Social Contracts and Economic MarketsSpringer, 2007 M08 20 - 218 pages The thesis of this book is that people enter into social contracts because they are different from one another and have incentives to cooperate. In economic life, people have identical interests—namely, their own se- interests—so they have an incentive to compete. The social worlds that we create, or map, and those that are already mapped for us are increasingly complex, and thus the tracking of rationality is not so straightforward, although it is everywhere evident. In a sense, this book grew out of two questions: Why hasn't the United States had a second revolution? Or is the revolution yet to come? Many have discussed the current crises that confront contemporary society, such as great economic inequalities, poverty, the declining quality of jobs, the growing power of corporate elites, and racial antago nisms. I attempt to understand these problems in terms of the radical restructuring of social life by economic and spatial forces. My specula tive thesis is that social organizations must reinforce social contracts and nurture the opportunities for them to be forged. However, contemporary organizations, particularly economic ones, have internalized the princi ples of economic markets, thereby inducing competition and easing out cooperation. In defining social contracts, I draw from Rousseau and also from Marx and his analysis of use value. One hopes that new organiza tional forms based on principles of democracy and community will evolve. In a diverse, multicultural society, this requires great mutual understanding and cooperation and the recognition of differences. |
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Page vii
... compete . The social worlds that we create , or map , and those that are already mapped for us are increasingly ... competition and easing out cooperation . In defining social contracts , I draw from Rousseau and also from Marx and ...
... compete . The social worlds that we create , or map , and those that are already mapped for us are increasingly ... competition and easing out cooperation . In defining social contracts , I draw from Rousseau and also from Marx and ...
Page viii
... competition and cooperation . Specifically , after positioning my arguments about the problem of reflexivity in the social sciences in Chapter 1 , I consider issues of social contracts and economic markets ( Chapter 2 ) , coopera- tion ...
... competition and cooperation . Specifically , after positioning my arguments about the problem of reflexivity in the social sciences in Chapter 1 , I consider issues of social contracts and economic markets ( Chapter 2 ) , coopera- tion ...
Page xi
... Competition and Cooperation The Rhetoric of Competition Rationality Organizations Mapping Strands of Interdependence Synchronization Sequencing Mapping over Space and Time Partialled and Nonpartialled Roles Transaction Costs 1 23 9 10 ...
... Competition and Cooperation The Rhetoric of Competition Rationality Organizations Mapping Strands of Interdependence Synchronization Sequencing Mapping over Space and Time Partialled and Nonpartialled Roles Transaction Costs 1 23 9 10 ...
Page xii
... - Class Culture 113 Declining Economic Inequalities The Decline of the Middle Class The Truly Disadvantaged as Historical Victims 115 117 119 8. The Firm and Its Contradictions Competition Firms and Markets xii CONTENTS.
... - Class Culture 113 Declining Economic Inequalities The Decline of the Middle Class The Truly Disadvantaged as Historical Victims 115 117 119 8. The Firm and Its Contradictions Competition Firms and Markets xii CONTENTS.
Page xiii
J.R. Blau. 8. The Firm and Its Contradictions Competition Firms and Markets 125 127 128 An Abbreviated History 129 A Crack in the Edifice 132 Firms Become Markets : Where Is the Firm ? 133 Self - Employment 139 Summary 140 9. Worlds of ...
J.R. Blau. 8. The Firm and Its Contradictions Competition Firms and Markets 125 127 128 An Abbreviated History 129 A Crack in the Edifice 132 Firms Become Markets : Where Is the Firm ? 133 Self - Employment 139 Summary 140 9. Worlds of ...
Contents
1 | |
The Social Contract | 17 |
Rationality | 32 |
Partialled and Nonpartialled Roles | 46 |
The Civility of Ordinary Life | 53 |
Embeddedness of Social Structures | 60 |
10 | 62 |
Culture and Group Membership | 67 |
Worlds of Fashion Lives of Leisure | 145 |
Rank and Disarray | 152 |
Cosmopolitan Culture | 158 |
54 | 161 |
The Micrometrics of Morals and the Macrometrics | 165 |
The Suspension of EthicsThe Role of the State | 176 |
60 | 187 |
Rights Goods and Welfare | 189 |
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activities American American middle class argued Basic Books behavior Blau buyers capital capitalist Chicago Press collective command economy competition complex consequences constraints contemporary context cooperation coordination corporate Coser costs create cultural decline defined distinction Durkheim E. P. Thompson economic actors economic inequalities economists efficiency Émile Durkheim Ernest Gellner ethics example firms Free Press Georg Simmel groups growth Harvard University Harvard University Press important increasing increasingly individual industrial interdependence interests internal labor markets investments involve issues Karl Marx Karl Polanyi leisure managers mapping Marx means ment Micrometrics middle class mobility modern moral norms numbers opportunities organizational organizations Oxford participate person play political postmodern problems production profit rationality recognition Robert role rules self-interest social arrangements social contracts society sociologists Sociology spatial status structures theory tion tradition Trans transactions University of Chicago urban wage whereas workers York