Beyond the Market: The Social Foundations of Economic Efficiency

Description

"Beyond the Market" launches a sociological investigation into economic efficiency. Prevailing economic theory, which explains efficiency using formalized rational choice models, often simplifies human behaviour to the point of distortion. Jens Beckert finds such theory to be particularly weak in explaining such crucial forms of economic behaviour as co-operation, innovation and action under conditions of uncertainty - phenomena he identifies as the proper starting point for a sociology of economic action. Beckert levels an enlightened critique at neoclassical economics, arguing that understanding efficiency requires looking well beyond the market to the social, cultural, political and cognitive factors that influence the co-ordination of economic action. Beckert searches social theory for the components of an alternative theory of action, one that accounts for the social embedding of economic behaviour. In Durkheim and Parsons he finds especially useful approaches to co-operation; in Luhmann, a way to understand how people act under highly contingent conditions; and in Giddens, an understanding of creative action and innovation. Together, these provide building blocks for a resear

Jens Beckert is Associate Professor of Sociology at the International University Bremen.

"This book reflects impressive intellectual ambition, maturity, and erudition."--Bruce G. Carruther, American Journal of Sociology