AØKB08030U Economic Sociology

Economic sociology is the study of the social cause and effect of various economic phenomena. The field can be broadly divided into a classical period and a contemporary one.

The classical period was concerned particularly with modernity and its constituent aspects which are rationalisation, secularisation, urbanisation, social stratification, and so on. The specific term "economic sociology" was first coined by William Stanley Jevons in 1879, later to be used in the works of Émile Durkheim, Max Weber and Georg Simmel between 1890 and 1920. Weber's work regarding the relationship between economics and religion and the cultural "disenchantment" of the modern West is perhaps most iconic of the approach set forth in the classic period of economic sociology.

Contemporary economic sociology include studies of all modern social aspects of economic phenomena; economic sociology is thus a field in the intersection of economics and sociology. Frequent areas of inquiry in contemporary economic sociology include the social consequences of economic exchanges, the social meanings they involve and the social interactions they facilitate or obstruct.

The economic sociological studies of markets are crucial in the study of exchange.

The Course gives the student thorough knowledge of the classical economic sociological analysis on the development of the modern society.

It gives an introduction to classical economic sociology with an emphasis on Weber, Marx, Durkheim and Simmel in order for the student to be familiar with classical theories in order better to understand contemporary theories.

The main part of the course is on contemporary economic sociology. The student gets knowledge of the contents and developments of economic sociology since Granovetters reintroduction of the concept of embeddedness in the mid 1980s and the development of economic sociology with contributions from among others Gary Becker and Bourdieu.

The course contains texts that contribute to the understanding of markets, the role of the state and the impact of social structures in relation to how modern society works and how it should be studied. Knowledge on economic sociology, sociological theory and economic sociology analysis on societal developments gives the student a comprehensive knowledge of the manifold and creative economic sociological analysis of modern society and the societal frames and background for individual action.

This gives the student knowledge in ways of analysing modern society and individual actions that in many ways challenges economic theory.