Beyond Capitalist Coordination? A New Framework for Economic Sociology

• In Event: 41063 - Rethinking Economic Sociology

Abstract

The Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) framework (Hall and Soskice 2001) has profoundly shaped the study
of comparative capitalism in both political economy and economic sociology. By distinguishing
between Liberal Market Economies (LMEs) and Coordinated Market Economies (CMEs), VoC
provided a powerful institutional explanation for why firms across different economies adopt distinct
strategies for production, investment, and skill formation. Over the past two decades, VoC has
remained a dominant paradigm, adapted and expanded through a growing literature that accounts
for hybrid cases, state influence, and global transformations.

Yet, despite these refinements, VoC remains stubbornly one‐dimensional, framing capitalism as a
question of coordination strategies while neglecting the distributional and political consequences of
different economic models. This conceptual paper argues that VoC has become a zombie theory
(Crouch 2005)—it persists not because it provides a compelling explanation of contemporary
capitalism but because there is no clear alternative framework to replace it. While critiques abound,
they often remain within the basic coordination logic of VoC, failing to provide a more
comprehensive theoretical foundation for understanding capitalism’s institutional diversity.

This paper proposes a radical departure from VoC by introducing a new framework based on two
dimensions that better capture the underlying logic of capitalist economies: Extractive vs.
Investment‐Oriented Activities and Open vs. Closed Access to Economic Resources. By classifying
economies along these two dimensions, this paper develops a new typology of capitalism that moves
beyond VoC’s limited focus on firm‐level coordination. This framework not only explains why
economies differ in their institutional structures but also who benefits from these arrangements and
how economic power is distributed.

Author

• Gregory Jackson, Freie Universitaet Berlin