Economic Sociology

Geld ist nicht alles? Aber Geld ist ziemlich viel: Macht, Status, Lebensgrundlage. Und Grund für ziemlich viele Gefühle: Scham, Neid, Eifersucht. Aber auch Sicherheit, Glück, Freiheit. Was macht Geld mit uns, und was machen wir mit Geld? Mareice Kaiser erzählt ihre eigene Geldgeschichte und trifft Menschen, mit denen sie über Geld spricht. Vom Pfandflaschensammler bis zum Multi-Millionär stellt sie ihnen Fragen: Wie viel Geld ist genug? Wie viel Geld macht glücklich? Wer sollte mehr Geld haben? Wer weniger? Und wie könnte Geld gerechter verteilt sein?

Acclaimed Oxford scholar David Priestland proposes a radical new approach to understanding today’s balance of power and analyzes the societal and economic historical conditions required for one of these three value systems to dominate. Priestland asserts that, in the wake of the Great Recession, the weakened and discredited merchant still clings to power - but the world is again in the midst of a period of upheaval.

In 2002, the town of Galesburg, a slowly declining Rustbelt city of 33,000 in western Illinois, learned that it would soon lose its largest factory, a Maytag refrigerator plant that had anchored Galesburg's social and economic life for decades. Workers at the plant earned $15.14 an hour, had good insurance, and were assured a solid retirement. In 2004, the plant was relocated to Reynosa, Mexico, where workers sometimes spent 13-hour days assembling refrigerators for $1.10 an hour.

The Anchor Hocking Glass Company, once the world's largest maker of glass tableware, was the base on which Lancaster's society was built. As Glass House unfolds, bankruptcy looms. With access to the company and its leaders, and Lancaster's citizens, Alexander shows how financial engineering took hold in the 1980s, accelerated in the 21st century, and wrecked the company.

Generation Y faces the bleakest economic landscape in modern history. The recent spikes in unemployment and debt, alongside a drop in marriage, home-buying, and childbearing rates, will have long-term consequences for a group that had no hand in creating the financial crisis. For these young adults, the American Dream is moving farther out of reach. Worse still, leaders aren't doing anything about it.

This is the story of how a crude French settlement along the Detroit River in 1701 became the birthplace of the automotive industry in 1900.

Wir steuern auf eine Großkrise zu: Die Freiheitsrechte und die Marktwirtschaft erodieren, das monetäre System kollabiert, die Eliten versagen. Durch maßlose Umverteilung gleiten wir in einen planwirtschaftlichen Staatsmonopolkapitalismus ab. Markus Krall hat bereits in seinen früheren Bestsellern diese Gefahren eindrucksvoll beschworen. In seinem neuen Buch ruft er nun unsere Leistungselite dazu auf, aufzuwachen und die Krise als Chance für eine bürgerliche Revolution zu nutzen.

"Min uimodståelige mand" er en vittig og personlig beretning om manglen på ligestilling i en tid, hvor #MeToo-bølgen forandrer, hvad politikere ikke har magtet, og kvindebevægelser altid har drømt om. Dokumentarist, forfatter og feminist Mette Korsgaard opsøger forskere og eksperter for at finde en forklaring på, hvorfor Danmark halter bagud på ligestillingsbarometeret, hvorfor vi ikke orker at tale om det, og hvorfor vi alle i bund og grund er mandschauvinister. Vidste du for eksempel, at mødre til små drenge med stor nøjagtighed kan vurdere, hvor stejlt deres børn kan kravle, mens mødre til piger ofte undervurderer pigernes evner?

In 21st century Britain, what does it mean to be working class? This book asks 24 working class writers to examine the issue as it relates to them. Examining representation, literature, sexuality, gender, art, employment, poverty, childhood, culture and politics, this book is a broad and firsthand account of what it means to be drawn from the bottom of Britain's archaic but persistent class structure.

"La crise. On ne parlait que de ça, mais sans savoir réellement qu'en dire, ni comment en prendre la mesure. Tout donnait l'impression d'un monde en train de s'écrouler."

