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This paper explores the presence and consideration of economics in sociology, specifically its classical version. It identifies certain original and independent economic theories, concepts and approaches in classical sociological theory as central and its derivations, implications and extensions of economics as peripheral. The paper argues and demonstrates that classical sociology is far from being the science of noneconomic or irrational phenomena, as often sociologists conceive it and economists perceive it in counter-distinction from economics defined as the science of rational behavior, and indeed encompasses virtually all economic activities and processes, and thus prefigures New Economic Sociology adopting the same approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime lights imagery has proven to be a powerful remote sensing tool to monitor urbanization and assess socioeconomic activities at large scales. However, the existence of incompatible digital number (DN) values and geometric errors severely limit application of nighttime light image data on multiyear quantitative research. In this paper, we extend and improve previous studies on intercalibrating nighttime lights image data to obtain more compatible and reliable nighttime lights time-series (NLT) image data for China and the U.S. through four steps, namely, intercalibration, geometric correction, steady-increase adjustment, and population data correction. We then use gross domestic product (GDP) data to test the processed NLT image data indirectly and find that sum light (summed DN value of pixels in a nighttime light image) maintains apparent increase trends with relatively large GDP growth rates but does not increase or decrease with relatively small GDP growth rates. As nighttime light is a sensitive indicator for economic activity, the temporally consistent trends between sum light and GDP growth rate imply that brightness of nighttime lights on the ground is correctly represented by the processed NLT image data. Finally, through analyzing the corrected NLT image data from 1992 to 2008, we find that China experienced apparent nighttime lights development in 1992-1997 and 2001-2008, respectively, and the U.S. showed nighttime lights decay in large areas after 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper deals with the lack of attention that many socially minded economists pay to social issues, with social costs being a special case. It argues that while these economists acknowledge that social costs exist, and are rooted in the way the economy functions, they do not frame their economic inquiries accordingly. This is because they believe that scientific dialogue is possible only by accepting a commonly shared ground for scientific inquiry that focuses on restricted, but generally accepted goals. This behavior obscures a major implication of systemic openness: The choice of goals and the way scientific inquiry is carried out do not depend on once-and-for-all criteria, but require the explicit formulation of a range of value judgments. The conclusion of the paper is that it is possible to deal with social issues while pursuing scientific dialogue, but this requires framing the dialogue in a twofold manner: identifying the shared grounds of inquiry and identifying the specific issues to be investigated [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper offers a sociological explanation for why the field of economics has so severely restricted the scope of its analysis to the point where it failed to foresee the financial crises, economic recessions, and other large shifts in economic activity that have characterized the global economy in recent decades. This paper's analysis of the culture of economics draws heavily on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist who developed a useful framework with which to analyze the culture of an intellectual field like economics. Specifically, the paper describes how the neo-liberal doxa supports the restrictive neoclassical (marginalist) modeling approach that is a central element of the habitus of mainstream economics. Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence shows how the orthodox economics culture perpetuates itself even in the face of the complete failure of the culture's favored neoclassical and rational expectations models to anticipate recent macroeconomic crises. The paper concludes with some thoughts on how this understanding of the culture of economics can enable economists to free themselves from the oppressive culture of mainstream economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic thought evolved over the past two centuries to focus on individual behavior as the basis for all economic activity. Some heterodox economists have pointed to the importance of group behavior and the influence of organizations on economic activity, but the neoclassical paradigm, with the rational isolated individual as its main actor, prevails in mainstream economics. This paper presents a "sociology of economics" to explain why the prevailing paradigm of economics does not allow seeing and studying group behavior. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the paper details the habitus, the system of beliefs and the symbolic violence against those who question them. Also, it highlights the support of commercial and financial interests to the dominant culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private information is at the heart of many economic activities. For decades, economists have assumed that individuals are willing to misreport private information if this maximizes their material payoff. We combine data from 90 experimental studies in economics, psychology, and sociology, and show that, in fact, people lie surprisingly little. We then formalize a wide range of potential explanations for the observed behavior, identify testable predictions that can distinguish between the models, and conduct new experiments to do so. Our empirical evidence suggests that a preference for being seen as honest and a preference for being honest are the main motivations for truth‐telling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relevant and consistent with the recent growing interest to assess the contribution of women to economic activities in Sudan, this study seeks to assess women's contribution to their household food supply and nutrition status in rural Sudan. As for the contribution of the research, the research is expected to contribute to improve the understanding of the important contribution of women to economic activities and in particular in providing and improving household food security in Sudan and thus valuing the potential role of women in reducing hunger and malnutrition. Agricultural production (farm and livestock products) with supplemental resources (processed and preserved food items) and substitute resources (forest trees and wild food products) represent the available resources for the household food consumption in rural Sudan. Income generating activities along with other possible income sources (cash crops, trees products, pension, assets, remittance from migrants, and savings sources) provide household with income to afford foods. The finding of this study implies that in most rural areas in Sudan women are more capable than men in terms of the ability to use and allocate the available resources for the purpose to improve food security for their families. For the purpose of this paper, improvement of the household food security refers to the expanding availability and accessibility of nutritional food on sustainable basis. In this regard this study has indicated that women in rural Sudan play a crucial role in improving their household food security, as they contribute to food production, enhance dietary quality and consumption diversity. Therefore, based on the findings in this paper, the major policy implication is that crucial role of women in this context can greatly be enhanced through adoption of supportive national and local development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional economics has moved from a position, earlier in the twentieth century, of drawing eclectically on several other disciplines, to a stance of building its arguments almost entirely out of neoclassical materials. This paper argues that such a stance cannot provide a persuasive account of economic institutions, and suggests a broader foundation based on classical sociological arguments about the embeddedness of economic goals and activities in socially oriented goals and structures. Emphasis is placed on how economic activity comes to be coordinated by groups of people rather than carried out by isolated individuals. Firms in developing countries, business groups, and the origins of the electrical utility industry in the United States are posed as cases of the 'social construction of economic institutions'. It is argued that, although proper analysis of such cases involves a high level of contingency, these contingencies can be taken into account in a systematic theoretical argument, and that historicist pitfalls can be avoided. Such an argument is posed as the distinctive agenda for a new economic sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the social systems of Europe expanded to the then future Canada-U.S. area, their first activities centered on the fisheries. Despite long history, the fisheries are territory for exploring by historians, economists, and various natural scientists. The fisheries are especially good sources of empirical data for the interpenetration of economic and social activity. This deals with only one part of a study. Even here it illustrates the rights and duties which inhere in a functional analysis of roles related to the ends of economic activity. One should note especially the use of such ideas in analysis of social situations by judge and lawyer long before their adoption into sociology. One may also see court decisions in view of modern and ancient technologies. Kinship can be seen as inhibiting property controversies which arise where it does not obtain. And finally, one can see the struggle to change older decisions while also seeing the probable limits to that struggle as long as the present frame of reference is used in these law courts.

