Introduction: Moving Towards an Economic Sociology of Law

Theorizing the Relationship Between Social Law and Markets in Regional Integration Projects

“…The contention underpinning this article is that such Polanyian embeddedness can occur at the regional as well as at the national level. Through a case study of the European Union, I show (Ashiagbor, 2013) that the Ôembedded liberal compromiseÕ of this regional integration project was predicated on the ability of these industrialised nations to embed the market ! 5 within national institutions of social citizenship -principally labour and social welfare law.…”

“…Whilst economic sociology can avoid these two extremes, by applying a Ôsociological lensÕ (Perry-Kessaris, 2014) to economic phenomena, the emerging discipline of economic sociology of law can go further, by bridging the intellectual disconnectedness between the ÔlegalÕ, ÔeconomicÕ, and ÔsocialÕ which is a hallmark of much orthodox thinking from the international development institutions. As an example of work in the tradition (if not at that time using the language) of economic sociology of law, Perry-KessarisÕ study of the relationship between national legal systems and foreign direct investment has shown the World BankÕs reliance on the economic approach to be responsible for its overestimation and misunderstanding of the role of law as a determinant of foreign investment in Sri Lanka and the inaccuracy in its measures of investorsÕ perceptions and expectations of legal systems (Perry-Kessaris, 2013;2008;2001). of the theory, and to the Ôcolonial ideologyÕ inherent in the modernisation approach (see Thomas, 1999;Pahuja, 2011).…”

“…The relative success of the social regionalism which has occurred within the EU is because the constituent member states of the EU had domestic social and welfare systems Ð a social state -which were able to fund social policy interventions. But in addition, supranational decision-making was undoubtedly an important prerequisite for the development of the European social model (Ashiagbor, 2013). In contrast, the reluctance of developing and/or newly postcolonial states to constrain their sovereignty through supranational (as opposed to intergovernmental) decision-making may limit regional integration, and the development of the social dimension of that integration.…”

Social Rights in the Welfare State

“…In this chapter, social rights will be approached from a sociological point of view, as part of collaborative efforts to advance the 'economic sociology of law' (Swedberg, 2003;Frerichs, 2009;Ashiagbor et al, 2013). The subject matter of this field of study are the interrelations between law, economy, and society, and one of its core problems is the 'constitution' of modern capitalism, or the construction of the 'market society' of today by means of law and economics (Frerichs, 2012).…”

FLaK: Mixing Feminism, Legality and Knowledge

“…She argues against a mainstream opposition of culture and rights and for a recuperation of the ways in which African culture ''promotes and develops women's rights.' ' Cornell and van Marle (2005) have provided another inspiring 5 For examples of critical socio-legal thinking on the 'embeddedness' of law within socio-economic interactions see further Ashiagbor et al (2013) and Lange et al (2015). 6 For an argument that the feminist project is impeded by failures to integrate critique of the impact of colonialism and racism, see Ruparelia (2014).…”