ABSTRACT
This revival bears witness to the persistent difficulties facing neo-classical theory in justifying its fundamental presuppositions, such as the primacy of rational calculation in individual action, and the self-regulating role of the market in the functioning of economies. The significant interest, in France, given to the ‘heterodox’ schools of thought, such as the theory of regulation and the economy of conventions, can be analysed as an indication of a persistent internal critique targeting some of the over-simplistic and unreliable postulates of the dominating theory. Some specialists in microeconomics and mathematical economics no longer attempt to hide their deep dissatisfaction with a discipline which, nevertheless, is perceived as being self-confident and domineering. (Guerrien 1996; see in particular page 326). Similarly to what happened at the end of the nineteenth century (Gislain and Steiner 1995), the sociological reconstruction of the economic sciences is being undertaken at a time of crisis in the prevalent theory of economics.
