ABSTRACT
Work in economic sociology is often based on the implicit assumption that the basic economic (and also social) relationships between people and between organizations are based on exchange. True, exchange relationships are vital for economic activity. Yet, by contrast to the standard view on exchange relations, a social rationality approach views co-regulation as the basic relationship, and it sees as a main task of economic sociology to study the conditions under which a gain-related goal in human transactions can become salient without driving out co-regulation, thus allowing sustainable exchange relations. By focusing on the co-evolution of human rationality with human sociality that culminated in the dynamics of overarching goals (goal-framing theory), a social rationality approach identifies mild solidarity (that is, solidarity across ingroup boundaries, compatible with legitimate gain) as the most important precondition for economic activity, including sustainable exchange relations. Yet, the theory also highlights the vulnerability of mild solidarity and its need for ongoing social and institutional support. Consequences of this approach for the study of contracting, reputation effects, organizational governance, and formal institutions are discussed in some detail.
