Sociology, Economic Germany’s problems, Jewish sociologists such as Ernst While both ES and economics study the economy in Borinski (Tougaloo College), John Herz (Howard its multiple expressions, they are at variance with each University), Viktor Lowenfeld (Hampton Institute), Ernst other. At the risk of oversimplification, the starting point Manasse (North Carolina Central University), Fritz for economics is the isolated rational economic actor; Pappenheim (Talladega College), and Donald Rasmussen whereas for ES, actors always operate in social, thus rela- (Talladega College) obtained positions at black colleges tional, contexts and do so reflexively. where their experience as minorities was an educational asset in their professional and personal interactions with EARLIER PERSPECTIVES black college students, faculty, and the community The sociological look upon economic phenomena has (Cunnigen 2003). marked sociology from its outset, so it is meaningful to The history of sociology has traditionally minimized distinguish ES into old and new segments. Old ES refers the contributions of people of color, women, gays and largely to the relevant parts in the work of sociology’s lesbians, and other minorities. Consequently, it is of man- founding fathers, for example, Karl Marx, Émile ifest importance that contemporary and future sociolo- Durkheim, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel. Indeed, Marx gists utilize alternative theoretical frames to support the was concerned with the social designation of the com- recognition and canonization of marginalized scholars. modity and with commodity fetishism. He also analyzed Repudiation and revision of the traditional means of can- capitalism’s origins as well as capital as a social relation. onizing sociologists will result in the overdue and deserved Durkheim was directly interested in this field, which he— recognition of the contributions of scholars who, by virtue along with Weber—named as such. He was particularly of their race, sex or gender, or sexual preference, existed as concerned with the development of the division of labor “outsiders within” their own profession. while he criticized economists for their tendency to con- SEE ALSO Chicago School; Du Bois, W. E. B.; Sociology struct an exclusive economic world, which was arbitrary and one-sided because the social dimensions were excluded or neglected, whereas he linked anomie to mod- BIBLIOGRAPHY ern economic activity. For his part, Weber delved at length Bernard, L. L. 1948. Sociological Trends in the South. Social in the sociological study of economic institutions and of Forces 27 (1): 12–19. processes pointing out that economic action is a special Cunnigen, Donald. 2003. The Legacy of Ernst Borinski: The form of social action. Weber advocated considering both Production of an African-American Sociological Tradition. the meaning with which actors imbue their economic Teaching Sociology 31: 397–411. action (e.g., in his Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Henry, Charles P. 1995. Abram Harris, E. Franklin Frazier, and Capitalism [1904–1905]) as well as the social dimension Ralph Bunche: The Howard School of Thought on the Problem of Race. National Political Science Review 5: 36–56. of economic phenomena. By contrast Simmel’s work is Himes, Sandy J. 1949. Development and Status of Sociology in not systematically concerned with ES and is only dotted Negro Colleges. Journal of Educational Sociology 23 (1): with references of an ES concern, such as analyses of inter- 17–32. est, competition, and interlinkages between money and Wright, Earl, II. 2002. Using the Master’s Tools: Atlanta modernity. University and American Sociology, 1896–1924. Sociological Sociological interest in the economy subsided during Spectrum 22 (1): 15–39. the 1920s, although authors such as Joseph A. Schumpeter, Talcott Parsons, Neil Smelser, and Karl Earl Wright II Polanyi offered contributions to the discussion. Since the 1960s, the attempts of some economists to extend economic interpretations into social phenomena—an approach called economic imperialism—challenged the established division of labor between economics and soci- SOCIOLOGY, ology. This provoked sociologists’ response, which culmi- ECONOMIC nated in the reemergence of ES. The wider frames of the Economic sociology (ES) forms a specific sociological sub- new ES, as Jens Beckert (1996) pointed out, are delin- field. As with sociology—its genus—itself a multipara- eated by two parameters: It aims towards a sociological digm discipline, there is some disagreement about what understanding of economic processes and structures, and exactly falls under ES’s rubric. To counter this difficulty critiques established economic types of analysis. In the ES has been defined broadly as “the sociological perspec- meantime, increasingly, mainstream