Bücher der Reihe Routledge Advances in Social Economics

How Social Forces Impact the Economy demonstrates that a broader conception of social economics provides for a better understanding of how economies work. It argues that adopting a social approach opens the door to studying how people learn by taking cues from others about what to consume.

Mainstream economics offers a perspective on the gift which is constructed around exchange, axioms of self-interest, instrumental rationality and utility-maximisation - concepts that predominate within conventional forms of economic analysis. Recognising the gift as an example of social practice underpinned by social institutions, this book moves beyond this utilitarian approach to explore perspectives on the gift from social and institutional economics.Through contributions from an international and interdisciplinary cast of authors, the chapters explore key questions such as: what is the relationship between social institutions, on the one hand, and gift, exchange, reciprocity on the other? What are the social mechanisms that underpin gift and gift-giving actions? And finally, what is the relationship between individuals, societies, gift-giving and cooperation? The answers to these questions and others serve to highlight the importance of the analysis of gift in economics and other social sciences. The book also demonstrates the potential of the analysis of the gift to contribute to solving current problems for humanity at various levels of social aggregation.This key text makes a significant contribution to the literature on the gift which will be of interest to readers of heterodox economics, social anthropology, philosophy of economics, sociology and political philosophy.

Showcasing fuzzy set theory, this book highlights the enormous potential of fuzzy logic in helping to analyse the complexity of a wide range of socio-economic patterns and behaviour.The contributions to this volume explore the most up-to-date fuzzy-set methods for the measurement of socio-economic phenomena in a multidimensional and/or dynamic perspective. Thus far, fuzzy-set theory has primarily been utilised in the social sciences in the field of poverty measurement. These chapters examine the latest work in this area, while also exploring further applications including social exclusion, the labour market, educational mismatch, sustainability, quality of life and violence against women. The authors demonstrate that real-world situations are often characterised by imprecision, uncertainty and vagueness, which cannot be properly described by the classical set theory which uses a simple true-false binary logic. By contrast, fuzzy-set theory has been shown to be a powerful tool for describing the multidimensionality and complexity of social phenomena.This book will be of significant interest to economists, statisticians and sociologists utilising quantitative methods to explore socio-economic phenomena.

This volume provides a collection of critical new perspectives on social capital theory by examining how social values, power relationships, and social identity interact with social capital. This book seeks to extend this theory into what have been largely under-investigated domains, and, at the same time, address long-standing, classic questions in the literature concerning the forms, determinants and consequences of social capital.

Focuses on the role of ethics, morality, identity, and society in economic theorizing. This book describes the diverse and dynamic theoretical approaches that are employed in social economics. It is useful for students and academics in the fields of Economics, Sociology, Gender Studies, and Public Policy.

This text argues that in the age of globalization and rapid technological change, an understanding of business behaviour and government policy towards business requires an appreciation of the firm's human dimension.

Health care reform has long been dominated by the techniques of mainstream economics and the constant application of the tools of cost-benefit analysis. However, a more socially responsible approach is emerging due to issues such as privacy and genetic testing. This work explore these phenomena.

Poverty and inequality remain at the top of the global economic agenda, and the methodology of measuring poverty continues to be a key area of research. This new book, from a leading international group of scholars, offers an up to date and innovative survey of new methods for estimating poverty at the local level, as well as the most recent multidimensional methods of the dynamics of poverty.

Geographers, historians of technology and sociologists have devoted attention to trying to figure out what makes consumption meaningful. By contrast, economists have been content to hold onto theories of consumption that depend on a self-interested representative agent making utility maximizing decisions. This book develops this account.

Explore the way society develops using the equally radical, but very different approaches of Thorstein Veblen and Karl Marx.

This volume expands on the standard economic framework of 'global economy' by looking at the way in which economic life is framed by society and social relationships and investigates how social values influence and help determine economic values.

Offers an interpretation of social enterprises as entrepreneurial organizations that pursue social objectives and are successful due to the non-self-seeking motives of their members.

Concentrates on ethnic minorities such as former slaves, outcastes and indigenous peoples dispossessed of homeland. This book asks why these socially excluded groups remain at the bottom of their social hierarchies as the poorest of the poor, even in nations long committed to equal opportunity.

The concept of the individual and his/her motivations is a bedrock of philosophy. Economics, though, is guilty of taking this hugely important concept without questioning how we theorise it. This superb book remedies this oversight.

This book presents the first comprehensive analyis of both paid and unpaid work time, integrating a unique discussion of overwork, underwork, shortening of the working week and flexible work practices.

Presents a perspective on the link between economic growth and environmental change. The text covers key issues in environmental economics, including: industry creation and environmental change; air, water and toxic pollution; and ethics and the limits of environmental economics.

This book presents the first comprehensive analyis of both paid and unpaid work time, integrating a unique discussion of overwork, underwork, shortening of the working week and flexible work practices.

This work brings together leading practitioners from the field of social economics to address such issues as the transition from command economies, repairing dysfunctional economies, and to debate values and premises in social economics.

How Social Forces Impact the Economy demonstrates that a broader conception of social economics provides for a better understanding of how economies work. It argues that adopting a social approach opens the door to studying how people learn by taking cues from others about what to consume.