from Part I - Interdependence and the Economic Constitution
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2023
This chapter examines the relationship between sociability and interdependence. Sociability describes a fundamental feature of reality, namely the fact that individuals and groups are embedded in mutual relationships and institutions reflecting relative positions in the social domain. Interdependence encompasses both potential and actual ties involving material interests and immaterial dispositions. Sociability is a condition of relationality which develops dynamically through a complex interplay between dispositions, actions, and their consequences. This interplay tends towards either cooperation or conflict depending on whether different actors’ dispositions and actions converge towards a shared objective. The chapter explores the relationships between interdependence and congruence conditions in the social domain, building on the work of thinkers such as Shaftesbury, Paolo Mattia Doria, and Adam Smith to emphasise the relevance of the non-contractualist tradition in investigating interdependence in the social sphere. The insights of those earlier theorists help to devise a method of ‘circumscription’, which allows identifying partial similarity amid diversity and builds on that basis forms of social congruence. The relationship between partial similarity and plural mappings of interdependence leads to alternative patterns of affiliations for individuals and groups and provides a basis to discuss the likelihood of cooperation and conflict in a political economy.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.