The text reassesses the use of Weber and the German Historical School as classical sources in the formation of institutionalist economics in the US academic context during the final decades of the 19th century. This aim in mind, it turns to Weber's writings on the sociology of law, and the connection between juridical norms and economic action. Subsequently, the text presents the reception of his work on the other side of the Atlantic, in particular via the figures of Richard T. Ely, the leading figure of a generation of students influenced by the German cultural environment, followed later by J. R. Commons, a close reader of the former's work. The article also focuses on the relations between this intellectual tradition and the themes of industrial democracy and large cooperative companies in the United States, a process that established the historical conditions for the later emergence of economic sociology. In conclusion, it suggests that the 'elective affinities' between economics and other social spheres, an approach rooted in Weber, help explain lines of continuity found in more recent disciplinary classifications.
Rechtssoziologie; Institutionalism; Economic sociology
