The 'Unbearable Lightness' of the Economic Approach to Economic Behavior in the Social Setting: Rational Action and the Sociology of the Economy

This article builds the argument that Bourdieu’s dispositional theory of practice can help integrate the sociological tradition with three prominent strands of behavioral economics: bounded rationality, prospect theory, and time inconsistency. I make the case that the habitus provides an alternative framework to show how social and mental structure constitute one another, where cognitive tendencies toward irrationality can be either curtailed or amplified based on one’s position in the economic field and a person’s corresponding set of dispositions, ranging from more rational doxic dispositions to irrational allodoxic tendencies. Bridging economic sociology and behavioral economics, this work also bears on issues of persistent financial inequality reproduced through self-defeating patterns of economic behavior inculcated into individuals who occupy dominated positions in the social structure. Bourdieu’s thought, and in particular his conception of field+habitus, can usefully be applied to the empirical findings of behavioral economics to understand deviations from rational action as not only cognitive but also socially structured.

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Solidarity

10.1093/oso/9780198738527.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

David Dwan

Keyword(s):

Social Setting ◽

Social Divisions ◽

The Social ◽

Internal Coherence

Orwell’s writings repeatedly extol the virtues of solidarity, or what he liked to call brotherhood. But brotherhood was often something of an ordeal for Orwell as much as it was a coveted value and practice. The issue may be partly a question of character, but it also had a conceptual element: a) the compatibility of solidarity with other values, b) its internal coherence, as it sometimes re-enlists the social divisions it seeks to transcend, c) its problematic scope given its seemingly partisan nature, and d) its practicality in a modern social setting. This chapter examines these four issues in detail, showing how they contribute to the particular heft of Orwell’s writing—its angular sympathies and superbly uneven tone.

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Interactional means of teaming up: enacting the features of contemporary working life in a theater performance

Multimodal Communication ◽

10.1515/mc-2020-0004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Riikka Nissi ◽

Melisa Stevanovic

Keyword(s):

Working Life ◽

Social World ◽

The Other ◽

Social Setting ◽

Live Performance ◽

Societal Issues ◽

The Core ◽

The Social ◽

Workplace Organization ◽

The One

Abstract The article examines how the aspects of the social world are enacted in a theater play. The data come from a videotaped performance of a professional theater, portraying a story about a workplace organization going through a personnel training program. The aim of the study is to show how the core theme of the play – the teaming up of the personnel – is constructed in the live performance through a range of interactional means. By focusing on four core episodes of the play, the study on the one hand points out to the multiple changes taking place both within and between the different episodes of the play. On the other hand, the episodes of collective action involving the semiotic resources of singing and dancing are shown to represent the ideals of teamwork in distinct ways. The study contributes to the understanding of socially and politically oriented theater as a distinct, pre-rehearsed social setting and the means and practices that it deploys when enacting the aspects of the contemporary societal issues.

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Facets of the Irish Diaspora: ‘Irishness’ in 20th Century Scotland

Irish Journal of Sociology ◽

10.1177/079160359600600105 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 79-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Joseph M. Bradley

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Social Setting ◽

Population Groups ◽

Football Club ◽

The Public ◽

Public Arena ◽

Public Media ◽

The Social ◽

Common Identity

This paper argues that Celtic Football Club has played a central organising role in establishing a common identity for Catholics of Irish descent in Scotland. Concentrating on evidence taken from discourse in the public media, it draws attention to reactions to this identity by other population groups. Such responses, which are frequently ferocious in the degree of rejection they express, highlight the effects of Celtic's role. It provides a public arena within which Irishness can be expressed; at the same time, it draws fire from hostile elements in the social setting. Tensions within the Irish community about their common identity may in part be responses to these reactions.

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