This is an excellent handbook. Both the organization of the book and the contents of each chapter provide a precise and complete state-of the-art of economic sociology.

This will probably be the most important book written by a sociologist this year and, in any event, it is a superb introduction to an emerging and significant field within sociology. It is good enough to make me feel something I rarely feel--proud to be a sociologist.

This excellent book is a must for anyone interested in the historical roots of the dominant economic school today (noeclassical economics) and how it shares foundations with sociology. This may come as as a surptise for most students of either economics or sociology, but these approaches used to unite in studying the dynamics and mechanisms of society. However, due to fundamental disagreements pertaining on how to study this phenomenon, economics and sociology separated in the 19th century (the methodenstreit) read all about why and how these schools mnow wide apart maybe are reuniting in a neoinstitutional framework. This book is really well-written by one of the really great authorities in social network research: Richard Granovetter. I can only recommend this book which will make you feel much wiser on the social sciences when you are done with it

This classic book by economist Joseph Schumpeter originally came out in three editions in 1942, 1945, and 1950. The current 1984 edition begins with a helpful introduction by Tom Bottomore. The entire book is well worth reading if you have the time for some substantial thinking about economics, politics, and history on a grand scale. However, Schumpeter's half-century old tome has recently come back into vogue as everyone is picking up his term "creative destruction". Schumpeter, coming from the Austrian school of economics, focused on processes rather than states, making his thinking different from that of other economists of his time and for decades after. His notion of creative destruction perfectly fits as a description of what is happening in the new economy, as new technologies and business models and architectures are simultaneously destroying old sources of value while creating new opportunities for profit.

it would be wise that you read this book before reading the lexus and the olive tree (thomas friedman). you will find both books very enjoyable, while providing a clear understanding of how people connect to governments, governments connect to countries and countries connect to countries... it is all about connexity!

Many summers ago while I was taking supplementary graduate courses in comparative literature, a classmate suggested that I read this book. I had not previously heard of it. It was somewhat tough going, in part because I lacked understanding of an appropriate frame-of-reference within which to absorb and digest Schumpeter's ideas. Recently, I re-read it. To paraphrase Mark Twain, it is amazing how much Schumpeter has learned over the years. I strongly recommend that Tom Bottemore's excellent Introduction be read and then re-read at least once more before anyone proceeds into the Schumpeter text. It certainly would have been very helpful to my first reading. The 28 chapters are organized as follows:

Part I: The Marxian Doctrine

Part II: Can Capitalism Survive?

Part III: Can Socialism Work

Part IV: Socialism and Democracy

Part V: A Historical Sketch of Socialist Parties

Obviously, the world which Schumpeter surveyed more than 50 years ago has undergone significant changes. (This book was first published in the US in 1942; a revised second edition appeared in 1957; and an expanded third edition appeared in 1950, the year in which he died.) Nonetheless, after a recent re-reading of the book, I am amazed at how stable its intellectual infrastructure remains. Bottomore explains the book's continuing appeal to readers "by the fact that it undertakes a serious and thorough examination of the great social transition of the present age, from capitalism to socialism, (and prefaces this with an illuminating critical appraisal of Marx's theory, as the only social analysis of the transition that merits attention) rather than by the kind of judgement that it makes about the consequences of this process of social transformation." Bottomore then quite correctly notes that, in this book, Schumpeter also examines "carefully and dispassionately" the difficulties and dangers presented by certain forms of socialism "which socialist thinkers themselves,,, after so many deceptions, can now more readily appreciate." Granted, at least some of Bottomore's discussion of Schumpeter is itself dated. Nonetheless, Schumpeter's ideas are carefully developed; moreover, he explores all manner of connections between and among those with other ideas, including those he rejects.

The approach discussed in Social Mechanisms is quite interesting and fruitful. Jon Elster has been calling for more considerations of mechanisms, basically micro explanations for macro level regularities, as an antidote for theoretical anemia for many years now. This book is the result of a conference held to discuss this issue. Several of the articles are really top notch: Hedstrom & Swedborg's intro essay, Schelling, Hernes, and Sorensen. (Elster's contribution is rather disappointing, actually.) We've used this in a methodology class for graduate students and the readings are very useful and accessible. The main failing of the material is that it stays at the abstract level too much and often fails to provide really useful concrete examples.

This book is based on interviews with economists and sociologist, who have tried to bridge the traditional gap between economics and sociology. Gary Becker, James Coleman, Mark Granovetter, Mancur Olson, Albert Hirschman, Jon Elster, Amartya Sen, among others, are among the interviewees. The reader will not find any remarkable insights in this book, but the interviews are generally quite nice to read. The book makes nice bedtime reading, but not much more.