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Prices as Social Facts: A Sociological Approach to Price Setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2023

Fabien Eloire  and
Jean Finez
Fabien Eloire
Affiliation:
Université de Lille, Clersé Research Centre, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France [fabien.eloire@univ-lille.fr].
Jean Finez
Affiliation:
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Science Po Grenoble* (School of Political Studies, Univ. Grenoble Alpes), PACTE, France [jean.finez@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr].
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Abstract

This article examines the issue of prices from a sociological standpoint. We show that, contrary to popular belief, price setting is always the result of social practices. We identify two main perspectives in the relevant literature. The first deals with the central notion of quality: price setting is a matter of judgement, arbitration and equipment. The second focuses on measurement practices, such as valuation and pricing, which occur before or during the transaction. These two complementary perspectives reveal a variety of processes that both determine prices and can be used to construct a typology based on two criteria: the moment of price setting, and the level of competition. Four different types of pricing mechanisms are distinguished: self-regulated, administered, composed, and bargained. We use examples to describe these different pricing types, and to show how such an approach contributes to our understanding of the economy.

Keywords

PricingValuationCompetitionMarketEconomic Sociology
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , December 2023 , pp. 325 - 356
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Journal of Sociology

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Footnotes

We would like to thank Jens Beckert for his help and advice.

References

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