ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to reconstruct Max Weber's account of how norms are enforced, and trust maintained, in the London Stock Exchange of his times, which he considered exemplary for its organizational effectiveness and incorporation of the capitalist ethos. It provides a brief description of the sociological literature concerning financial markets in general, with reference to their structure and ability to control improper behaviors, called "opportunistic" in the language of rational choice theory. The chapter considers how rational choice theory and Parsonian functionalism have accounted for the existence of social norms and trust, and the extent to which these theoretical perspectives are compatible with Weber's notions of rational action and social norms. These considerations are preliminary to an investigation on the mechanisms and instruments by which, according to Weber, social norms and trust were upheld and preserved in the London Stock Exchange at the turn of the nineteenth century.
