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Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to analyze the relation
between scientific knowledge in the form of theories and the world
that such theories are about. The focus is on market theories. I argue
that everyday knowledge, conceptualized using the notion of “lifeworld,”
is the bedrock of scientific knowledge. I also make two
distinctions, one between types of markets and one between principles
of order in markets. There are two different types of markets, fixed-role
markets and switch-role markets, and no existing theory can be used
to explain both of them. In fixed-role markets, such as a producer
market of garments, actors are identified as either sellers or buyers. In
switch-role markets, such as the stock exchange market or currency
market, actors are not identified with one role. The other distinction
is between standard and status markets. In a status market, order is
maintained because the identities of actors on both sides of the market
are ranked according to status, which is a more entrenched social
construction than the commodity traded in the market. In a market
characterized by standards, the situation is reversed: the commodity
is a more entrenched social construction than the social status of
actors in the market. These distinctions are the backdrop of my
analysis of the idea that markets are performed. It is concluded that the performativity approach is useful today for analyzing switch-role
markets. A further conclusion is that neoclassical economic theory can
be used in understanding switch-role markets, but not fixed-role
markets.
