Economic embeddedness and materiality in a financial market setting

Abstract

The notion of embeddedness (Granovetter 1985) neglects of the material dimension of economic relations. This paper contributes to the literature of market devices (Callon, et al., 2007) with an exploration of the material dimensions of economic embeddedness in the case of the everyday market activities of a group of non-professional investors in the UK. It examines the attributes of a materially embedded market through the categories of socio-economic embeddedness specified by Uzzi (1997) and draws attention to the superficial and rhetorical nature of the face-to-face social relations encountered in this market. The paper seeks to invigorate the notion of embeddedness by expanding the mechanisms through which socio-economic relations are understood to arise. The paper offers support to the literature of market devices’ assertion that a concept of materially embedded economic relations can accommodate politics, culture, and regulation, and that it offers a nuanced perspective on agency and identity in the marketplace.