Economic Sociology: An Introduction

Economic sociology has grown in recent times as more departments offer courses in the subfield or include it in survey courses. However, much economic sociology remains specialized, aimed primarily at other academics or graduate students. Existing texts assume high technical and theoretical experience, have less rigor than desired, or have a limited focus (e.g. networks, culture and taste, work). Further, topics such as public policy and state-economy relations are often relegated to political science. Yet socioeconomic development, the rise of markets, organizations, and policies are, like inequality or labor, immanently sociological since the birth of the discipline. Also, recent years have given us two important issues: globalization (and the extent of its true impact), and transitions from Soviet socialism to capitalism (an experiment in social transformation). This text provides students with theory and data. It locates economic sociology in broader currents: in the debates with economic theory (andeach theory presents a brief overview of economists' views of the subject at hand); in the broader intellectual history and ideas of sociology generally (e.g. how state-centered economic sociology is linked to developments in political sociology); and in current policy debates and issues (e.g. over post-socialism, welfare, and globalization).

Jeffrey K. Hass is an Associate Professor in sociology at the University of Richmond, Virginia, USA.