The senses of embeddedness. a comparative analysis between the new economic sociology and Karl Polanyi’s approach

Abstract

The term embeddedness, introduced by Karl Polanyi, has been consolidated as a basic and constitutive idea of ​​the New Economic Sociology (NES). However, the assimilation of this concept introduced significant differences in relation to its original meaning. This creative reception was not always explicit and different interpretations were did. The propose of this paper is to contribute of achieving a better understanding of the term, in the contemporary economic sociology and in the Polanyi’s thought. It will be argued that its reception was based on an adaptation of the fundamental notions of the economic sociology of Parsons and Smelser through the language of Network Theory and that none of these references would be compatible with Polanyi's interpretation of socio-economic phenomena.