Capitalism Strikes Back: Why and What Consequences for Social sciences?

This article addresses a twofold issue: why the word capitalism has become more and more frequently used during the last decade? How could socio-economic researches contribute to understanding of the contemporary transformations of the various brands of capitalism? First, it is argued that the concept of capitalism is not equivalent to the concept of market economy since it also refers to the study of social relations and dynamic patterns of evolution. Second, the 90s were probably a turning point in the analysis of contemporary societies since the built-in propensity of capitalism to innovate and ability to propel structural change and promote globalization, are easy to recognize. Third, given the multifaceted aspects of capitalism, all social sciences (legal studies, economic history, political sciences, sociology, economic theory, technical change analysis...) do shed some light upon this complex and evolving regime. The bulk of the paper then surveys both the contribution and weaknesses of economic sociology and new political economy and proposes a research agenda in which their respective programs provide a complementary analysis of contemporary structural transformations of capitalism. Regulation theory is part of such a research agenda and could itself benefit from such a joint venture.