Social Construction of the Market(s) for Genetically Modified and Nonmodified Crops

Abstract

Social processes drive the current market turbulence and the eventual future for biotechnology products in agriculture. We examine those processes using central ideas from the sociology of markets: Markets are socially constructed by buyers and sellers, and markets are embedded in the broader sociopolitical environment in which they exist. Those seeking to construct a market for genetically modified soybeans using the existing commodity market as a platform conflict with the sociopolitical environment that withholds normative and regulatory legitimacy from this outcome. We conduct a content analysis on recent public dialogue about the problems and solutions in constructing the market(s) for genetically modified soybeans, and we apply a model traditionally used in the social construction literature for expost analyses of technology adoption. The model proves valuable for identifying pathways for resolving the conflict.