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
... 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 ...
... 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 ...
Page viii
... opportunity and an obligation to question some of its premises . I also attempt to sort out some of the " middle - range ... opportunities ( Chapter 5 ) . Whereas the substantive discussions in Chapters 3 through 5 deal mostly with ...
... opportunity and an obligation to question some of its premises . I also attempt to sort out some of the " middle - range ... opportunities ( Chapter 5 ) . Whereas the substantive discussions in Chapters 3 through 5 deal mostly with ...
Page ix
... opportunity to have spent a summer residency at the Bellagio Conference Center with support from the Rockefeller Foundation . The intellectual environment of my department at the University of North Carolina is challenging , exciting ...
... opportunity to have spent a summer residency at the Bellagio Conference Center with support from the Rockefeller Foundation . The intellectual environment of my department at the University of North Carolina is challenging , exciting ...
Page xii
... Opportunities ? Culture and Group Membership The Ecology of Structure .. Positions and the Intersection of Structures Positions and Culture Status and Role Networks Culture , Organizations , and the Division of Labor Equality and ...
... Opportunities ? Culture and Group Membership The Ecology of Structure .. Positions and the Intersection of Structures Positions and Culture Status and Role Networks Culture , Organizations , and the Division of Labor Equality and ...
Page 2
... opportunities to do so . This is not the kind of rationality that assures us of the truth or of attaining wisdom . As Ernest Gellner points out , calculating rationality did not need to be invented ; all that was needed was for the ...
... opportunities to do so . This is not the kind of rationality that assures us of the truth or of attaining wisdom . As Ernest Gellner points out , calculating rationality did not need to be invented ; all that was needed was for the ...
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