Rainer Diaz-Bone (University of Lucerne, Switzerland) and
Guillemette de Larquier (University of Lille, France) (eds.)
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
This handbook provides a thorough introduction to the economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC). With its origins in French structuralism and sociological pragmatism, EC/SC is a heterodox approach which focuses on the study of economic conventions as socio-cultural frames through which economic actors must coordinate, interpret, and evaluate their actions. Intrinsically interdisciplinary, EC/SC has a range of applications from economics, statistics, economic sociology, educational sociology, the analysis of different kinds of markets, the study of culture, politics, law, geography, history, the political economy of health, agricultural economics, to urban studies and many others. This approach integrates the experience of many scientific fields and combines a full range of quantitative and qualitative methods that would otherwise be separated in traditional analysis.
This handbook presents the concepts, methodologies, studies and achievements of EC/SC for an international and multidisciplinary readership, gathering contributions from a diverse panel of leading institutionalist scholars. This handbook is appropriate for students and researchers interested in learning more about this transdisciplinary practice in institutional analysis.
The handbook will be published in three versions: Step by step, the chapters will first be published online in on SpringerLink in a so-called “Live” version. As soon as all chapters have been published online, a print edition and an e-book edition will be created.

Structure of the handbook and chapters online
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Foundations
- Rainer Diaz-Bone & Guillemette de Larquier: Conventions: Meanings and Applications of a Core Concept in Economics and Sociology of Conventions
- Thomas Amossé: The Genesis of Economics and Sociology of Conventions at the Turn of the 1970s and 1980s
- Nicolas Buclet: Orders of Worth and Analysis of Controversies
- Leslie Carnoye: The Economies of Worth Model: Operating Principles and Ways to Apply It
- Magnus Paulsen Hansen : Laurent Thévenot’s Sociology of Regimes of Engagement and Grammars of Commonality
- Eeva Luhtakallio & Tuomas Ylä-Anttila: Justifications Analysis
- Robert Salais: The Pragmatic and Democratic Approach to State as a Convention Between Persons
Section 3: Positioning and embedding EC/SC
- Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez & Bruno Boidin: The Global South, Albert Hirschman, and Convention Theory
- Gilles Allaire: Agrofood Dynamics in the Turn of the Century in the Light of Convention Theory
- Esther Berner & Arjan Kozica: Applying Convention Theory to Military Sociology: Achievements and Perspectives
- Julia Brandl: Economics and Sociology of Conventions and Human Resource Management
- Romuald Normand: Convention Theory and Sociologies in Education: A Constructive and Reflexive Dialogue to Renew the Critique of Neoliberalism and Its Extension
- Stefano Ponte: Convention Theory and the Governance of Global Value Chains
- Yamina Tadjeddine: Understanding Finance Through Convention Theory
Section 4: EC/SC in different research areas and fields: problems, applications and
contributions
- Joëlle Affichard, Antoine Lyon-Caen & Laurent Thévenot: Legal Norms and Convention Theory: Justification, Evaluation, and Realization of Law
- Philippe Batifoulier: Health, Conventions, and Society
- Christian Bessy & Claude Didry: Law in Convention Theory: Regulation in Regularities
- Anders Blok : Sustainable Urbanism. Green Engagements and Compromised Conventions in the Twenty-First Century
- David Bourghelle : Convention Theory as an Approach to Financial Bubbles and Crashes
- Laura Centemeri: Green Justification and Environmental Movements
- Clotilde Coron: Quantifying Human Resources: The Contributions of Economics and Sociology of Conventions
- Nicolas Da Silva: The Industrialization of Healthcare and Its Critiques
- Anaïs Henneguelle: Socio-economics of Quantification and Value: The Perspective of Convention Theory
- Kenneth Horvath: How Economics and Sociology of Conventions Helps to Understand the Social Dynamics of Testing and Sorting
- Christian Imdorf & Regula Julia Leemann: Education and Conventions
- Henna Juusola & Mikko Kohvakka: Higher Education and Convention Theory
- Karolin Eva Kappler: E-Health and the Digitization of Health
- Eva Nadai & Anna Gonon : Health and Employment: Convention Theory’s Perspective on Work Incapacity
- Gaël Plumecocq: Approaches to Ecological Problems in Convention Theory: How Legitimate Is Environmentalism?
- José Luis Sánchez-Hernández: Wine and Conventions: A Fruitful Coupage
- Markus Schermer: A Food Producer Perspective on Worlds of Production and Conventions
- Philippe Semenowicz: Labor Inclusion Seen Through Convention Theory: A Matter of Intermediation
- Andrea Szukala & Reinhold Hedtke: Social Science Education in Schools: Neopragmatist Perspectives on Values and Actions in Classrooms
- Daniel Urrutiaguer: Art Worlds, Valuation, and Convention Theory
- Thierry Verstraete: Conventions, Business Model, and Entrepreneurship
- Noel Whiteside: Convention Theory and Social Policy: Historical Perspectives
Section 5: Diffusion and perspective