On Postsocialist Development: Embedded Economies, Moralized Markets, and Informal Networks

• In Event: 504 - Section on Economic Sociology Paper Session. The Economic Sociology of Development

Abstract

This paper attempts to characterize the common features of postsocialist developments since the 1990s in the post-Soviet bloc. Using conceptual tools of economic sociology, the postsocialist socio-economic organization is analyzed as embedded economy, the institutionalization of capitalism as a moral project, and the pervasiveness of informality from the networks perspective. Combining these concepts, the economic performance and economic development are viewed as dependent, simultaneously, on the system’s structural, political and cultural features. For postsocialist capitalism, these features are identifies as weak state capacity; lack of state autonomy due to close coupling of political and economic roles; the embrace of greed and self-interest as legitimate motives for action; and persistence and bolstering of informality as modus operandi. Stipulations about the developmental consequences are provided in the conclusion.

Author

• Nina Bandelj, University of California-Irvine