Abstract

The article reviews the recent debate in the sociology of economic life. The contribution focuses on two main aspects: the consequences of the turn towards the micro analysis which invested sociology after the functionalist dominion and the attempts made in the last few years by some economic sociologists of developping new insigths in social theory. Moving from the notion of embeddedness, the Author points out that this term involves at least two different approaches: the first which analyzes the structural side of social relations; the second which deals with the cognitivist dimension. The effects of the micro turn on economic sociology has produced remarkable results and contributed to renovate this field of study. This positive outcome stimulated a further step: a number of scholars belonging to this tradition of study are now trying to develop conceptions which aim at a more general theoretical significance, well beyond the economic life. The contributions of H. White, E. Friedberg, and the Neo-intitutionalists are reviewed.