Princeton University Press
Principles of Economic Sociology
Key Metrics
- Richard Swedberg
- Princeton University Press
- Paperback
- 9780691130590
- 8.86 X 5.9 X 0.91 inches
- 1.09 pounds
- Social Science > Sociology - General
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The last fifteen years have witnessed an explosion in the popularity, creativity, and productiveness of economic sociology, an approach that traces its roots back to Max Weber. This important new text offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of economic sociology. It also advances the field theoretically by highlighting, in one analysis, the crucial economic roles of both interests and social relations.
Richard Swedberg describes the field's critical insights into economic life, giving particular attention to the effects of culture on economic phenomena and the ways that economic actions are embedded in social structures. He examines the full range of economic institutions and explicates the relationship of the economy to politics, law, culture, and gender. Swedberg notes that sociologists too often fail to properly emphasize the role that self-interested behavior plays in economic decisions, while economists frequently underestimate the importance of social relations. Thus, he argues that the next major task for economic sociology is to develop a theoretical and empirical understanding of how interests and social relations work in combination to affect economic action. Written by an author whose name is synonymous with economic sociology, this text constitutes a sorely needed advanced synthesis--and a blueprint for the future of this burgeoning field.
Author Bio
My two main areas of research are economic sociology and social theory. Economic sociology has been a vital interest of mine since the early 1980s; and today I mainly work on current topics. From early on I have also been fascinated by social theory, especially theorizing — what theorizing is and how it can be taught to students through practical exercises. My main work on this topic is The Art of Social Theory (2014). I have also worked on social mechanisms (see Social Mechanisms [1998]; ed. with Peter Hedström).
In the early 1980s I became interested in economic sociology, and I have had the pleasure to help this field grow into one of the major subfields in sociology. My contribution to this has consisted of general works as well as specific studies. For the former, see especially (ed. with Neil Smelser) Handbook of Economic Sociology (1994, 2005) and (ed. with Mark Granovetter) The Sociology of Economic Life (1992, 2001, 2011). For the latter, see e.g. (ed. with Victor Nee) The Economic Sociology of Capitalism (2005), (ed. with Trevor Pinch) Living in a Material World (2008) and (ed. with Hirokazu Miyazaki) The Economy of Hope (2017).
Along the road I have also made a number of studies of the major theoreticians in economic sociology, such as Joseph Schumpeter, Max Weber and Alexis de Tocqueville. The study of Schumpeter is formally a biography, but in reality centered around the relationship of economic theory to economic sociology. The study of Weber attempts to lay a theoretical foundation for economic sociology by following Weber’s leads in Ch.2 of Economy and Society. In my work on Tocqueville my interest in economic sociology comes together with that of theorizing. I emphasize the sociological aspects of Tocqueville’s analysis of the economy, but also how he experimented with different types of data and theories, to make sense of things. See Schumpeter – A Biography (1991), Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology (1994) and Tocqueville's Political Economy (2009).
Besides social theory and economic sociology, I have also written on various other topics — such as the role of civic courage; (with Wendelin Reich) on George Simmel’s metaphors; on Rodin’s statue “The Burghers of Calais”; and (with Trevor Pinch) on Wittgenstein’s visit to Ithaca in 1949. These articles can be found on my webpage.
Today I mainly try to write sociological essays, with an emphasis on new ideas. The topics vary, from traditional ones in social theory to more unorthodox ones, with the same for economic topics.
Education
MM.L. (“Juris kandidat”), Faculty of Law, Stockholm University June 1970;
Ph D, Department of Sociology, Boston College May 1978.
Source: Cornell University
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