Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings, and Social Structure

Chapter 1: The Embeddedness of Markets Markets and Their Alternatives Markets and Their Preconditions The Embeddedness of Markets The Consequences of Markets The Variety of Capitalisms Globalization Outline of the BookChapter 2: Marketing and the Meaning of Things Things and Meaning Commodities as Gifts Consumerism Consumers and Debt Advertising Diversity and Consumerism Consumerism and Globalization ConclusionChapter 3: Organizations and the Economy The Power of the Boss Organizations around the Globe Organizations and Internal Labor Markets The Organizational Context for Conflict Workplace and Personal Life The Formation of an Organizational Economy ConclusionChapter 4: Networks in the Economy What Is a Network? Why Networks Matter Individual Networks The Importance of Networks in Markets ConclusionChapter 5: Banking and Finance What Does a Financial System Do? Finance and Development Regulation and Deregulation Disintermediation Innovation and Status Household Finance Globalization and Finance ConclusionChapter 6: Economic Inequality Inequality in Perspective Inequality and Efficiency Explaining Recent Trends in Income Inequality Globalization Race, Gender, and Inequality Gender in the Labor Market Race in the Labor Market Race, Mortgage Discrimination, and Wealth Inequality Race, Gender, and Price ConclusionChapter 7: Economic Development Economic Development Defined From The Wealth of Nations to the Washington Consensus Sociological Perspectives on Development ConclusionChapter 8: Conclusion

Bruce Carruthers Ph.D. University of Chicago 1991. Areas of interest include historical and comparative sociology, economic sociology, sociology of law and sociology of organizations. Carruthers has written three books, City of Capital Politics and Markets in the English Financial Revolution (Princeton University, 1996), Rescuing Business: The Making of Corporate Bankruptcy Law in England and the United States (Oxford, 1998), and Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings and Social Structure (Pine Forge Press, 2000). His current research projects are on the evolution of credit decision-making as a problem in the sociology of trust, and worldwide changes in bankruptcy law in the era of a globalized world economy. He has had visiting fellowships at the Russell Sage Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He is methodologically agnostic, and does not believe that the qualitative/quantitative distinction is worth fighting over.