Cross-Fertilizations Between Institutional Economics and Economic Sociology: The Case of Régulation Theory and the Sociology of Fields

Abstract

This article deals with actual collaborations and cross-fertilization between Régulation Theory — a French institutional economics school — and the Bourdieusian sociology of fields, together with that of Neil Fligstein. First, we show that Régulation Theory has slowly incorporated several concepts and methods of the sociology of fields, due to their similar research agenda. Indeed, using a genetic structuralist method, both approaches have sought to analyze the reproduction and the endogenous changes of institutions, and this by focusing on the one hand on capitalism and on the other upon social fields. Second, we show that the sociology of fields provides relevant frameworks for studying the competitive and institutional dynamics of sectors. Indeed, it can even provide powerful insights for understanding the transformations of accumulation regimes.