Re-Imagining Economic Sociology. Edited by Patrik Aspers and Nigel Dodd. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. xiii+324. $110.00.
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694686.pdf
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Author(s)
Zuckerman Sivan, Ezra W
Date Issued
November 2017
Journal
American Journal of Sociology
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Citation
Zuckerman, Ezra. “Re-Imagining Economic Sociology. Edited by Patrik Aspers and Nigel Dodd. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. Xiii+324. $110.00.” American Journal of Sociology 123, no. 3 (November 2017): 933–936.
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Final published version
Abstract
Here’s a basic criterion for evaluating a social scientific theory: Does the theory make progress addressing an important, difficult “research question” that other social scientists can appreciate? This criterion seems so obvious as to be banal. After all, a social scientific theory is a tool—a means, not an end. And we cannot assess the value of a tool if we do not know what tasks it helps us solve; nor can we know the limits of that tool and whether we might need to combine that tool with others to get the job done. And finally, without knowing the purpose of the tool, we can hardly assess the toolmaker’s claims that she has made improvements in the tool or that her tool is superior to those of competitors.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1086/694686
