WEBS OF SIGNIFICANCE - UNDERSTANDING ECONOMIC-ACTIVITY IN ITS CULTURAL-CONTEXT

This paper makes the case for developing accounts of economic activity by placing such activity in its ambient cultural contexts. It is show n that doing so provides the basis for credibly attributing significan ce to economic acts and coming to terms with the belief structures eco nomic agents employ, e.g., what they expect of each other, expect othe rs expect of them, and so on. The role of culture systems as social or chestrators is discussed. The implications of a context-sensitive expl anatory approach for the commitment to view economic behavior as ratio nal are considered. A wider conception of economic rationality is prop osed.