300219 Global markets. Theoretical tools and empirical studies (englisch) (S) (SoSe 2011)

The seminar discusses social conditions, characteristics and consequences of global markets, combining an interest in sociological theory with a broad range of empirical and historical studies. In the more theoretical part, we ask how sociological concepts of markets differ from (and claim to improve on) those of economists. Here, our emphasis is on contributions of authors such as Harrison White, Neil Fligstein, Michel Callon and other protagonists of the “New Economic Sociology”. In the empirical part, we apply these concepts to globalization dynamics and analyze the historical, socio-cultural and technological conditions and consequences of global markets. In order to grasp the structural similarities as well as the differences, we discuss a broad variety of cases ranging from consumer goods to currency markets, from the 19th century to current dynamics (such as the “coffee paradox”). The aim of the seminar is twofold: First, it offers an introduction to the “New Economic Sociology” and its possible connections with today’s burgeoning literature on globalization; secondly, it uses the case of global markets to explore general relations between sociological theory and empirical research on globalization.

The seminar is held in English; it belongs to the “international track” of the Master of Sociology.

Requirements for participation, required level

The seminar is held in English; it belongs to the “international track” of the Master of Sociology.

Bibliography

Daviron, Benoit/Stefano Ponte: The Coffee Paradox: Global Markets, Commodity Trade and the Elusive Promise of Development, London: Zed Books, 2005

Fligstein, Neil/Luke Dauter: The Sociology of Markets, Annual Review of Sociology 33 (2007), S. 105-128

Fourcade, Marion. 2007. "Theories of markets and theories of society." American Behavioral Scientist 50:1015-1034

Knorr Cetina, Karin, and Urs Bruegger. 2002. "Global Microstructures: The Virtual Societies of Financial Markets." American Journal of Sociology 107:905-950

Polanyi, Karl. 1995. The Great Transformation. The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Boston: Beacon

Quack, Sigrid. 2009. "'Global' Markets in Theory and History. Towards a Comparative Analysis." Pp. 125-142 in Wirtschaftssoziologie. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. Sonderheft 49, edited by Jens Beckert and Christoph Deutschmann. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

Swedberg, Richard. 2005. "Markets in Society." Pp. 233-253 in The Handbook of Economic Sociology, edited by Neil J. Smelser and Richard Swedberg. Princeton, NJ, New York: Princeton University Press

White, Harrison C.: Where Do Markets Come From, American Journal of Sociology 87, 1981/82, S. 517-547