ABSTRACT
This chapter brings up to date the information and conclusions presented in this book, which was first published in 2008. It focuses on recent contributions to economic sociology that bear on the importance of fairness and trust in market transactions, and consider the question of whether these contributions shed new light on this subject. The theme of the importance of fair conduct and mutual trust in market transactions is still relevant, as pointed out in some recent literature in economic sociology, and in the sociology of financial markets in particular. Financial markets were not considered legitimate in the past centuries by broad sectors of the public opinion. Privileged status groups exerted authoritative control on the transaction places. The question of what societal characteristics a business ethos depends on is the very same question which Weber dealt with in his sociological analysis of markets, and of financial markets in particular.
