By  Mark Granovetter

How behavior and institutions are affected by social relations is one
of  the  classic  questions of  social  theory.  This paper  concerns  the
extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of  social
relations,  in modern industrial society. Although the usual neoclas-
sical  accounts  provide  an  "undersocialized"  or  atomized-actor  ex-
planation of such action, reformist economists who attempt to bring
social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized"  way criticized
by Dennis Wrong. Under- and oversocialized accounts are paradox-
ically  similar  in  their  neglect  of  ongoing  structures  of  social  rela-
tions, and a sophisticated account of  economic action must consider
its embeddedness in such structures. The argument is illustrated by
a critique of  Oliver Williamson's "markets and hierarchies" research
program.