Economic Sociology "A Systematic Inquiry"

A Systematic Inquiry

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Portes, Alejandro

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ISBN:9780691142234
Editorial: Princeton University Press
Fecha de la edición:2010
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Nº Pág.:320
Idiomas:Ingles,Inglés

Materias:

/ Trabajo y Sociedad
/ Sociología

The sociological study of economic activity has witnessed a significant resurgence. Recent texts have chronicled economic sociology's nineteenth-century origins while pointing to the importance of context and power in economic life, yet the field lacks a clear understanding of the role that concepts at different levels of abstraction play in its organization. "Economic Sociology" fills this critical gap by surveying the current state of the field while advancing a framework for further theoretical development. Alejandro Portes examines economic sociology's principal assumptions, key explanatory concepts, and selected research sites. He argues that economic activity is embedded in social and cultural relations, but also that power and the unintended consequences of rational purposive action must be factored in when seeking to explain or predict economic behavior. Drawing upon a wealth of examples, Portes identifies three strategic sites of research - the informal economy, ethnic enclaves, and transnational communities - and he eschews grand narratives in favor of mid-range theories that help us understand specific kinds of social action. The book shows how the meta-assumptions of economic sociology can be transformed, under certain conditions, into testable propositions, and puts forward a theoretical agenda aimed at moving the field out of its present impasse.

List of Figures and Tables ix Preface xi Chapter One: Economic Sociology: Past Achievements and Present Challenges 1 Chapter Two: The Assumptions That Ground the Field 10 Chapter Three: Social Capital 27 Chapter Four: The Concept of Institutions 48 Chapter Five: The Concept of Social Class 71 Chapter Six: Social Class (Continued) 101 Chapter Seven: The Informal Economy 130 Chapter Eight: Ethnic Enclaves and Middleman Minorities 162 Chapter Nine: Transnational Communities 195 Chapter Ten: Markets, Models, and Regulation 220 Notes 237 Bibliography 261 Index 291