Reading's on economic sociology

One of the most debated issues in the past century concerns the role of cultural elements in economic life. A radical spokesman on one side of the debate is Karl Marx, who believed that the economic structure of society determines the general character of its cultural life. Another side of the debate is represented by Max Weber. Basing his case on the comparative analysis of religions, Weber argued that ideas, especially religious ones, exercise an independent influence on a society's economic activity. All the selections in this section concern issues re lated at least indirectly to this debate. In the opening selection, Birnbaum reviews the Marx-Weber controversy. In the second, Kennedy investigates the applica bility of the "Weber thesis" to an Indian setting. The following selection (by Bendix) explores some of the connections between ideologies and economic de velopment in different national settings, while the article by Chinoy analyzes the ideological "rationalizations" held by workers whose careers fall far short of the American success ideal. In the final selection, Halsey shows how universities major "producers of culture"-have both responded to the needs of advanced economic development and increased capacity to initiate even further development.

The readings contain several "classical" papers, which both summarize and extend the thinking of the economic and social aspects of life. The book's aim is to coordinate the component parts which comprise the field of economic sociology, some of which include: economics, labor relations, economic anthropology, and industrial sociology and psychology.