The Institutional Logics of Non-Institutional Economies: Value Identities in the Bitcoin Experience

• In Event: 4322 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Political Economy

Abstract

In institutionalized market economies, clear boundaries demarcate the meaning of value and processes of market activity. However, how do institutional processes inform the meaning and practices of actors participating alternative economies that lack referent institutions? To answer this question, I draw on institutional theory to examine 23 adopters of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin conducting boundary work to define the Bitcoin experience. Utilizing a novel, iterative combination of Correspondence Analysis (CA) techniques and narrative analysis, I show how adopters exhibit patterned logics of “doing” Bitcoin that leverage both market and symbolic perceptions of value in the process of embedding into this new financial landscape. This paper provides support for dynamic theories of market activity, and further contributes to the broader debate concerning the influence of new media as a disrupting and stabilizing process eliciting new templates to perform previously taken for granted aspects of social life.

Author

• Alexander Kinney