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Abstract
This article revisits J.R. Commons' The Legal Foundations of Capitalism (LFC), published 100 years ago, from an interdisciplinary point of view. It explains and contextualizes Commons' approach, introduces key concepts and core arguments of the book, and links these to contemporary scholarly work and debates. The aim is to make Commons' ideas more accessible and to demonstrate their continued relevance for discussions on the role of law in political economy.

Behavioural economics provides a more realistic model of man than neoclassical economics. But "behavioural economic man" likewise has his shortcomings. An important aspect is the neglect of social contingency. This article sheds light on the conceptions of the "social" invoked in different strands of behavioural economics and explores their policy implications. Based on different interpretations of the rational choice paradigm and deviations thereof, a distinction is drawn between mainstream approaches and alternative approaches to behavioural economics and within "mainstream behavioural economics" between its cognitive and its social strand. Whereas the cognitive strand of behavioural economics has quite a limited understanding of the social, which yields a narrow form of behavioural politics, the social strand offers a richer account of social variability and dynamics, which in principle leaves more room for politics. However, both approaches lay emphasis on our human nature rather than the specificities of modern culture.

The Egyptian Revolution 2011 has its roots in neoliberal policies, the premises of which are not shared by a large part of the Egyptian population. Starting from the call for "bread, freedom, social justice," this paper sheds light on the moral economy of the Egyptian people and finds the seeds of the revolution in a loss of entitlements which structural adjustment policies entailed for Egyptians as producers and consumers of bread, the symbol of life.

The Egyptian Revolution 2011 has its roots in neoliberal policies, the premises of which are not shared by a large part of the Egyptian population. Starting from the call for "bread, freedom, social justice", this paper sheds light on the moral economy of the Egyptian people and finds the seeds of the revolution in a loss of entitlements which structural adjustment policies entailed for Egyptians as producers and consumers of bread, the symbol of life. ; Peer reviewed

The predicament of modern capitalism, and of contemporary finance capitalism in particular, is the fine line between credit and crisis. Recent developments from the US subprime mortgage crisis to the European sovereign debt crisis revived debates about the nature of money and all sorts of derivatives. Money is a social phenomenon which has always two sides: an economic and a legal one. As an economic commodity, it hinges on the market; as a legal relation, it depends on the state. The resulting tension features prominently in the works of Max Weber and Karl Polanyi. Both studied the market society of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, including its monetary institutions. Moreover, both were also aware of the political function of their related writings. The following review allows us to establish links between law, economy, and society and thus exemplify the economic sociology of law as it is foreshadowed by the sociological classics. ; Peer reviewed

In der Argumentation der Verfasserin treten neoklassische Ökonomie, Verhaltensökonomik und Wirtschaftssoziologie in ein Dreiecksverhältnis. Ziel des Beitrags ist es, in idealtypischer Weise herauszustellen, worin sich die Perspektive einer "naturalistischen" Verhaltensökonomik von der Sichtweise einer "kulturalistischen" Wirtschaftssoziologie unterscheidet. Dabei wird in exemplarischer Weise auf Deutungen der jüngsten Finanzmarktkrise und des bestehenden Finanzmarktkapitalismus zurückgegriffen. (ICE2)

This paper forms part of an edited volume on "The Many Constitutions of Europe" (Tuori and Sankari 2010), to which it contributes a distinctly sociological perspective. It notably reconceives the various constitutions discussed in the volume as ideal types in the sense of Max Weber. In doing so, it builds on an understanding of the sociology of law as a 'science of culture' which takes the value-relatedness of legal ideas seriously. Following Tuori's relational understanding of constitutions, the paper systematically explores the social references of the four 'material' constitutions (economic constitution, political constitution, social constitution, security constitution; thus omitting the self-referential juridical constitution) in terms of their main argument (evolution, enlightenment, embeddedness, enforcement), their related concepts of social order (oikos, polis, nomos, physis) and their respective models of man, society, and law. Accordingly, the economic constitution is characterized by an emphasis on homo oeconomicus, market society, the economic system, and individual will, whereas the political constitution emphasizes homo politicus, civil society, the political-cultural system, and individual reason. In turn, the social constitution focuses on homo sociologicus, legal community, the life world, and collective reason. Finally, the security constitution is oriented towards homo gubernabilis, control society, the government system, and collective will. Furthermore, the constitutional ideal types are qualified with regard to their globalization potential. Whereas social constitution and security constitution presuppose a stronger notion of the collective, which has long been defined in national terms, the economic and political constitutions point beyond the nation state and to the idea, or reality, of global(ized) individuals. The paper concludes with a plea to always consider both the territorial and the functional dimension of societal differentiation, and thus suggests studying the many constitutions of Europe (and in the world) according to a two-dimensional 'cobweb model'. ; Peer reviewed

In modern society, the law contributes as much to individualization (subjectivation) as to social integration (cohesion). In this paper, these relations are explored with regard to the role of the legal subject in the market society. In a market society, the markets are no longer "embedded" in the normative order of society but society has itself adopted the logic of markets. Drawing on Michel Foucault's Rio lectures and his governmentality lectures, I will show that within the modern 'governmental state' – understood both as a 'state of law' (Rechtsstaat) and an 'economic state' (Wirtschaftsstaat) – the law moves between the poles of (juridical) justice and (economic) truth. The economization of the rule of law is paralleled by an economization of the legal subject, which corresponds to a shift from the principle of jurisdiction (speaking the law) to the principle of veridiction (speaking the truth). This means nothing else than the scientization of classical notions of the law according to the criteria of modern economics. The legal subject is thus brought in line with the market citizen who – as an entity of both governance and self-governance – fits well into the market society. However, his self-concept is not only affected by the liberalization but, at the same time, also by the naturalization of the rules that the market has imported into the law. ; Peer reviewed

Während der Wandel der Staatlichkeit im Kontext von Europäisierung und Globalisierung vielfach diskutiert wird, bleibt der Wandel des Rechts unter diesen Bedingungen bisher unterbelichtet. In dieser Arbeit werden Begriffe aus dem politikwissenschaftlichen Governance-Diskurs auf die Entwicklung des Rechts bezogen und gesellschaftstheoretisch ausgedeutet. Mit dem Judicial-Governance-Konzept wird das Spannungsfeld zwischen nationaler Politik, europäisiertem Recht und globalisierter Wirtschaft verdeutlicht, in dem die Verfassung der Gesellschaft ausgehandelt wird - und auch zum Streitgegenstand vor Gericht gerät. In systemtheoretischer, diskurstheoretischer, strukturfunktionalistischer und politökonomischer Perspektive wird die konstitutive Bedeutung des Rechts für die Entwicklung einer europäischen Gesellschaft (und perspektivisch einer Weltgesellschaft) erschlossen, die nicht von Staaten, sondern von Bürgern getragen wird. Auf diese Weise entsteht ein facettenreiches Bild der Integration durch Recht jenseits des Staates. Die Rechtsprechung in der europäischen Rechtsgemeinschaft - insbesondere die richterrechtliche Prägung der Wirtschaftsverfassung - erscheint so in einem neuen Licht