COMPREHENSIVE EXAM IN ORGANIZATIONS, OCCUPATIONS, AND WORK
SPRING 2012
DAY 2: ECONOMIC SOCIOLOGY
Instructions: Answer any two of the following four questions.
1. What is economic sociology? Discuss some of its salient lines of inquiry, research,
theories or contributions. Provide a general assessment of the significance of economic
sociology.
2. Compare and contrast an economic analysis of “free markets” with a sociological
approach. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches. In your
discussion of the sociological approach, be sure to explain how the “free market”
functions as an ideology in U.S. society and globally.
3. The field of economic sociology has been dominated by white male scholars, whose
social and economic interests have shaped the field. Discuss this feminist critique of
economic sociology. How has feminism transformed economic sociology?
4. One of the central ideas of economic sociology is that markets are embedded in
nonmarket social relations. What is meant by the term "embeddedness?" Discuss the
relevance of this concept as applied to kinds of economic action, both at the interpersonal
level and at the inter-organizational level. Discuss some of the key contributors to this
area of sociology.