Business Groups in 20th-Century Swedish Political Economy
A Sociological Perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2820073 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mattias Smångs (0000-0002-6050-9066, Columbia University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 889-913 |
| Publication date | 2008-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Economics and Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9246 • E-ISSN: 1536-7150 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2008.00601.x |
| OpenAlex | W1964853467 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 35 |
Since the interwar period, the Swedish economy has been dominated by a few business groups that control practically all Swedish industry of any importance. This article provides a sociologically informed account of the existence and lasting dominance of business groups in Sweden. In challenging efficiency-based accounts of business groups in Sweden offered by transaction-cost economists, I adopt a historical and dynamic approach that understands economic institutions not as efficient responses to external circumstances, such as market conditions, but as "social constructions." This approach emphasizes the role of contingency as well as agency in the formation and reproduction of institutions. The article demonstrates the historical contingencies of the emergence of the business groups-in the form of economic crises in the interwar period-and how the groups became institutionalized in the postwar period through a process of social exchange among the key actors in the Swedish political economy: the business elite, the trade unions, and the state
Agency (philosophy) · Contingency · Dominance (genetics) · Economic system · Economics · Economy · Elite · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Reproduction · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · Transaction cost · Finance · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Efficiency and Social Institutions
The New Economic Sociology
Explorations in economic sociology
Coase Revisited
Constructing social theories
Networks and organizations
Historical institutionalism in comparative politics
The Kreuger Crash of 1932 in memory of a financial genius, or was he a simple swindler
Exchange and Power in Social Life
Markets as Politics
Socializing Capital
Economic Action and Social Structure
Dissecting the Social
Markets as Politics
Institutional Effects on the Evolution of the Size Distribution of Firms
Changing the Microfoundations of Corporatism
Power Resources Approach vs. Action and Conflict
The Rise and Fall of the Swedish Model
The Architecture of Markets
The Transformation of the Swedish Model
The Making of an Industry
Business Groups in 20th-Century Swedish Political Economy
Foundations of Social Theory
Economic Institutions as Social Constructions
The evolution of the bargaining society. politico-economic dependencies in Sweden
Social Theory, Social Research, and a Theory of Action
Path dependence in historical sociology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2014 (7) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |