Abstract
This article contributes to the reemerging field of economic sociology by (1) delving into its classic roots to refine current concepts and (2) using examples from the immigration literature to explore the different forms in which social structures affect economic action. The concept of social "embeddedness" provides a suitable theoretical umbrella, although in analyzing its specific manifestations, the article focuses on the concept of social capital. The various mechanism through which social structures affect economic action are identified and categorized and their consequences,positive and negative, highlighted. The propositions that summarize the different parts of the discussion attempt to move these concepts beyond sensitizing generalities to hypothesis-like statements that can guide future research.
Keywords
EmbeddednessAffect (linguistics)Action (physics)SociologySocial capitalField (mathematics)Economic sociologyImmigrationPositive economicsMechanism (biology)Collective actionEpistemologySocial scienceEconomicsPolitical scienceLaw
Related Publications
Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness
How behavior and institutions are affected by social relations is one of the classic questions of social theory. This paper concerns the extent to which economic action is embed...
Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital
There are two broad intellectual streams in the description and explanation of social action. One, characteristic of the work of most sociologists, sees the actor as socialized ...
Social Structure and Competition in Interfirm Networks: The Paradox of Embeddedness
This chapter aims to develop one of perhaps multiple specifications of embeddedness, a concept that has been used to refer broadly to the contingent nature of economic action wi...
Emotional reactions to ethnic minorities
Abstract The present study investigated the role of emotion in the area of intergroup relations. Results showed three ways in which emotions are relevant when Dutch autochthonou...
Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness
This chapter discusses the embeddedness of economic behavior. It has long been the majority view among sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and historians that s...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1993
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 98
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1320-1350
- Citations
- 3439
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
3439
OpenAlex
Cite This
Alejandro Portes,
Julia Sensenbrenner
(1993).
Embeddedness and Immigration: Notes on the Social Determinants of Economic Action.
American Journal of Sociology
, 98
(6)
, 1320-1350.
https://doi.org/10.1086/230191
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1086/230191