Logics of Action and Models of Capitalism: Explaining Bottom-Up Non-Liberal Change

TY - JOUR

T1 - Logics of Action and Models of Capitalism

T2 - Explaining Bottom-Up Non-Liberal Change

AU - Etienne, Julien

AU - Schnyder, Gerhard

PY - 2014/9

Y1 - 2014/9

N2 - Recent institutionalist scholarship has theorized the liberalization or “disorganization” of capitalism as the result of shifts in economic actors’ “logic of action” towards opportunism. Little attention has been given to the reverse possibility that shifts in economic actors’ “logic of action” away from opportunism might contribute to “embedding” or “organizing” capitalism. This paper builds on recent scholarship to theorize this scenario and then demonstrate its empirical validity with an historical institutionalist study of the emergence of such a “non-liberal” institution in Switzerland in 1961. The theoretical framework links three “logics of action” – opportunism, enlightened self-interest and strong solidarity – to H€opner’s typology of capitalist institutions – organized, coordinated, and liberal. It theorizes the interactions between these logics and the social mechanism – goal signaling – that can explain a shift from one logic of action to another, potentially leading to change from one type of institution to another.

AB - Recent institutionalist scholarship has theorized the liberalization or “disorganization” of capitalism as the result of shifts in economic actors’ “logic of action” towards opportunism. Little attention has been given to the reverse possibility that shifts in economic actors’ “logic of action” away from opportunism might contribute to “embedding” or “organizing” capitalism. This paper builds on recent scholarship to theorize this scenario and then demonstrate its empirical validity with an historical institutionalist study of the emergence of such a “non-liberal” institution in Switzerland in 1961. The theoretical framework links three “logics of action” – opportunism, enlightened self-interest and strong solidarity – to H€opner’s typology of capitalist institutions – organized, coordinated, and liberal. It theorizes the interactions between these logics and the social mechanism – goal signaling – that can explain a shift from one logic of action to another, potentially leading to change from one type of institution to another.

KW - CAPITALISM

KW - Institutional change

KW - Logics of action

KW - , LActor-centered institutionalism

KW - Banking sector

U2 - 10.1111/spsr.12082

DO - 10.1111/spsr.12082

M3 - Article

SN - 1424-7755

VL - 20

SP - 365

EP - 387

JO - Swiss Political Science Review

JF - Swiss Political Science Review

IS - 3

ER -