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Economy/Society
Markets, Meanings, and Social Structure

Second Edition


May 2012 | 248 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
This long-awaited Second Edition continues to offer an accessible introduction to the way social arrangements affect economic activity, and shows that economic exchanges are deeply embedded in social relationships.

Understanding how society shapes the economy helps us answer many important questions. For example, how does advertising get people to buy things? How do people use their social connections to get jobs? How did large bureaucratic organizations come to be so pervasive in modern economies - and what difference does it make? How can we explain the persistence of economic inequalities between men and women and across racial groups? Why do some countries become rich while others stay poor? This book presents sociological answers to questions like these, and encourages its readers to view the economy through a sociological lens.

 
Chapter 1: The Embeddedness of Markets
Markets and Their Alternatives

 
Markets and Their Preconditions

 
The Embeddedness of Markets

 
The Consequences of Markets

 
The Variety of Capitalisms

 
Globalization

 
Outline of the Book

 
 
Chapter 2: Marketing and the Meaning of Things
Things and Meaning

 
Commodities as Gifts

 
Consumerism

 
Consumers and Debt

 
Advertising

 
Diversity and Consumerism

 
Consumerism and Globalization

 
Conclusion

 
 
Chapter 3: Organizations and the Economy
The Power of the Boss

 
Organizations around the Globe

 
Organizations and Internal Labor Markets

 
The Organizational Context for Conflict

 
Workplace and Personal Life

 
The Formation of an Organizational Economy

 
Conclusion

 
 
Chapter 4: Networks in the Economy
What Is a Network?

 
Why Networks Matter

 
Individual Networks

 
The Importance of Networks in Markets

 
Conclusion

 
 
Chapter 5: Banking and Finance
What Does a Financial System Do?

 
Finance and Development

 
Regulation and Deregulation

 
Disintermediation

 
Innovation and Status

 
Household Finance

 
Globalization and Finance

 
Conclusion

 
 
Chapter 6: Economic Inequality
Inequality in Perspective

 
Inequality and Efficiency

 
Explaining Recent Trends in Income Inequality

 
Globalization

 
Race, Gender, and Inequality

 
Gender in the Labor Market

 
Race in the Labor Market

 
Race, Mortgage Discrimination, and Wealth Inequality

 
Race, Gender, and Price

 
Conclusion

 
 
Chapter 7: Economic Development
Economic Development Defined

 
From The Wealth of Nations to the Washington Consensus

 
Sociological Perspectives on Development

 
Conclusion

 
 
Chapter 8: Conclusion

Economy/Society is one of the book on which this course is based. Students very much appreciate the clear overview and the examples. Together with journal articles, this book provides them with a good understanding of how sociologists investigate economic processes.

Mr Ferry Koster
Sociology Department, Erasmus University Rotterdam
December 10, 2014

A fine book in this relatively niche area. Looks at this area from a fresh perspective and lends a counter argument to much mainstream economic literature

Mr Joe Fitzgerald
School of Business, Institute of Business & Technology
February 15, 2013

Carruthers and Babb present an excellent textbook both for those working in fields that transcend a simple view of Economics as an optimization science and to more orthodox economists interested in expand their mental maps of economic science. It debates how markets are embedded in societies and depend on social structures and institutions that frame their functioning. In this way, the authors show that markets are neither the only institution nor the most relevant one in economic order. The book, anchored in notions, such embeddedness and networks that are being developed in the scope of Economic Sociology, provides the understanding of the interconnections between economy and society, facilitating a deeper comprehension of organizations, finance, inequalities and development. It is a textbook that I will recommend to postgraduate students but also at undergraduate level in introductory disciples of Economics .

Dr Hugo Pinto
Faculty of Economics, University of the Algarves
January 7, 2013

Sample Materials & Chapters

toc

ch 1

ch 4

ch 7


Bruce G. Carruthers

Bruce Carruthers Ph.D. University of Chicago 1991. Areas of interest include historical and comparative sociology, economic sociology, sociology of law and sociology of organizations. Carruthers has written three books, City of Capital Politics and Markets in the English Financial Revolution (Princeton University, 1996), Rescuing Business: The Making of Corporate Bankruptcy Law in England and the United States (Oxford, 1998), and Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings and Social Structure (Pine Forge Press, 2000). His current research projects are on the evolution of credit decision-making as a problem in the sociology of trust, and worldwide... More About Author

Sarah Louise Babb

Sarah Babb is a Professor of Sociology at Boston College. She specializes in the areas of Economic Sociology, Latin America, Political Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology, Organizations and Globalization. Her most recent book is Managing Mexico: Economists from Nationalism to Neoliberalism. More About Author

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ISBN: 9781412994965
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