Technological Economy

In this major new collection, leading experts in the field of economic sociology combine to provide a critical overview of the latest approaches to the study of economics in the social sciences. Traditionally social scientists have taken one of two approaches towards the economy, either emphasizing the rationality of economic actors and the objective reality of market forces or alternatively rejecting these very notions as abstractions which do violence to the embeddedness of economic relations in social and cultural life. In contrast, The Technological Economy argues for a new understanding of the relationship between the economy and culture. In developing its critical analysis of the new economic sociology, this book is exceptional in adopting cultural approaches to the economy, whilst taking the role of economics in the formation of markets seriously.

In this major new collection, leading experts explore the multidisciplinary connections between technology and economy, drawing on new convergences between economic sociology and science and technology studies. Through theoretical and empirical studies, the authors investigate: * economics and economic knowledges as technologies* the economies as socio-technical arrangements* the nature of innovation* the role of technological mediations in representing and performing economies. This revealing book, ideal for those with an interest in contemporary social theory,interrogates the evidence for the contemporary claims about the emergence of the ‘new economy’ and ‘knowledge-based economies’ and sheds new light on the relationship between economy and culture.

Introduction 1. The Economy of Qualities 2. From Calculation to Alienation 3. Externalities in Comparative Guise 4. The Anti-Political Economy 5. Technology, Politics and the Market 6. From Pipes to Scopes: The Flow Stucture of Financial Markets 7. Cultural Political Economy, the Knowledge-Based Economy and the State 8. Performing Finance: The Industry, the Media and its Image 9. The Objectivity of the Brand: Marketing, Law and Sociology

Andrew Barry is Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London and Don Slater is Reader in Sociology, London School of Economics.