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.
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