Convenzioni, economia morale e ricerca sociologica

In the first part of the article, the authors recall the origins of the approach of the Economics of Conventions (EC), presenting the relevant role of the Durkheim’s legacy, of its various paths and redefinitions, and of the (mainly historical) studies of the categorization’s processes. Then the most significant aspects the EC’s research program are addressed and synthetically introduced. According to this perspective, one of the most important problem social actors usually have to deal with it’s the problem of uncertainty; from this point of view, coordination become a crucial terrain of sociological analysis and some main research questions emerge: which are the criteria of evaluation on which coordination is based? how these criteria are (partially) fixed? which of these criteria are particularly relevant for the analysis of the economic life? Why these criteria could be described as orders of worth? In the third part, the authors discuss the EC approach and its similarities with the concept of ‘moral economy’ stressed by E. P. Thompson through its emphasis on the role of the normative nature of the social and economic action. In the final part, the authors underlines the character of publicness that the different regimes of action, according to the EC approach, assumes or, in other words, the relationship between economic spheres of action and the public sphere