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. |
From inside the book
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Page vii
... , an emerging intellectual and cultural orientation . My position is that postmodernism — with its emphasis on ambiguity , the attempt to recognize and reconcile group differences , and an interest in recapturing and reliving collective ...
... , an emerging intellectual and cultural orientation . My position is that postmodernism — with its emphasis on ambiguity , the attempt to recognize and reconcile group differences , and an interest in recapturing and reliving collective ...
Page ix
... cultural organizations has allowed me to work on these related theoretical problems , and my collaborator , Kenneth C. Land , has been patient as I have tried to coordinate the research with writing this book . Other support has been ...
... cultural organizations has allowed me to work on these related theoretical problems , and my collaborator , Kenneth C. Land , has been patient as I have tried to coordinate the research with writing this book . Other support has been ...
Page 2
... cultural frameworks , organizations , social groups — also make and apply labels ( " women , " " men , " " children , " " window washer , " " stockbroker " ) and confer identities.3 When social scientists abandon a paradigm — say , a ...
... cultural frameworks , organizations , social groups — also make and apply labels ( " women , " " men , " " children , " " window washer , " " stockbroker " ) and confer identities.3 When social scientists abandon a paradigm — say , a ...
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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