The New Sociology of Economic Behaviour (BSA New Horizons in Sociology)

“How, Fevre asks in his brilliant new book, can we critique Max Weber’s “iron cage” of economic rationality if we’re looking at the world from inside it? The great intellectuals of the past – Marx, Durkheim, Simmel, Weber, Cooley and more recently Polyani – were deeply troubled by a growing market mentality that we now so tepidly accept as “inevitable.” I won’t spoil the story but Fevre puts his finger on the moment when things went off track, and sets us back on track so we can take an honest look at our lives today. This is an enormously important challenge to our basic thinking about the most important organizing force in the world today: the market. A must read.” Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of The Commercialization of Intimate Life, and co-editor of Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy What are the solid achievements of the sociology of economic behaviour? What have been the main failures and omissions? How will the subject develop? In this assured and timely volume, the author demonstrates how the sociology of economic behaviour was hijacked by the economic sociology which grew out of Parsons' interpretation of Weber. This development meant that the moral considerations of classical sociology only received attention as means to economic ends. Economic sociology is based on insupportable assumptions about the power of economic rationality, which also obscures the political nature of economic behaviour. The New Sociology of Economic Behaviour seeks to revitalize the classical approach and introduces students to the essential ideas in the field. It also shows researchers and graduate students how to make use of concepts like demoralization, cheap labour, dignity at work and a fair day's pay to develop critiques of current economic arrangements What are the solid achievements of the sociology of economic behaviour? What have been the main failures and omissions? How will the subject develop? In this assured and timely volume, the author demonstrates how the sociology of economic behaviour was hijacked by the economic sociology which grew out of Parsons′ interpretation of Weber. This development meant that the moral considerations of classical sociology only received attention as means to economic ends. Economic sociology is based on insupportable assumptions about the power of economic rationality which also obscures the political nature of economic behaviour. The book seeks to revitalize the classical approach and introduces students to the essential ideas in the field. It also shows researchers and graduate students how to make use of concepts like demoralization, cheap labour, dignity at work and a fair day′s pay to develop critiques of current economic arrangements. The author argues that the sociology of economic behaviour was hijacked by the economic sociology which grew out of Parsons' interpretation of Weber. This development neglected the moral considerations of classical sociology and made unfounded assumptions about the power of economic rationality Ralph Fevre. Includes Bibliographic References And Index.