Eric Mielants provides a fresh, interdisciplinary interpretation of the origins of modernity in general and of capitalism in particular. He argues that, contrary to established thinking, the "Rise of the West" should not be examined through the lens of the Industrial Revolution or of the colonization of the New World but viewed through long-term developments that began in the Middle Ages.

The United States bills itself as the land of opportunity, a place where anyone can achieve success and a better life through hard work and determination. But the facts tell a different story - the US today lags behind most other developed nations in measures of inequality and economic mobility. For decades, wages have stagnated for the majority of workers while economic gains have disproportionately gone to the top one percent.

Who is the richest person in the world, ever? Does where you were born affect how much money you'll earn over a lifetime? How would we know? Why, beyond the idle curiosity, do these questions even matter? In The Haves and the Have-Nots, Branko Milanovic, one of the world's leading experts on wealth, poverty, and the gap that separates them, explains these and other mysteries of how wealth is unevenly spread throughout our world, now and through time.

Kaum eine Gruppe innerhalb des Arbeitsmarktes hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten einen so rasanten Anstieg des Lohnes erlebt wie sie - die Konzernchefs. Wie kann das sein? Begründet wird dies damit, dass der Markt nunmal die Gehälter vorgibt. Wirtschaftsexperte Dirk Schütz weiß, dass das so nicht ganz richtig ist, und dass hinter der Fassade nichts weiter als bloße Gier steckt. Anhand von Beispielen deutscher Großkonzerne zeigt er auf, wie das Managergehalt zum Hort des Drachen werden konnte - und was man dagegen tun kann.

Als sein Vater stirbt, reist Didier Eribon zum ersten Mal nach Jahrzehnten in seine Heimatstadt. Gemeinsam mit seiner Mutter sieht er sich Fotos an - das ist die Ausgangskonstellation dieses Werks, das autobiografisches Schreiben mit soziologischer Reflexion verknüpft. Eribon realisiert, wie sehr er unter der Homophobie seines Herkunftsmilieus litt und dass es der Habitus einer armen Arbeiterfamilie war, der es ihm schwer machte, in der Pariser Gesellschaft Fuß zu fassen.

In Italia - che pure non è tra i Paesi con più elevata disuguaglianza - i dieci individui più ricchi posseggono più risorse economiche dei circa tre milioni di individui più poveri. Molte sono le questioni di natura economica e politica che tale divario solleva. Quanta parte della ricchezza di un individuo deriva dal suo impegno e quanta invece è frutto del caso? Quanto contano eredità e origini sociali? È giusto che lo Stato si preoccupi di redistribuire la ricchezza o non dovrebbe piuttosto assicurare a ciascuno le stesse opportunità?

Dishing the Dirt tells the real-life story of house cleaners for the first time. Journalist Nick Duerden spoke to joyful cleaners, slave labourers, women who dust nude for men, gay cleaners, and butlers running the homes of multi-millionaires for this insightful, surprising and gripping non-fiction book.

In Privilege Lost, Jessi Streib traces the lives of over 100 youth born into the upper-middle-class. Following them for over 10 years as they transition from teens to young adults, Streib examines who falls from the upper-middle-class, how, and why don't they see it coming. In doing so, she reveals the patterned ways that individuals' resources and identities push them onto mobility paths - and the complicated choices youth make between staying true to themselves and staying in their class position.

Evolving from the premise that customers have always behaved more like cats than Pavlov's dogs, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? examines how emerging media have undermined the effectiveness of prevailing mass marketing models. At the same time, emerging media have created an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to redefine how they communicate with customers by leveraging the power of increasingly interconnected media channels.

Paul Robert digs down to the economic roots of the problem, shows how it has metastisized to affect every facet of our lives and our ability to navigate the future. In clear, cogent prose that mixes illuminating analysis and vibrant reporting, Roberts not only tells the fascinating story of how the impulse society came to be, but shows how, perhaps, a healthier society may still be possible.