Economic sociology is the study of the social cause and effect of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one, known as "new economic sociology".
Contemporary economic sociology may include studies of all modern social aspects of economic phenomena; economic sociology may thus be considered a field in the intersection of economics and sociology. Frequent areas of inquiry in contemporary economic sociology include the social consequences of economic exchanges, the social meanings they involve and the social interactions they facilitate or obstruct.[2]
The focus on mathematical analysis and utility maximisation during the 20th century has led some to see economics as a discipline moving away from its roots in the social sciences. Many critiques of economics or economic policy begin from the accusation that abstract modelling is missing some key social phenomenon that needs to be addressed.
Economic sociology is an attempt by sociologists to redefine in sociological terms questions traditionally addressed by economists. It is thus also an answer to attempts by economists (such as Gary Becker) to bring economic approaches – in particular utility maximisation and game theory – to the analysis of social situations that are not obviously related to production or trade. Karl Polanyi, in his book The Great Transformation, was the first theorist to propose the idea of "embeddedness", meaning that the economy is "embedded" in social institutions which are vital so that the market does not destroy other aspects of human life. The concept of "embeddedness" serves sociologists who study technological developments. Mark Granovetter and Patrick McGuire mapped the social networks which determined the economics of the electrical industry in the United States.[5] Ronen Shamir analyzed how electrification in Mandatory Palestine facilitated the creation of an ethnic-based dual-economy.[6] Polanyi's form of market skepticism, however, has been criticized for intensifying rather than limiting the economization of society.[7]
New economic sociology
A contemporary period of economic sociology, often known as new economic sociology, was consolidated by the 1985 work of Mark Granovetter titled "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness".[8] These works elaborated the concept of embeddedness, which states that economic relations between individuals or firms take place within existing social relations (and are thus structured by these relations as well as the greater social structures of which those relations are a part). Social network analysis has been the primary methodology for studying this phenomenon. Granovetter's theory of the strength of weak ties and Ronald Burt's concept of structural holes are two best known theoretical contributions of this field.
Economic sociology is sometimes synonymous with socioeconomics. Socioeconomics deals with the analytical, political and moral questions arising at the intersection between economy and society from a broad interdisciplinary perspective with links beyond sociology to political economy, moral philosophy, institutional economics and history.
Academic associations
The Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) is an international academic association whose members are involved in social studies of economy and economic processes.[9] The Socio-Economic Review was established as the official journal of SASE in 2003.[10] The journal aims to encourage work on the relationship between society, economy, institutions and markets, moral commitments and the rational pursuit of self-interest. Most articles focus on economic action in its social and historical context, drawing from sociology, political science, economics and the management and policy sciences. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2015 impact factor of 1.926, ranking it 56th out of 344 journals in the category "Economics", 21st out of 163 journals in the category "Political Science" and 19th out of 142 journals in the category "Sociology".[11]
The American Sociological Association's Economic Sociology section became a permanent Section in January 2001. According to its website, it has about 800 members.[12]
Economic Sociology and Political Economy (ES/PE), founded in 2011, is an online scholarly society that gathers researchers interested in economic sociology and related topics.[14][15]
^Gilding, Michael (September 2005). "The New Economic Sociology and Its Relevance to Australia". Journal of Sociology. 41 (3): 309–325. doi:10.1177/1440783305057080. S2CID145713342.
^Etzioni, Amitai (1988). The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. Free Press. ISBN978-0029099018.
^Roth (2012). "Leaving commonplaces on the commonplace. Cornerstones of a polyphonic market theory". Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry. 10 (3): 43–52. SSRN2192754.
Albert Benschop. 1996/2011. Naar een nieuwe economische sociologie[1] University of Amsterdam.
Guillén, Mauro F., Randall Collins, Paula England, and Marshall Meyer (eds.), New Economic Sociology: The Developments in an Emerging Field. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002.
Portes, Alejandro. 2010. Economic Sociology: A Systematic Inquiry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Smelser, Neil J. 1963. The Sociology of Economic Life. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall.
Smelser, Neil J., and Richard Swedberg. 2010. "Introducing Economic Sociology," pp. 3–25, in Neil J. Smelser and Richard Swedberg (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Sociology, Second Edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Smelser, Neil J. and Richard Swedberg (eds.). 2010. The Handbook of Economic Sociology, Second Edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1983. Economic Sociology. New York: Academic Press.
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