economics has come tive applied to economic phenomena” (Smelser and to accept a role for the social dimension, although concep- Swedberg 2005, p. 3). tualized quite differently than it is in ES. 668 INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2ND EDITION Sociology, Economic CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES While the expansion of empirical research continues, Mark Granovetter first discussed the new ES in ES’s theoretical production is currently not keeping up “Economic Action and Social Structure” (1985). with expectations and needs to advance. Accordingly, Granovetter, a key figure in ES, has pointed out that all researchers such as Swedberg suggest that elaborations on economic action and phenomena are embedded in con- the sociological concept of interest and on an interest-based crete networks of social relations, social structures, norma- concept of institutions may provide new vistas for ES. tive arrangements, and institutions that constrain and SEE ALSO Sociology channel them in particular ways. Unlike the view of Karl Polanyi, for Granovetter these actions and phenomena are more thoroughly embedded in modern societies than in BIBLIOGRAPHY premodern ones. The concept of social embeddedness, Beckert, Jens. 1996. What is Sociological about Economic which is identified with ES, despite some attempts to Sociology? Uncertainty and the Embeddedness of Economic define it narrowly, remains a general concept. Action. Theory and Society 25: 803–840. Granovetter’s own work on how people obtain a job Berger, Peter L. and Thomas Luckmann. 1966. The Social at the local level was an early application of the social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of embeddedness idea. He argues that getting a job, or Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books. accessing the labor market, is intrinsically a social process Biggart, Nicole Woolsey, ed. 2002. Readings in Economic linked to the job seeker’s social ties in specific social Sociology. Malden, MA: Blackwell. milieus, which are formulated and distributed under the Fligstein, Neil. 2001. The Architecture of Markets: An Economic overdetermining impact of social class. This thesis, known Sociology of Twenty-First Century Capitalist Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. as the strength-of-weak-ties thesis, has found corroboration in a wide range of social contexts in the United States and Granovetter, Mark. 1973. The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology 78: 1360–1380. elsewhere, for instance in Greece and Russia. Recent U.S. research with respect to other social divisions, such as gen- Granovetter, Mark. 1983. The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited. Sociological Theory 1: 201–233. der, race, and ethnicity, on matters pertaining to employ- ment and work have identified the prevalence of Granovetter, Mark. 1985. Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal continuities in the transmittance of social inequalities of Sociology 91 (3): 481–510. rather than of discontinuities, which highlights the multi- Granovetter, Mark, and Richard Swedberg, eds. 2001. The faceted social dimension in labor markets. Sociology of Economic Life. 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Another key concept in ES is that of the social construc- Press. tion of economic phenomena, which draws from the theory Guillén, Mauro F., Randall Collins, Paula England, and Marshall of constructivism advanced by Peter Berger and Thomas Meyer, eds. 2002. The New Economic Sociology: Developments Luckmann in 1966. Social construction refers to the fact in an Emerging Field. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. that economic arrangements, institutions, and regulations Koniordos, Sokratis M. 2005. Informal Support Networks in the do not have an a priori independent existence. Instead, they Making of Small Independent Businesses: Beyond “Strong” are formulated as a result of human social interaction and and “Weak” Ties? In Networks, Trust and Social Capital: purposeful intervention that take place in a specific social Theoretical and Empirical Investigations from Europe, ed. context. Once, however, an economic structure comes into Sokratis M. Koniordos, 167–185. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. being it may assume an objectivity that constrains and Mouw, Ted. 2000. Job Relocation and the Racial Gap in impacts upon economic action and practices. Unemployment in Detroit and Chicago, 1980 to 1990. American Sociological Review 65 (5): 730–53. Thematically, research in ES has expanded to include Mouw, Ted. 2003. Social Capital and Finding a Job: Do analyses at the micro-, mezzo-, and macro-levels of firms, Contacts Matter? American Sociological Review 68 (6): markets, consumption, entrepreneurship, business 868–898.