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Economic Sociology: A Systematic Inquiry

Author

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  • Alejandro Portes

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Alejandro Portes, 2010. "Economic Sociology: A Systematic Inquiry," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9211.
    • Handle: RePEc:pup:pbooks:9211
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. C�cile Dangel-Hagnauer, 2013. "Schumpeter's institution of money: Slipping off the border of economic theory and landing in economic sociology," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 1000-1031, December.
    2. Timothy Bates & Alicia Robb, 2014. "Small-business viability in America’s urban minority communities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(13), pages 2844-2862, October.
    3. Dewey, Matías, 2014. "Taxing the shadow: The political economy of sweatshops in La Salada, Argentina," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/18, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Jabeen, Sumera, 2018. "Unintended outcomes evaluation approach: A plausible way to evaluate unintended outcomes of social development programmes," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 262-274.
    5. Pauline Grosjean, 2014. "Conflict and Social and Political Preferences: Evidence from World War II and Civil Conflict in 35 European Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 56(3), pages 424-451, September.
    6. Mario Del Roble Pensado-Leglise & Andrew Smolski, 2017. "An Eco-Egalitarian Solution to the Capitalist Consumer Paradox: Integrating Short Food Chains and Public Market Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-15, September.
    7. Armando Razo, 2016. "Strategic embeddedness and the microfoundations of collective action: A comparative institutional analysis of the rule of law and informal institutions in cooperation games," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 28(1), pages 105-137, January.
    8. Pedraza-Rodríguez, José A. & Ruiz-Vélez, Andrea & Sánchez-Rodríguez, M. Isabel & Fernández-Esquinas, Manuel, 2023. "Management skills and organizational culture as sources of innovation for firms in peripheral regions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Kristie O’Neill, 2018. "Traditional beneficiaries: trade bans, exemptions, and morality embodied in diets," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 515-527, June.
    10. Broadberry, Stephen & Harrison, Mark (ed.), 2020. "The Economics of the Second World War: Seventy-Five Years On," Vox eBooks, Centre for Economic Policy Research, number p326.
    11. Juan Manuel Pedroza, 2022. "Housing Instability in an Era of Mass Deportations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2645-2681, December.
    12. Dewey, Matías, 2014. "Crisis and the emergence of illicit markets: A pragmatist view on economic action outside the law," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/6, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Álvarez Juan Diego, 2016. "Governing Mining Resources in the History of Colombia: Between Official Institutions and Resistance," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 29-67, June.
    14. Rosa Congost & Jorge Gelman & Rui Santos, 2012. "Property rights in land: institutional innovations, social appropiations, and path dependence," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1206, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    15. Valdivieso Larrain, Felipe, 2012. "Dynamiques sociales et changement de pratiques viticoles : échanges professionnels, don et identités. Le cas des viticulteurs de deux communes dans l’Hérault," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/10457 edited by Alter, Norbert.
    16. Thibaud Deguilhem & Jean-Philippe Berrou & François Combarnous, 2019. "Using your ties to get a worse job? The differential effects of social networks on quality of employment in Colombia," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(4), pages 493-522, October.
    17. Beckert, Jens & Wehinger, Frank, 2011. "In the shadow illegal markets and economic sociology," MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    18. Johan Sandberg & Axel Fredholm & Olle Frödin, 2023. "Immigrant Organizations and Labor Market Integration: The Case of Sweden," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1357-1380, September.
    19. Erik R. Vickstrom, 2014. "Legal Status, Territorial Confinement, and Transnational Activities of Senegalese Migrants in France, Italy, and Spain," Working Papers 15-01h, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Migration and Development..
    20. Adam Goldstein & Ziyao Tian, 2020. "Financialization and Income Generation in the 21st Century: Rise of the Petit Rentier Class?," LIS Working papers 801, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    21. Hugo Pinto & Jorge André Guerreiro & Manuel Fernández-Esquinas, 2023. "Sources of knowledge in the firm: a review on influential, internal and contextual factors in innovation dynamics," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-32, February.
    22. Rebecca Rasch, 2014. "Measuring the Middle Class in Middle Income Countries," LIS Working papers 611, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    23. Thomas Burr, 2014. "Making Distribution Markets: Market-Wide Institutions in French and American Bicycle Distribution, 1865–1914," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 178-209, January.
    24. Limei Zhao & Qingpu Zhang & Liang Wang, 2014. "Benefit distribution mechanism in the team members’ scientific research collaboration network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 100(2), pages 363-389, August.

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