Cracks in the “Regulatory State”

Bibliographic Data

ID13089232
AuthorsCharles Perrow (Yale University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume2
Issue3
Pages203-212
Publication date2015-06-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Currents (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2329-4965 • E-ISSN: 2329-4973
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2329496515589855
OpenAlexW2431232518
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited17

Over the last 30 years, the U.S. states has retreated from its regulatory responsibility over private-sector economic activities. Over the same period, a celebratory literature, mostly in political science, has developed, characterizing the current period as the rise of the regulatory state or regulatory capitalism. The notion of regulation in this literature, however, is a perverse one—one in which regulators mostly advise rather than direct, and industry and firm self-regulation is the norm. As a result, new and potentially dangerous technologies such as fracking or mortgage backed derivatives are left unregulated, and older necessary regulations such as prohibitions are weakened. This article provides a joint criticism of the celebratory literature and the deregulation reality, and strongly advocates for a new sociology of regulation that both recognizes and documents these failures

Capitalism · Criticism · Deregulation · Economics · Law and economics · Market economy · Norm (philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Law · Regulation and Compliance Studies · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses