ABSTRACT
This chapter reconstitutes the way in which the ideas of obligation and responsibility developed and shows how they have taken shape in economic practice. The constraint to pay is the result of social pressures, economic and noneconomic forces, and their various logics shape and determine it. An example of this is the social group of entrepreneurs. By adjusting the notion of economic responsibility, this group succeeded in making the constraint to pay more flexible. This evolution can be seen in particular in economic discourse, in the law of insolvency, and in the juridical construction of social categories in enterprises, defining the points at which responsibility and sanctions apply. Legal validation of entrepreneurs' demands and claims came after a long period during which representations were modified, eventually leading to a new, more positive image of the entrepreneur. As criteria, financial and technical considerations have gradually replaced morality and the credit of the associates.