It has been argued persuasively that social networks hold relevance for economic action. Yet, in light of the taken-for-granted role of prices, it is crucial to specify when and how social networks influence the efficiency of economic actions taken by actors oriented primarily, as business firms tend to be, toward economic objectives. In this article the author contends that when actors need to but cannot, independently or via market mechanisms, cost-effectively ascertain the identity and reliability of potential exchange partners, then scope exists for social networks to appreciably and systematically influence efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly assumed that environmentalism harms national economies because environmental regulations constrain economic activity arid create incentives for firms to move production and investment to other countries. We point out that global environmentalism involves large-scale institutional changes that: (1) encourage new kinds of economic activity and (2) reconstruct economic value such that environmental protection is rewarded in the market. We employ cross-national panel analyses to examine the effects of national environmentalism on economic growth, trade, industry and investment. We find that pro-environmental countries fare better in terms of economic growth, investment and size of the industrial and service sectors. We find no impact of environmentalism on foreign investment and trade. Firms and investment do not appear to be fleeing countries with strong environmental standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the business systems perspective in reference to comparisons and contrasts of the different ways of organizing economic activities which have become established in different institutional contexts. It mainly concentrates on the challenge to the business systems perspective from economics. This in turn leads into the opposite challenge, namely, the challenge of the business-systems perspective to economics. Recent years have witnessed a "reverse sociological imperialism" in which the earlier sociological reverence for economics has been replaced by a new aggressive stance, according to which sociologists are fully entitled to study economic phenomena notably markets and, hierarchies. Business systems can be characterized and differentiated on features like, different types and levels of specialization , the degree of separation between ownership and control, that is, the mode of corporate governance, organizing principles that influence firm routines and capabilities through their influence on authority relations, organizational structures etc.

This article studies the importance of economic activity, economic potential and economic resources for the timing of first births in Norway. Changes in the aggregate number of births are determined both by the quantum and tempo of fertility at the individual level. Previous research has identified a number of factors that seem to have a bearing on the timing of parenthood. Above all, the woman's education has generally been found to be a very important determinant of the timing of first births, as well as lifetime fertility. Its importance may even have increased during the last few decades. Recent German research has shown that the delayed first births among the better-educated are largely linked with continuing educational activity, whereas a higher educational level has no net inhibiting effect on first birth rates. Little is known about the impact of work experience on the timing of entry into motherhood. This is a subject of growing importance, because of the continuing high level of youth unemployment in much of the industrialized world. Results from previous empirical studies have been contradictory, and the few attempts that have been made to gain theoretical insight have not provided strong predictions.

The purpose of this article is to examine the relation between the economic and the social dimensions of the community. Most of the data were derived from an earlier study to determine the critical dimensions of the community and its underlying structure. The county is the unit of observation employed because of the absence of data for the sociological community. This poses a problem, however, since of course counties often include more than one community. Nevertheless, the ever-changing boundaries of the sociological community render longitudinal studies almost impossible. Moreover, consensus is lacking among social scientists concerning the meaning of the concept of community. Several other rather compelling facts make the county a valuable unit for study. Use of the county by agricultural extension workers, city and regional planners testifies to its acceptance and value as a unit of observation. Perhaps the most cogent argument favoring use of the county is its permanency as a governmental unit. Use of the county presents a serious limitation, however, in that one is unable to deal with intracounty variations in the level of economic activity, despite the fact that typically substantial variations exist from community to community.