Book Review: V. Sociology: General Sociology

Book Review The Economic Sociology of Capitalism

Comparative economists have gradually concluded that success or failure in transition to democratic capitalism is a matter of institutions, not geography or leadership or outside assistance. However, why do some countries exhibit pro-growth institutions, with little corruption or rent seeking? And how can we explain the relative successes of very different forms of capitalism, such as the USA, ...

Literature Review: Sociology and Risk

Ethnography of Development Sociology

Development sociology as a distinct area of study gained prominence in the post-world war era with the evolving interest in political and economic progression of the post-colonial world. The emerging discipline from the mainstream sociology have been particularly interested in development paths and strategies adopted in nations in the various regions of the world with greater emphasis in develo...

Public sociology and economic sociology: introductory remarks

This issue of SER contains three articles on public sociology and economic sociology, which all have their origin in a session on this theme that was held at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in August 2006 in Montreal. The reason for organizing this session was a sense that ‘new economic sociology’ has ignored many of the issues that are associated with the term ‘publ...

Prologue: Sociology, Medicine and Medical Sociology

Do all disciplines fret over the state of their own intellectual and policy-relevant health? Is it a symptom of our hyper-reflexive and confessional times that collective anxiety has to be rehearsed over the track record, and present and projected performance of a group of scholars? Medical sociology’s lengthy reflections on the state of its own practice are recognizable as part of a more gener...