“Like out-of-control Godzillas, financial markets have become monsters that eat everything. Why do they do this, and how can they be controlled? Sociologists want to know.
Most analyses of the current economic morass start and end with finance. Maybe it was unruly lending to home borrowers, or maybe it was new financial instruments that we didn’t understand but now must love — just like Dr. Strangelove and the bomb. Many now believe that capitalism has undergone a “Copernican revolution” in which financial markets are now the core of our economic system — giving the boot to the centrality of corporations.
In reaction, sociologists are taking their turn in the explanatory arena. Sociology is about understanding how societies operate and where meaning and values are found. What are the nonfinancial impacts of the ascendency of finance? Economic sociology is now the fastest-growing field in sociology and is elbowing its way into finance and business departments.”
Read the full article by Jay Youngdahl on the East Bay Express website.