Neil Fligstein

Neil Fligstein
Born (1951-05-23) May 23, 1951
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
Known forA Theory of Fields

Markets as Politics Political-cultural approach to markets

Theory of social fields
AwardsClass of 1939 Chancellor’s Professor, UC Berkeley (1997)

Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1994–95) Guggenheim Fellow (2004–05) Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellow (2007)

Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010)
Academic work
Notable worksThe Architecture of Markets

Euroclash

A Theory of Fields (with Doug McAdam)

Neil Fligstein (born May 23, 1951) is an American sociologist, and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on economic sociology, political sociology, and organizational theory. It has advanced the understanding of how social fields shape economic and political orders, including influential frameworks on the cultural foundations of markets and strategic action fields.

Fligstein has developed a “political-cultural” approach to market analysis, arguing that markets are social and political arenas shaped by actors’ conceptions of control, state regulation, and institutional structures." These concepts have been applied to study the European Union's development of a single market through cooperative political processes. In 2012, he co-authored A Theory of Fields with Doug McAdam, presenting a framework for analyzing social orders in politics, economics, and social movements.