Cartography of Exchanges

In this article, I examine the main typologies of transaction that have been built from Auguste Comte to Karl Polanyi, Marcel Mauss, and Philippe Descola. Then, I suggest to reconsidering Polanyi’s typology, the most common in contemporary economic sociology, and to limit the time span to modern societies. Accordingly, it is possible to map seven forms of transaction and the related institutions at work in our societies. In conclusion, the political consequences of the existence of these different forms of transaction are highlighted.

L'auteur

Philippe Steiner est professeur de sociologie à l’université Paris-Sorbonne et membre de l’Institut universitaire de France. Chercheur au GEMASS, il conduit ses recherches sur la sociologie économique et l’histoire des sciences sociales. Il a récemment publié La transplantation d’organes : un commerce nouveau entre les êtres humains (Gallimard, 2010) et Durkheim and the Birth of Economic Sociology (Princeton university press, 2011).