NEW ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY - WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, WHAT IS AHEAD

An attempt is made in this article to assess what has been accomplishe d since the mid-1980s in what has become known as 'New Economic Sociol ogy'. The reason for choosing 1985 as the point of departure has to do with the fact that this year saw the publication of what was to becom e the 'manifesto' of this type of sociology: Mark Granovetter's 'Econo mic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness'. Researc h during the period after the mid-1980s is presented and discussed, an d it is argued that New Economic Sociology has especially drawn on thr ee strands of sociology: networks theory, cultural sociology and organ izational sociology. A critique is made of the two main theoretical co ncepts in New Economic Sociology: 'embeddedness' and 'the social const ruction (of the economy)'. The paper concludes with a critique of New Economic Sociology and a brief statement of its prospects.