Economics and sociology


Semester 3

Jérome Gautié


Economics and sociology have had complex and even conflictual relationships from the very beginning of the latter. The objective of the seminar is to better understand what separates the two disciplines, from a theoretical, methodological and epistemological point of view, and to analyze the evolution of their relationship throughout history, from the end of the 19th century to the present day.

The perspective adopted is not only that of epistemology and the history of thought. An approach in terms of the sociology of science is necessary to understand how these two fields of knowledge were constituted and interacted, over time and in different national spaces.


Syllabus


References

  • Becker G., (1976) - “The Economic Approach to Human Behavior”, in The Economic Approach to Human Behavior, University of Chicago Press, pp.1-13.
  • Becker G., Murphy K. (2000), Social Economics, Cambridge MA, Belknap Press/Harvard University Press.
  • Bourdieu P. (1997), “Le champ économique”, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, vol.119, n°1, pp. 48-66
  • Fourcade M. (2009), Economists and Societies, Discipline and Profession in the United-States, Britain and France, 1890s to 1990s, Princeton, Princeton University Press.
  • Fourcade M., Ollion E., Algan Y. (2015), “The Superiority of Economists”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(1), Winter, p.89-114.
  • Gautié J. (2007), « L’économie à ses frontières (psychologie, sociologie) », Revue économique, 58(4), p.927-939.
  • Granovetter M. (1985). - « Economic Action and Social Structure, the Problem of Embededness », American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), pp.481-510, (traduit dans Granovetter M., Le marché autrement, Desclée de Brouwer, 2001).
  • Smelser N., Swedberg R. (2005). Handbook of Economic Sociology, Princeton University Press.
  • Steiner P. (1990). La sociologie économique, La Découverte.
  • Swedberg R. (1990). Economics and Sociology, redefining their boundaries, conversation with economists and sociologists, Russell Sage Foundation.