Solidarität im Angebot : über moralisierte Märkte

For many years now, sociologists are discussing new mechanisms of social integration in modern societies. Referring to this debate and drawing on two different fields of research - fair trade business and care for the elderly - this article argues that one of these mechanisms can be found in new kinds of markets. On these markets, moral standards and economic calculations are matched in specific ways. On the one hand, economic transactions are infused with moral value, while on the other hand, moral institutions which by tradition had been exempt from market relations, now overlap with utilitaristic concerns. The impact of this double movement can be conceived by using approaches from both system theory and action theory: With the process of individualization, human beings are increasingly set free to opt or not for solidarity but in any case, the codes of the market are limiting the scope of solidaristic action. (Leviathan / FUB)