Economic Networks
PESS - Polity Economy and Society Series
1. Auflage September 2012
180 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Social relations are crucial for understanding diverse economic actions and a network perspective is central to that explanation. Simple exchanges involving money, labor, and commodities combine into complexly connected systems. Economic networks span many levels of analysis, from persons (consumers, employees), to groups (households, workteams), organizations (corporations, interest groups), populations (industries, markets) and the rapidly expanding global economic system.
David Knoke blends network theories from a range of disciplines and empirical studies of domestic and international economies to illuminate how economic activity is embedded in and constrained by social ties among economic actors. Social capital, in the form of connections to others holding valuable resources, is vital for finding a job, buying a car, creating a new industry, or triggering a global financial crisis. In nontechnical terms the author explicates the core network concepts, measures, and analysis methods behind these phenomena. The book also includes many striking network diagrams to provide visual insights into complex structural patterns.
This accessible book offers an invaluable critique for both undergraduate and graduate students in economic sociology and social network analysis courses who seek a better understanding of the multifaceted economic webs in which we are all entangled.
Preface xi
1 Economics and Social Networks 1
Mainstream and Alternative Economic Theories 3
The Economic Sociology Perspective 13
The Social Network Perspective 21
Summary and Outline of the Book 24
2 Markets and Networks 25
Labor Markets 28
Consumer Markets 41
Producer Markets 56
Summary 64
3 Networks inside Organizations 66
Micro-Network Concepts 69
Social Capital 75
Forming Employee Networks 81
Network Outcomes 90
Team Networking 105
Summary 110
4 Networks among Organizations 111
Business Startup Networks 112
Business Groups 118
Interlocking Directorates 128
Strategic Alliances 131
Evolution of Interorganizational Networks 146
Summary 155
5 Global Networks 157
International Networks 158
Supply and Commodity Chains 163
World Cities Networks 165
A Transnational Capitalist Class? 171
Networks of the Global Financial Crisis 177
Summary 186
6 Looking Forward 187
Theory Construction 188
Empirical Tools 191
Connecting Economy and Polity 193
Appendix: Network Resources 197
References 200
Index 232
Title
"Knoke very aptly illustrates the importance of networks in the
economy and thus helps to make concrete contributions to economic
sociology... The book is an excellent introduction ... and
would work well as a supplement for an introductory course in
economic sociology and sociology of networks."
Lectures
"A masterful integration of numerous and diverseprojects pertaining
to economic networks."
Sociologica
"Scholarship on the role of social networks in economic exchange
has been growing at a fast clip, suffusing through several regions
of sociology and even into economics itself. David Knoke performs a
signal service in ordering and integrating diverse streams of
research - at every level from individual economic choices to
the structure of the global economy - in this comprehensive,
sagacious, and highly readable volume."
Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University
"David Knoke brings his years of experience analyzing political
networks to a broad review of network mechanisms in economic
sociology. This is a useful text for anyone interested in a quick,
literate, and insightful overview of the burgeoning research on the
ways social networks shape economic phenomena."
Ronald Burt, University of Chicago Booth School of
Business
"Having shown the power of the structural approach in both
political (1990) and organizational (2001) settings, Dr. Knoke now
turns his clear eye to the structural foundations of our economic
system. Skillfully bridging levels of analysis from the
embeddedness of employees to connectivity in the global system,
this book provides a wonderful overview of how economic
understanding requires networks. This clear and careful book will
be an asset to scholars across the social sciences."
James Moody, Duke University
