6   Smelser/Swedberg. The Tradition of Economic Sociology

6     Smelser/Swedberg

norms and institutions. The latter only emerge when markets cannot be constructed or when tra­ditional rational choice analysis fails. Economic so­ciology, on the other hand, has always regarded the economic process as an organic part of society. As a consequence, economic sociology has usually concentrated on three main lines of inquiry: (1) the sociological analysis of economic process; (2) the analysis of the connections and interactions be­tween the economy and the rest of society; and (3) the study of changes in the institutional and cul­tural parameters that constitute the economy's so­cietal context.

Goals of Analysis

As social scientists, both economists and sociol­ogists try to explain phenomena encompassed by their respective subject matters. Within this com­mon interest, however, different emphases emerge. Economists tend to be critical of descriptions— they condemn traditional institutional economics as too descriptive and atheoretical. Instead they stress the importance of prediction. Sociologists, by contrast, offer fewer formal predictions, and often find sensitive and telling descriptions both interesting in themselves and essential for explana­tion. As a result of these differences, sociologists often criticize economists for generating formal and abstract models and ignoring empirical data, and economists reproach sociologists for their " post factum sociological interpretations" (Merton 1968, 147-49). Though these differences have be­come part of the professional cultures of econo­mists and sociologists, it should be noted that the last 10 years have seen a new interest for model building and game theory among sociologists, and a new interest in culture and use of empirical ma­terial among economists (e. g., Greif 1998, forth­coming; Swedberg 2001). It is also possible that the fields of economics and economic sociology may one day agree on some methodological com­promise, say along the lines of " analytic narratives" (Bates et al. 1998).

Models Employed

The emphasis on prediction constitutes one rea­son why mainstream economists place such high value on expressing hypotheses and models in mathematical form. Though the advantages of this formal theorizing are readily apparent, economists themselves have at times complained that it tends to become an end in itself. In his presidential ad­dress to the American Economic Association in 1970, Wassily Leontief criticized his profession's

uncritical enthusiasm for mathematical formula­tion" (1971, 1). When economists do turn to em­pirical data, they tend to rely mainly on those gen­erated for them by economic processes themselves (for example, aggregated market behavior, stock exchange transactions, and official economic statis­tics gathered by governmental agencies). Sample surveys are occasionally used, especially in con­sumer economics and in labor economics; archival data are seldom consulted, except by -economic historians; and ethnographic work is virtually non­existent. By contrast, sociologists rely heavily on a great variety of methods, including analyses of cen­sus data, independent survey analyses, participant observation and fieldwork, and the analysis of qualitative historical and comparative data.

Intellectual Traditions

Sociologists not only rely on different intellectu­al traditions that overlap only slightly, but they also regard those traditions differently. Evidently influ­enced by the natural science model of systematic accumulation of knowledge, economists have shown less interest than sociologists in study and exegesis of their classics (with notable exceptions such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo). Corre­spondingly, economics reveals a sharp distinction between current economic theory and the history of economic thought. In sociology these two facets blend more closely. The classics are very much alive, and are often required reading in the­ory courses.

Despite these differences, and despite the per­sisting gulf between the traditions of economics and economic sociology, some evidence of synthe­sis can be identified. Major figures such as Alfred Marshall, Vilfredo Pareto, and Talcott Parsons have attempted theoretical syntheses. Certain other figures, notably Weber and Schumpeter, have excited interest among both economists and sociologists. In addition, economists and sociolo­gists find it profitable to collaborate in specific problem areas such as poverty and labor markets. Later in the chapter we will reraise the issue of intellectual articulation among economists and sociologists.

The Tradition of Economic Sociology

There exists a large and rich tradition of eco­nomic sociology, which roughly begins around the turn of the twentieth century. This tradition has generated both important concepts and ideas and