. The sociological microfoundation for understanding of capitalist dynamics should focus on the expectations actors have regarding future states of the world. Based on a discussion of what I call the four Cs of capitalism (credit, commodification, creativity, and competition), I argue that under conditions of uncertainty, expectations are contingent and should be understood as “fictional expectations.” The capability of humans to imagine future states of the world that can be different from the present is the central basis for a sociological microfoundation of the dynamics of economic macro phenomena. Macroeconomic dynamics are anchored in these “fictional expectations,” which create motifs for engaging in potentially profitable but ultimately incalculable outcomes. This shifts attention to the “management of expectations” as a crucial element of economic activity and to the institutional, political, and cultural foundations of expectations. The reproduction of capitalism is precarious also because of the contingency of expectations conducive to its growth.The Four Cs of Capitalism Creativity (Innovation) Credit Commodification Competition Conclusion Acknowledgements Note

[Book Review] The Opaqueness of Capitalist Markets: Deutschmann, Christoph: Disembedded Markets: Economic Theology and Global Capitalism (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019)

Part of a review symposium: "On Christoph Deutschmann’s Disembedded Markets—Economic Theology and Global Capitalism, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2019" with contributions from Jens Beckert, Greta Krippner and Elena Esposit