A. Orléan, L'empire de la valeur

Jörg Potthast

pp. 185-190

in: Daniel Cefaï, Martin Endreß, Stefan Nicolae, Bénédicte Zimmermann (eds), Sociology of valuation and evaluation, Human Studies 38 (1), 2015.

Abstrakt

Consider waiting in lines. On the one hand, they offer an ad hoc illustration of how the scarcity of commodities relates to supply and demand. In this respect, they recall what neoclassical economics posit as the general law of the market. On the other hand, queuing is often referred to as a basic form of social interaction among those who wait. In this perspective, waiting is not about individuals waiting for something, but about waiting together, social gatherings, collectives, or communities. On a more conceptual level, L’empire de la valeur. Refonder l’économiepushes these opposing positions to their extremes (chapters I–III) and clearly opts for the latter (chapter IV). Rejecting neoclassical frameworks for treating scarcity as a reality prior to exchange (substantial hypothesis) it holds that value results from a social process (mimetic hypothesis). As indicated by the book’s subtitle, this is not a minor operation. According to André Orléan, economist (Paris School of...