Who are the Top Professors in Economic Sociology?

[2010Applicant]

I wonder if experienced grad students or people familiar with the field may provide me a BIG NAMEs in economic sociology.

Of course, economic sociology is still a broad category, and what I am actually looking for are professors doing social theory and so-called 'capitalism and society' (more macro/holistic, I guess).

I've come across Cornell's Center of Economy and Society, where Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg fit well within the category.

Sorry I may not be precise enough. I am an economics student; very interested in but not familiar with the sociological way of looking at the economy. THANKS!

[alienatedlaborer]

Granovetter, Meyer, and Hannan are all big names, and all at Stanford. MIT has Zuckerman, and a great econ soc department in general.

The line between economic sociology and organizational sociology is rather blurry, so you might consider also looking at organizational soc people. In that realm, DiMaggio (Princeton), Uzzi (Northwestern), and Podolny (formerly @ Yale, now doing... something for Apple) are all big names. Of course, Cornell also has a great program for this.

Granovetter and Swedberg put together an econ soc reader that contains many core readings, and is worth a look. Beware that much early econ soc was devoted to debunking basic economic (i.e., rational actor) approaches to markets and money. Once you get past the disciplinary boundary making, it's some interesting stuff.

[2010Applicant]

Thanks Alienatedlaborer, esp. regarding the note on organizational sociology. Seeing from that angle, I think I am looking for those professors not that much associated with organizational sociology.

I've looked at Michael Hannan's webpage. I am sure he is doing some form of economic sociology, but researching on 'the dynamics of categories in the wine and restaurant industry' doesn't seem to me something very relevant to what we normally refer to as 'capitalism'. Well, I guess I am still having in mind the traditions of Polanyi and Schumpeter, at least on that level of robustness if not that qualitative. Are there any names? Or have they become extinct? Anyone? Thanks in advance.

[mediahistory]

He's not nominally an Economic Sociologist, but Richard R. John at Columbia may be of interest.

Edited to add: How about Mark Crispin Miller at NYU-Steinhardt, or Robert McChesney at UIUC?

Edited February 11, 2010 by mediahistory

[bb385]

Thanks Alienatedlaborer, esp. regarding the note on organizational sociology. Seeing from that angle, I think I am looking for those professors not that much associated with organizational sociology.

I've looked at Michael Hannan's webpage. I am sure he is doing some form of economic sociology, but researching on 'the dynamics of categories in the wine and restaurant industry' doesn't seem to me something very relevant to what we normally refer to as 'capitalism'. Well, I guess I am still having in mind the traditions of Polanyi and Schumpeter, at least on that level of robustness if not that qualitative. Are there any names? Or have they become extinct? Anyone? Thanks in advance.

It sounds like what you're really looking for is political economy and not economic sociology. Economic sociology, as was previous mentioned, is organizational sociology or sociology of work. Political economy can masquerade under such guises as political sociology, comparative/historical sociology, sociology of (economic) knowledge, or even nationalism and nation building. As you can probably guess, there are a number of big names in each of these subfields as they deal with political economy.