Description
Book SynopsisSocial 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.
Trade ReviewWinner of the Choice award for Outstanding Academic 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
Table of ContentsList of Figures ix
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
